Roof Bolts.

[John]

First time I ever saw them, was at Clifton Colliery when I was a young apprentice. Only one place I saw them used along 1's No5 conveyor road, I think as an experiment.

They were our main means of support at Boulby Potash Mine, and very common in Oz coal mines.
Only time I've seen them fail is due to extreme weighting, they sheared, or when not set early enough, and bed separation had already taken place, leading to catastophic roof falls.

[dazb]

There was a major failure of roadway support at Bilsthorpe Colliery that was initially thought to have been a roof bolting failure and resulted in an enquiry into the application of skin to skin systems applying roof bolting support. See;
www.ingentaconnect.com/content/maney/mint/2004/00000113/00000001/art00006
It would appear that as you point out roof bolting is safe only in certain conditions, or rather that certain mining extraction techniques are not suitable to roof bolting support.

[John]

daz said:

There was a major failure of roadway support at Bilsthorpe Colliery that was initially thought to have been a roof bolting failure and resulted in an enquiry into the application of skin to skin systems applying roof bolting support. See;
www.ingentaconnect.com/content/maney/mint/2004/00000113/00000001/art00006
It would appear that as you point out roof bolting is safe only in certain conditions, or rather that certain mining extraction techniques are not suitable to roof bolting support.

I think one of the reasons bolting was rare in UK coal seams Daz, was the roof was "mudstones". Not exactly very strong to start with, in NSW the roof was generally made up of sandstones. At Boulby it was stable marles. BUT it is imperitive bolting takes place as soon as possible after extraction before seperation starts to take place.

I'll take a look at that site Daz..

[aardvark]

I remember when they started to fetch them in at Barnsley main we got to watch a film about maintaining the borers Wombats , Gophers , and King cobras I think . It was an Aussie film with a voiceover showing this fitter stripping one down he had to knock out this pin the voiceover said " using a suitable dolly and hammer drive out the pin " next shot the pin was out and the itter had a big plaster on his thumb and the hammer was missing cracked out laughing thought I saw the hammer at the ar side o the shop probably where it landed

[dazbt]

What dates were you at Barrow and Barnsley Main aardvark?

[aardvark]

started as an apprentice in 1977 until we transferred to Barnsley Main stayed at main until it shut then went to Maltby or a year did you ever visit us Pete Utley was the engineer in my seam (silkstone) Bob Hirst was in the Swallowood seam

[dazbt]

aardvark said:

started as an apprentice in 1977 until we transferred to Barnsley Main stayed at main until it shut then went to Maltby or a year did you ever visit us Pete Utley was the engineer in my seam (silkstone) Bob Hirst was in the Swallowood seam

Yep, our ships would likely have passed a few times, I remember Pete and Bob and Bomber and Jumping Jack, Bulmer and the Magistrate, as well as one or two others before that time.
David the mighty Geordie engineer at Barnsley Main ...... knew him of old.
Worked in the Silkstone seam quite a bit, with the dreaded Buttock Shearer ............ good pit, good times and some good lads.
Daz.
Oh! and just remembered with a shudder, that soddin Amco drift at Barnsley main.

[John]

Looks like as time goes on Daz, we'll have a few old mates reunited here!

[aardvark]

dazbt said:

aardvark said:

started as an apprentice in 1977 until we transferred to Barnsley Main stayed at main until it shut then went to Maltby or a year did you ever visit us Pete Utley was the engineer in my seam (silkstone) Bob Hirst was in the Swallowood seam

Yep, our ships would likely have passed a few times, I remember Pete and Bob and Bomber and Jumping Jack, Bulmer and the Magistrate, as well as one or two others before that time.
David the mighty Geordie engineer at Barnsley Main ...... knew him of old.
Worked in the Silkstone seam quite a bit, with the dreaded Buttock Shearer ............ good pit, good times and some good lads.
Daz.
Oh! and just remembered with a shudder, that soddin Amco drift at Barnsley main.

[aardvark]

aardvark said:

dazbt said:

yep the knee trembler. Had some laughs in the drifts working in the pump lodges. I remember once we had changed on off the pumps and we had to remove the top belt pulleys on the manriding belt to swing the pumps in and out. at the end of the shift the fitter i was working with bloke called Ashley jumped on the belt without the pulleys in the belt rode over and tipped him onto the bottom belt and he went screaming till we managed to stop the belt.