Post by kilburn on Nov 19, 2013 11:41:55 GMT -5
An excellent read, felt as if I was there.
Longest Face: - 380yd Shearer face at Granville Coll in NCB Area 7 in the 'Big Kilburn' seam.
This stared its life as two faces feeding into a 'central' loader gate but along came one of the first shearers and it was changed to one long face retaining for a while the center gate as an exit and additional intake. The change was as a result of a floor mounted single end fixed drum shearer being installed which used the motor, haulage end and modified gear head to take a right angled drive for the cutter drum from an AB 15inch cutter.
This had the standard rope haulage drum so every 50yds or so the cutting stopped and the rope had top be pulled out and attached to a re-set spragg and off it went again. When it arrived at the supply gate the machine was 'flitted' back not cutting but using the front mounted plough to load the 'left behind' and fallen coal onto the 'panzer' (AFC)
The Westphalia panzer had four motor/gear boxes driving it and the biggest weakness was the 'D' links which snapped with alarming regularity that was until a stronger 'D' link was supplied.This fed onto a Crawley gate loader then onto the 30inch gate conveyor.
The supports along the face comprised of Desford chocks each with a ram attached to snake the 'panzer' and individual 'Dowty' 20 ton hydraulic props under link bars. The seam thickness was at best 4 feet but often down to a yard oh yes it was an advancing face when it eventually finished the main and supply gates were just over 1.5mile long.
As far the waste/Gob parting this most certainly happened on a regular basis and I can tell you it was bl**dy scary for a 16 year old apprentice to witness. However I have no other recollections of roof problems other than a weight coming on every now and again leaving the Desford Chocks having to be dug out not a pleasant job for those tasked with it.
Longest Face: - 380yd Shearer face at Granville Coll in NCB Area 7 in the 'Big Kilburn' seam.
This stared its life as two faces feeding into a 'central' loader gate but along came one of the first shearers and it was changed to one long face retaining for a while the center gate as an exit and additional intake. The change was as a result of a floor mounted single end fixed drum shearer being installed which used the motor, haulage end and modified gear head to take a right angled drive for the cutter drum from an AB 15inch cutter.
This had the standard rope haulage drum so every 50yds or so the cutting stopped and the rope had top be pulled out and attached to a re-set spragg and off it went again. When it arrived at the supply gate the machine was 'flitted' back not cutting but using the front mounted plough to load the 'left behind' and fallen coal onto the 'panzer' (AFC)
The Westphalia panzer had four motor/gear boxes driving it and the biggest weakness was the 'D' links which snapped with alarming regularity that was until a stronger 'D' link was supplied.This fed onto a Crawley gate loader then onto the 30inch gate conveyor.
The supports along the face comprised of Desford chocks each with a ram attached to snake the 'panzer' and individual 'Dowty' 20 ton hydraulic props under link bars. The seam thickness was at best 4 feet but often down to a yard oh yes it was an advancing face when it eventually finished the main and supply gates were just over 1.5mile long.
As far the waste/Gob parting this most certainly happened on a regular basis and I can tell you it was bl**dy scary for a 16 year old apprentice to witness. However I have no other recollections of roof problems other than a weight coming on every now and again leaving the Desford Chocks having to be dug out not a pleasant job for those tasked with it.