Epitome of evidence taken before the Commissioners appointed to enquire into the condition of all mines in Great Britain to which the provisions of the Act 23 & 24 Vict. cap. 155 do not apply, with reference to the health and safety of persons employed in such mines / presented to both houses of Paliament by command of Her Majesty.

  • Great Britain. Royal Commission on Mines
Date:
1864
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Epitome of evidence taken before the Commissioners appointed to enquire into the condition of all mines in Great Britain to which the provisions of the Act 23 & 24 Vict. cap. 155 do not apply, with reference to the health and safety of persons employed in such mines / presented to both houses of Paliament by command of Her Majesty. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

    45/302 (page 45)
    (O—VENTILATION^. find thet there is a nasty vapour that comes up, which you would not like to work in ; but when you are under- ground yon must work in that air, and that arises from not having the sliafts frequent enough. 8985. Can you state to the Commissioners in a few words what, in your opinion, are the best mechanical means of improving the ventilation in the Cornish mines ?—That is a very difficult question to answer. The difficulty is to convey the air; but there are many means that might bo employed in ever so awkward cir- cumstances. I think that if you have to force air in a distance, if you send it in by a pipe, that the area of your pipe shouhl be in proportion to the length. For instance, it should be more in the cornucopian form ; when you commence it should bo large, gradually becoming smaller. If you take and use a four-inch pipe and j-ou force air in for 100 fathoms, you may burst the pipe; the air has no disposition to go on, and it becomes a fixed bod}', or it comes back again. The general working of the air in the Cornish mines is very little known compared with the collieries, because they have perhaps only one or two shafts ; but they may have workings two miles off, and yet have a fair snpply of air, while there is a large amount of gas arising. 9008. (Mr. Davei/.) I suppose that you have tried many experiments as to the best mode of ventilation ?—Yes, a good nuvny. 9009. Did you ever try drawing you the foul air in- stead of forcing in air ?—I have tried both with a double set of pipes. 9010. Which do you think is the best?—I generally make it a rule to take wp my air in a good place. Say, for instance, that T was going to drive a 100 fathom level, ] should not go out to the 100 for the air. I would go to the 70, or 80, or 90. I would take up my air where it is good, and send it on; it is of no use to take the old air again. I have used lime (which I have found a very good thing) in the mouth of the pipe to improve the air. 9011. You have not mentioned about withdrawing the foul air, how did it answer ?—It is a very good plan. I like extracting t\\c foul air, but then I would never take up the warm air to send it back again. 9012. How did you nuxnage to extract the foul air ?— Simph' by a pump from the engine worked by a rod. We have a double machine at Treloweth, for instance, a 30-inch cylinder, with a piston, and there is a top and bottom valve. Capt. Joseph Vivian, North Roskear. 9107. (3fr. St. Aubi/n.) Do you think that the mines are as well ventilated as they could be ?—All the mines that I am acquainted with are well ventilated, and so are all the mines about here, I should say for a cer- tainty, for miles and miles, and, as far as I know, farther. I think that the Cornish agents have studied the ventilation of mines almost as much as anything con- nected with it. You will now find that 200 or 300 fathoms deep in the North Roskear mine the air is as good and as pure as it is in this room. We throw it down. We find that one shaft serves for the down- draught and another for the up-draught. Of course, when you get deeper you will get hotter as you get in, and some of the men in deep levels will have to work in hot places, and sometimes, rising against a shaft, those places will of necessity for a few months be warm and not so healthy as airy places. 9108. Could you suggest any mechanical contrivances for making the ventilation better than it is now ?—I do not know that we could. In our mine at South Con- durrow, where we have only one shaft, a pitman came down to me the day before yesterday, and said, The air at the bottom has got uncommonly fine, and I think it is bad. I said, You have a large bellows and a pipe and everything to it. In how long could you do it? He said, I could do it in two days. It is now working and sending down a stream of pure air. If we can command a draught we do so, and if not we use the bellows or a fall of water. Mr. RoBEET Haet Pike. 9167. {Chairman.) Have you any experience, from your knowledge of mines, as to the men suffering from any want of ventilation ?—It sometimes happens that when it is necessary to communicate from one point to another, for the purpose of ventilation, the miners have to work in a very close place and bad air, in which it is hard to keep a candle burning, and a difficulty in breath- (C-) Ventila- ing is experienced. 9168. Then if any additional means could be adopted while that necessary operation is going on of supplying fresh air, it would be very desirable ?—It is done if the cross-cut or communication to be made is an extensive one, or if there is a great deal of ground to open, then, of course, they introduce artificial means by pumping air ; that may be done to a great extent, but if they are driving for merely a few weeks or a month they get on without it. The men bore the ground for blasting, and when they set fire to the fuze, they leave their work, and perhaps it would take several hours before they could return to the place, on account of the smoke. 9169. And I suppose they are paid more ?—Yes ; I do not mean to say that the men get higher wages, but they work fewer hours, and the wages must of course be made up to them. Capt. John Daw. 9256. {Chairman.) You consider that when once you have sunk a winze, the ventilation is good ?—We have then plenty of ventilation. 9260. Does it ever happen to you that the candles will not burn?—We never like to put a man where the candles will not burn. 9261. Does it never happen that the air is so close that the candle will not burn ?—It may sometimes, it will depend a good deal upon which way the wind is blowing. We do not allow men to work unless there is air for them to work in. 9262. Still the ventilation somewhat depends upon the way that the wind is ?—Yes. I was in a mine last week where they had very good air except when the wind was blowing from the south. 9263. What mine was it ?—Wheal Uny ; there they had net the air so well Inst week as they had it before. That was owing to the wind. 9264. In what district is that ?—It is very near Redruth Church ; it is in Redruth parish; but we have no difficulty in the men working if we do not go more than 30 fathoms from winze to winze ; there ia plenty of air. 9266. When it goes up what is the efiect at the far end of the level ?—We do not find much difference. We would rather that it should go up, because it follows the driving ; sometimes it goes up and som.etimes down, and Avhy it does so I do not know. You get two shafts without much difference in height, and you have one upcast and the other downcast. Sometimes you find the air going down the shaft this week or this month and up the next. 9270. Do you think that they generally attend to stop- ping the winzes properly so as to drive the air on ?—Yes, the men soon find it out. 9271. Is it generally attended to ?—The men will attend to those things themselves for their own ad- vantage. Capt. William Tjeague. 9324. {Chairman) What means do you adopt for sup- plying air when that is the case.P—^Either by air ma- chines, or waterfalls, or air sollars. 9325. Have you any of them now in your mine ?—Not any. 9326. You do not require it?—We do not require it. 9327. The ventilation is complete without it—We consider it to be such. 9328. But your only way of judging is by the candle burning ?—We can easily detect it if there is poor air or damp there ; the men cannot work so freely. Mr. John Richards. 9537. {Chairman.) Does not the great heat in the mine cause a greater down draught, and so bring in a current of air ?—No ; if we want a current of air we send it down ; but the air down there, the hot draught, is not so injurious as you might suppose. Mr. Joseph Jewell. 9707-08. {Mr. St. Aulyn.) Speaking generally, do you consider that the mines in this part of Cornwall are ventilated as well as they can be ?—I do think that they are. A great many of them are where I have been down.