APPENDIX IV. COAL MINES REGULATION ACT, 1887. BOARD FOR EXAMINATIONS FOR THE MINING DISTRICT OF LIVERPOOL AND Questions for the Examination of Candidates for First Class Certificates of Competency, June, 1906. PART I. INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES. 1. During the Examination the Candidate must not speak to any other Candidate or hold any communication with him, nor must he leave the room until he has completed his paper, nor then without the permission of the Secretary. 2. Answers must be written on the paper supplied. Each sheet must be signed at the foot with the name of the Candidate. The Candidate is not required to answer all the questions, but he must show a competent knowledge in each subject. Answers must be written on one side of the paper only. 3. All papers handed to the Candidate must be returned, and no Candidate is allowed to take away with him a copy of the questions, or of any of them. State your name, age, and address. PRELIMINARY. ELEMENTARY EDUCATION AND VENTILATION. 1. What is the value of a seam of coal 4 feet 3 inches thick, in an estate of 5 acres, 3 rods, 13 perches, 20 yards statute measure; assuming one acre one foot thick to contain 1,510 tons, and the value of the coal to be eightpence per ton ? 2. If 150,000 cubic feet of air enter a downcast shaft 16 feet in diameter at a temperature of 55° F. What must be the diameter of the upcast shaft to pass this air at the same velocity where the temperature of the upcast is 105° F. ? 3. What is the horse-power in the air of a fan running 110 revolutions per minute and producing 240,000 cubic feet of air per minute with a water-gauge of 4 inches. If the quantity of air is reduced to 180,000 cubic feet per minute, what will the water-gauge then be, also the horse-power in the air, and the number of revolutions of the fan ? 4. Which form of safety lamp do you consider most suitable for firemen, and which for colliers. and other underground workpeople in a fiery seam? What is the least percentage of gas that can be detected by each of these? What other instruments are there for detecting smaller percentages of gas? Explain the main principles of one of these instruments, and how you would take a reading. 5. Ventilate the annexed plan of a fiery mine, ventilated by means of a fan, coal being wound at the downcast shaft only PRINCIPLES OF MECHANICS AND MACHINERY. 6. If it takes a stone 4 seconds to fall from the top to the bottom of a pit shaft, what will be the depth of the shaft? Give the formula you would use and show calculations. 7. Sketch and describe Giffard's injector and explain carefully the principles of its action. 8. Describe with sketches, giving as many dimensions as you can, a headgear steel or timber, suitable for an 18 feet diameter shaft, 500 yards deep, raising 1,500 tons per day of 9 hours, in 3 decked cages. State fully whether you would prefer steel or timber in the construction of the above, and why 9. Describe fully how you would take off an old, and put on a new round winding rope in a pit 450 yards deep and 17 feet diameter. What size of rope would you use, assuming the cage and chains to weigh 2 tons 5 cwts., and to hold 4 tubs of 5 cwt. each, and each containing 12 cwt. of coal? Show calculations. What do you consider the best form of capping for such a rope? 10. If you had a feeder of water of 15,000 gallons per hour at a depth of 180 yards to deal with permanently, describe the plant you would put down to deal with this quantity and what provision you would make for breakdown. Give principal dimensions of pumps and stocks, &c. What power would you use to work the pump? 11. Describe fully, with sketches, how you would fix the cables in a pit shaft 400 yards deep to transmit 100 kilowatts, three phase alternating current for use underground. What type of cable would you adopt, how would you support it and protect it from accident? What are the Electrical Special Rules with regard to shaft cables? 12. Describe, with sketches, the winding engines you would erect at a colliery to deal with 1,200 tons per day of 9 hours, winding from a shaft 500 yards deep and 18 feet diameter, with two cages, each holding 6 tubs containing 8 cwt. of coal per tub, the steam pressure at the boilers being 100 lbs. per square inch. (End of Morning Paper.) PART II. MINE WORKING. 13. Sketch and describe the most suitable form of conveyor for use along the longwall face of a seam of coal 2 feet 3 inches thick, showing the arrangement of the roads leading to the face. What are the advantages or disadvantages as compared with the ordinary method of getting the coal from the working faces? 14. If you had to work a seam of strong coal 2 feet 3 inches thick with 9 inches of fairly strong warrant and a strong shale or metal roof, the full dip being 1 in 9 and the line of cleavage being in the direction of the dip, show how you would lay out the workings for coal cutters, and say which machine you would use and why; also by what power you would drive the 15. What are the causes of "gob-fires and what are the dangers arising therefrom? What precautions should be constantly taken in a mine liable to gob-fires? same. Describe how you would proceed to seal off a gob-fire in the workings at the top of a pair of tunnels rising 1 in 9.—What special precautions would you take to prevent accident during the operations? 16. What are the requirements of the Coal Mines Regulation Act as to : (c) Haulage signals; (d) Inspection of machinery? 17. Describe fully, with sketches, the system of boring you would adopt and the apparatus you would use to prove an unexplored coalfield. What records would you keep? How many boreholes would you put down in order to ascertain the general inclination of the strata passed through; give reasons for your answer and work out an example showing clearly your calculations. 18. Where are accumulations of coal dust most likely to be found in collieries, underground, and what are the dangers arising therefrom? Describe how you would deal with coal dust so as to reduce the risk of accidents. 19. What are the chief differences between the Nitrate of Ammonium and the Nitro-Glycerine classes of explosives? Give examples of two of each with their respective compositions, and describe the special precautions which must be taken with each class. TIMBERING. 20. Describe fully how you would support the roof and sides of a main haulage road through a fault listing of wet and broken ground. 21. Show by sketches how you would timber a wide work face where the roof is soft shale, full of slips, the seam being 4 feet thick. Give the distances apart of the props or other roof supports. 22. Sketch and describe some form of steel pit prop. Say how you would set these props and how you would withdraw them. What are the advantages or disadvantages in their use compared with timber. SURVEYING. 23. Give a copy of an imaginery booking of an underground survey and plot the same roughly to a scale of 2 chains to an inch. 24. What scale do you consider the most suitable for colliery plans? Give your reasons. What are the requirements of the Coal Mines Regulation Act as to plans? 25. There are two shafts :-A, 215 yards deep, the surface being 246 15 feet above ordnance datum, and B, 305 yards deep, the surface being 214-65 feet above ordnance datum, the shafts being 150 yards apart. At what uniform inclination will a tunnel have to be driven to connect the bottom of each shaft? SHAFTS. 26. How would you proceed to repair the brickwork of a shaft, 15 feet in diameter and 400 yards deep, which has collapsed and run in for a distance of 10 yards at a point 300 yards from the surface ? 27. In sinking a shaft 20 feet in diameter through 100 yards of sandstone containing heavy feeders of water amounting to 80,000 gallons per hour, describe how you would proceed, and give details of the plant you would require. 28. An upcast shaft 12 feet diameter is to be enlarged to 18 feet diameter inside the brickwork, coal not being wound at this shaft, but the ventilating current having to be maintained during the operations. Describe how you would proceed with the work and give particulars of the scaffolds you would use. Questions for the Examination of Candidates for Second Class Certificates of Competency, June, 1906. SECOND CLASS. 1. What are the requirements of the Coal Mines Regulation Act as to ventilation ? What quantity of air per minute would you consider necessary for the ventilation of a fiery mine 500 yards deep, where 300 men are employed underground in one shift, and where the workings are a mile from the shaft ? 2. What are the gases most commonly met with in coal mines; how are they formed, and say how they can be detected? Give the distinguishing properties of each. 3. What quantity of air per minute will you get through an air pipe 18 inches in diameter when the velocity is 20 feet per second? If the velocity is increased to 30 feet per second, how much more power would be required to produce the increased ventilation? 4. What report books and registers have to be kept at a mine in order to comply with the Coal Mines Regulation Act? 5. Describe an electrical pump suitable to deliver a feeder of water of 40 gallons per minute to the pit pump from the bottom of a downbrow 800 yards long, dipping 5 inches to the yard. Give the horse-power of the motor you would use, and the size of the pump rams. Say which of the Electrical Special Rules you would have to carry out during the working of such a pump in a fiery mine. 6. Describe the haulage arrangements you would put in to deal with an output of 350 tons per day of 9 hours where the road rises 1 in 9 from the winding shaft and is 1,500 yards long; give the sizes of pulleys, rope, &c., and say what precautions you would use where coal has to be put on at several points along the road. What rules of the Coal Mines Regulations Act would you have to carry out in doing this? 7. How may underground fires be caused, and say what steps you would take on discovering one during your rounds? 8. Give a sketch of the system of working coal by Pillar and Stall and also by Long wall; say under what special circumstances you would adopt each system. 9. Describe the coal cutter which you consider the most suitable to work a seam of coal 2 feet 6 inches thick with 8 inches of warrant at the bottom of the seam; would you drive this by means of electricity or compressed air? Give your reasons. 10. It is found necessary to replace a water-ring, which has been weakened by corrosion, in an upcast brick-lined shaft. Explain fully how you would proceed to do this work. APPENDIX V. LIST OF ABANDONED MINE PLANS SENT IN AND DEPOSITED AT THE HOME 12. Describe, with sketches, the winding engines you would erect at a colliery to deal with 1,200 tons per day of 9 hours, winding from a shaft 500 yards deep and 18 feet diameter, with two cages, each holding 6 tubs containing 8 cwt. of coal per tub, the steam pressure at the boilers being 100 lbs. per square inch. (End of Morning Paper.) PART II. MINE WORKING. 13. Sketch and describe the most suitable form of conveyor for use along the longwall face of a seam of coal 2 feet 3 inches thick, showing the arrangement of the roads leading to the face. What are the advantages or disadvantages as compared with the ordinary method of getting the coal from the working faces? 14. If you had to work a seam of strong coal 2 feet 3 inches thick with 9 inches of fairly strong warrant and a strong shale or metal roof, the full dip being 1 in 9 and the line of cleavage being in the direction of the dip, show how you would lay out the workings for coal cutters, and say which machine you would use and why; also by what power you would drive the same. 15. What are the causes of "gob-fires" and what are the dangers arising therefrom? What precautions should be constantly taken in a mine liable to gob-fires? Describe how you would proceed to seal off a gob-fire in the workings at the top of a pair of tunnels rising 1 in 9.-What special precautions would you take to prevent accident during the operations ? 16. What are the requirements of the Coal Mines Regulation Act as to : (a) Ventilation; (b) Inspections of working places; (c) Haulage signals; (d) Inspection of machinery? 17. Describe fully, with sketches, the system of boring you would adopt and the apparatus you would use to prove an unexplored coalfield. What records would you keep ? How many boreholes would you put down in order to ascertain the general inclination of the strata passed through; give reasons for your answer and work out an example showing clearly your calculations. 18. Where are accumulations of coal dust most likely to be found in collieries, underground, and what are the dangers arising therefrom? Describe how you would deal with coal dust so as to reduce the risk of accidents. 19. What are the chief differences between the Nitrate of Ammonium and the Nitro-Glycerine classes of explosives? Give examples of two of each with their respective compositions, and describe the special precautions which must be taken with each class. TIMBERING. 20. Describe fully how you would support the roof and sides of a main haulage road through a fault listing of wet and broken ground. 21. Show by sketches how you would timber a widework face where the roof is soft shale, full of slips, the seam being 4 feet thick. Give the distances apart of the props or other roof supports. 22. Sketch and describe some form of steel pit prop. Say how you would set these props and how you would withdraw them. What are the advantages or disadvantages in their use compared with timber. SURVEYING. 23. Give a copy of an imaginery booking of an underground survey and plot the same roughly to a scale of 2 chains to an inch. What 24. What scale do you consider the most suitable for colliery plans? Give your reasons. are the requirements of the Coal Mines Regulation Act as to plans? 25. There are two shafts :-A, 215 yards deep, the surface being 246 15 feet above ordnance datum, and B, 305 yards deep, the surface being 214-65 feet above ordnance datum, the shafts being 150 yards apart. At what uniform inclination will a tunnel have to be driven to connect the bottom of each shaft? SHAFTS. 26. How would you proceed to repair the brickwork of a shaft, 15 feet in diameter and 400 yards deep, which has collapsed and run in for a distance of 10 yards at a point 300 yards from the surface? 27. In sinking a shaft 20 feet in diameter through 100 yards of sandstone containing heavy feeders of water amounting to 80,000 gallons per hour, describe how you would proceed, and give details of the plant you would require. 28. An upcast shaft 12 feet diameter is to be enlarged to 18 feet diameter inside the brickwork, coal not being wound at this shaft, but the ventilating current having to be maintained during the operations. Describe how you would proceed with the work and give particulars of the scaffolds you would use. Questions for the Examination of Candidates for Second Class Certificates of Competency, June, 1906. SECOND CLASS. 1. What are the requirements of the Coal Mines Regulation Act as to ventilation ? What quantity of air per minute would you consider necessary for the ventilation of a fiery mine 500 yards deep, where 300 men are employed underground in one shift, and where the workings are a mile from the shaft? 2. What are the gases most commonly met with in coal mines; how are they formed, and say how they can be detected? Give the distinguishing properties of each. 3. What quantity of air per minute will you get through an air pipe 18 inches in diameter when the velocity is 20 feet per second? If the velocity is increased to 30 feet per second, how much more power would be required to produce the increased ventilation? 4. What report books and registers have to be kept at a mine in order to comply with the Coal Mines Regulation Act? 5. Describe an electrical pump suitable to deliver a feeder of water of 40 gallons per minute to the pit pump from the bottom of a downbrow 800 yards long, dipping 5 inches to the yard. Give the horse-power of the motor you would use, and the size of the pump rams. Say which of the Electrical Special Rules you would have to carry out during the working of such a pump in a fiery mine. 6. Describe the haulage arrangements you would put in to deal with an output of 350 tons per day of 9 hours where the road rises 1 in 9 from the winding shaft and is 1,500 yards long; give the sizes of pulleys, rope, &c., and say what precautions you would use where coal has to be put on at several points along the road. What rules of the Coal Mines Regulations Act would you have to carry out in doing this? 7. How may underground fires be caused, and say what steps you would take on discovering one during your rounds? 8. Give a sketch of the system of working coal by Pillar and Stall and also by Long wall; say under what special circumstances you would adopt each system. 9. Describe the coal cutter which you consider the most suitable to work a seam of coal 2 feet 6 inches thick with 8 inches of warrant at the bottom of the seam; would you drive this by means of electricity or compressed air? Give your reasons. 10. It is found necessary to replace a water-ring, which has been weakened by corrosion, in an upcast brick-lined shaft. Explain fully how you would proceed to do this work. APPENDIX V. LIST OF ABANDONED MINE PLANS SENT IN AND DEPOSITED AT THE HOME |