Abstract
IN coal and metalliferous mines, as the working faces advance from the shafts, there is a desire to transport workmen to within easy reach of their working places and there is a large field of usefulness open to safe and convenient locomotives suitable for this purpose. Electric trolley, compressed air, storage battery, benzol and Diesel locomotives have been used, and it is interesting to note that tests have been carried out by the Ruhr Testing Station officials which show that Diesel locomotives are safe for use in mines. An investigation has been carried out by Messrs. George S. Rice and F. E. Harris of the United States Bureau of Mines, and a report has been published under the title of “Diesel Mine Locomotives—Development and Use in European Coal Mines” (a Publication of the Department of the Interior, United States Bureau of Mines, November, 1936). It is stated in this report that provided a reasonable amount of air is circulated along the roadways where these Diesel locomotives are in use, dangerous percentages of carbon monoxide do not occur if the machines are maintained in a good working order. These locomotives are being used in American mines, and they are being substituted for benzol locomotives in mines in Germany, Belgium and France. At a colliery in Scotland, a Diesel locomotive has been on trial since 1935. Another large colliery company in Yorkshire is contemplating using Diesel locomotives for carrying men from the pit bottom to points near the face, and the necessary investigations are at present being made. In Great Britain special permission is required to introduce internal combustion engines into mines by Section 58 of the Coal Mines Act, 1911, which prohibits the use of these engines in underground workings without permission.
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Use of Diesel Locomotives in Mines. Nature 139, 622 (1937). https://doi.org/10.1038/139622a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/139622a0