Colliery Explosions Research Articles

A Means of Saving some Lives in Colliery Explosions

WHATEVER brings about an explosion in a colliery, it appears that men often perish thereby not from burning, nor from injury, but from want of fresh air. It would now be easy, or might soon become so, for every collier, at a small cost, to keep near him always when at work, a little vessel full of compressed air, which being provided with a rather fine nozzle, and a stop-cock, and a small piece of india-rubber tube, might be a sufficient deliverance for him in the moment of need, should he in an explosion have escaped violent injuries.

XXV. On the influence of coal-dust in colliery explosions. No. III

The information that can be gleaned from a study of the three great colliery explosions of the past year, namely, Risca, Seaham, and Penygraig, appears to throw more light upon the question than anything that has been elicited experimentally either by myself or others since I last had the honour of addressing the Society on the same subject. These explosions took place on the 15th of July, the 8th of September, and the 10th of December respectively, and they cost the lives of no fewer than 385 persons in all—Risca, 120; Seaham, 164; and Penygraig, 101. For the purposes of the present paper I visited Risca Colliery on the 24th of October, and Seaham Colliery on the 24th of November, and I have had the rare opportunity of becoming thoroughly conversant with every circumstance connected with the Penygraig explosion, and with the events which immediately preceded and accompanied its occurrence.

The Cause of Colliery Explosions

ONE of the most instructive documents ever penned on the subject of the cause of explosions in collieries has recently appeared, in a lately-issued Blue-book, in the form of a Report to the Home Secretary by Prof. Abel, C.B., F.R.S., of Woolwich, who, at the request of the Home Department, conducted a series of experimental researches upon the cause of the terrible disaster at the Seaham Colliery on September 8, 1880. In 1845 Faraday and Lyell first directed attention to the influence exerted by the presence of coal-dust in mines upon the magnitude of an explosion of fire-damp. In 1867 and 1875, the subject was further advanced in France by Messieurs Verpilleux and Vital, the latter of whom showed that air charged with fine coal-dust, rich in inflammable material, may explode when there is present a much smaller proportion of true fire-damp than is of itself sufficient to constitute the atmosphere an explosive one. Still more recently Mr. W. Galloway has conducted a valuable series of investigations and experiments, the results of which have been communicated to the Royal Society in three very important memoirs. In the first of these he showed that a certain mixture of air and coal-dust, not itself inflammable, became so when there was also present a much smaller proportion of fire-damp than any Davy lamp could detect. In the second he showed that the return-air from the ventilating shaft of a mine may actually contain enough fire-damp to become inflammable when coal-dust is diffused into it. In the third he concludes that the influence of the coal-dust must not be considered as merely aggravating and increasing the explosion originating with the presence of fire-damp, but that the presence of the dust must be regarded as the one thing which, if a small explosion takes place anywhere, will accumulate and carry forward the force of the explosion with ever-increasing energy into every empty space in the workings, however ramified.

Colliery Explosions and Coal-Dust

ACCEPTING Mr. Galloway's view that in many mines the extent and destructiveness of colliery explosions are due to the distribution of coal-dust in the air, may I suggest the possibility of preventing the explosion from spreading beyond the sphere of the fire-damp by sprinkling the floors throughout, at certain regular interval, with mineral oil? A shady road, with one such sprinkling, may be kept free from dust for several weeks during the summer, and the corridors of a mine, not being open to wind and rain, would of course remain wet for a longer period. A saucer filled with dust and treated with mineral oil will retain the oil for months even when exposed to sun and rain. The mixture of coal-dust and oil is quite uninflammable. The experiment may perhaps be worth trying in one of the drier coal-mines.

Mr. Plimsoll's Cure for Colliery Explosions

Mr. Plimsoll's Cure for Colliery Explosions

3. On an Instrument for detecting Coal-Gas in Mines

In 1877, shortly after the disastrous colliery explosion in the Blantyre pit, in which hundreds of lives were lost, Mr James Young, F.R.S., of Kelly, described to me an instrument which he had thought of for determining what is the amount of fire-damp in any part of a mine. This was the first thing which directed my attention to the subject, and I very soon saw that there was a principle in acoustics which might be most admirably adapted to the end in view, viz., to determine the quantity of fire-damp (or marsh gas) by the diminution in density of the mixed air and gas (for marsh gas is only about half the density of air). Mr Young and myself tested the principle the next day, and found it to be one of extreme delicacy.

II. On the influence of coal-dust in colliery explosions. No. 2

In the former communication on this subject, which I had the honour of submitting to the Fellows ( “Proc. Roy. Soc.,” vol. xxiy, p. 354), some experiments were described which showed that a mixture of air and coal-dust of a certain known chemical composition was not inflammable at ordinary pressure and temperature; and that, when 0892 per cent, of fire-damp (by volume), or a greater propor­tion, was added to the same mixture, it became inflammable and burned freely with a red smoky flame. The general conclusion to which the second result pointed was also stated in the same place to be, that, an explosion originated in any way whatever in a dry and dusty mine, may extend itself to remote parts of the workings, where the presence of fire-damp was quite unsuspected.

The Coal Mine Commission

MUCH misapprehension of facts, and much ignorance of scientific principles are, it is to be feared, the most prominent characteristics of the knowledge possessed by most people regarding the nature and mode of occurrence of colliery explosions. Pompous platitudes about the carelessness of the men, and windy panegyrics on the virtues of the safety-lamp have been freely pronounced times without number during the last two generations of mankind. Committees on accidents in mines have met, discussed the question, and separated; inspectors of mines have been appointed, stringent regulations have been framed and enforced which bind both employer and employed, the public have listened to the tale of woe, have wept over the fate of the hapless miner, and have subscribed hundreds of thousands of pounds in aid of his widows and orphans, and yet with all this, and more untold, the history of the past eighteen months would seem almost to indicate that we are as far as ever from a true solution of this much-agitated question.

Explosions in Mines

AFTER the occurrence of great colliery explosions such as those which took place recently in Pemberton and Blantyre collieries, one very general and pertinent question presents itself to most minds, namely, What has been done or attempted with the view of preventing these disasters? It would be impossible to condense into an article like the present all that could be said in reply to this question, but I shall endeavour to give a brief outline of the subject, and point out, as well as I can, what appear to be its most prominent features.

III. On the influence of coal-dust in colliery explosions

In coal-mines in which the temperature of the workings is considerably higher than the mean annual temperature at the surface, there is usually a layer of rubbish on the floor of the roadways and air-ways, which consists, in some places, almost entirely of dry coal-dust, and in others of coal-dust mixed with small pieces of coal and stone. If it could be shown, therefore, that a mixture of air and coal-dust is inflammable at ordinary pressure and temperature, there would be no difficulty in accounting for the extent and violence of many explosions which have occurred in mines in which no large accumulations of firedamp were known to exist; for it is only necessary to suppose that a sudden gust of wind (originated, for example, by the explosion of a small accumulation of firedamp) had swept through the adjoining galleries, raising a cloud of dust into the air, and then all the other phenomena would follow in regular order. The flame of the originally inflammable mixture would pass directly into the newly formed one, expanding its volume; the disturbance would be propagated over an ever widening area, until that area might possibly become coextensive with the workings themselves; and the consequences would be the same as if the whole space had been filled with an inflammable mixture before the disturbance began.

On the connection between colliery explosions and weather in 1872

On the connection between colliery explosions and weather in 1872

Notes on the connexion between colliery explosions and weather in the year 1871

Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological SocietyVolume 1, Issue 8 p. 246-250 Article Notes on the connexion between colliery explosions and weather in the year 1871 Robert H. Scott F.R.S., Robert H. Scott F.R.S.Search for more papers by this authorW. Galloway, W. Galloway Inspector of MinesSearch for more papers by this author Robert H. Scott F.R.S., Robert H. Scott F.R.S.Search for more papers by this authorW. Galloway, W. Galloway Inspector of MinesSearch for more papers by this author First published: 1873 https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.4970010803AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Volume1, Issue81873Pages 246-250 RelatedInformation

On the connexion between explosions in collieries and weather

The gas commonly called "Fire-damp,” to the mixture of which with atmospherical air the formation of the explosive mixture in coal-mines is due, exudes from the coal at a certain pressure; so that the rate of its escape must, to some extent, depend on the pressure of the atmosphere, especially in the shallower mines, where the tension of the gas is not great and the fissures are open. On the other hand, the effect of a given quantity of gas in rendering the air of a mine explosive must depend on the supply of pure air to the workings.

The Connection Between Colliery Explosions and Weather*

AFTER a preliminary reference to previous papers on the subject, and especially to the diagrams published by Mr. Joseph Dickinson, and by Mr. Bunning, of New-castle-on-Tyne, the authors of the paper referred specially to Mr. Dobson's paper, published in the reports of the British Association. They showed that the periodicity alleged by him to exist in these explosions had no real foundation in fact; for, on plotting the dates of the explosions for the last twenty years in two ten-year periods, very slight resemblance was seen between the two curves. The number of accidents (all fatal ones) on which the statement was based was 1,369.

Prevention of Colliery Explosions

Prevention of Colliery Explosions

Lundhill colliery explosion

Lundhill colliery explosion

On Colliery Ventilation

In assenting to bring before the West Riding Geological and Polytechnic Society the subject of Colliery Explosions in connection with the sad occurrence at Lund-hill, in this neighbourhood, on the 19th February last, I cannot but feel deeply the important bearings of the question, and its peculiar claim to be brought before this Society—whose province it is to promote or encourage any means by which mining operations may be harmonised with the advancing steps of progressive science; to dissipate the miasma of uneducated prejudice, and to present the standard of practical wisdom and truth. I have ventured to put forth my humble ability, well knowing that if I only elicit the interchange of a moderate amount of sentiment, on the part of those members of the Society whose practical acquaintance with the subject so eminently qualifies them for its discussion, and so discharge the battery of thoughtful speculation and reflection which the Lund-hill calamity has been the means of most naturally creating, I shall have done some service to the cause of humanity, as well as of practical science as applied to mining operations; and so have acquired ample reward for, and justification of, the step which I have reluctantly taken in appearing before you to-day. It is not surprising that a catastrophe by which nearly 200 of our fellow mortals were instantaneously swept out of life into the stillness of death, should have induced the expression of various opinions and the propounding of various schemes of improvement through ...

Gases and explosions in collieries

Gases and explosions in collieries

LX. Remarks relative to the prevention of explosions in collieries

"LX. Remarks relative to the prevention of explosions in collieries ." The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science, 25(167), pp. 350–351