Hello,
I am moving forward in time of my book about the history of my local town, (which was founded by coal mining). My latest questions come from around 1910-1920. I have found a description of a mine that states, "Mine is ventilated by a 6-foot Stine fan. Air is conducted through the mine on continuous current, using two splits." Another description says, "Mine is ventilated with a furnace." I was wondering what is a Stine fan, furnace, and splits. How did each of these setups work and why were the two different methods used on openings that were side by side.

The second question comes from the description that states the mine was shot using monobel. I understand monobel was developed by nobel, but what makes it different than black powder or bituminite?

Also I am looking for any information and (more importantly) pictures of a Montgomery and Stewart type of coal washer.

Thank You.

You got some good questions there. I am back now. I will go through the ventilation books I have. For the prep plant part...that one will be tricky. We have information on all different types of coal processing equipment but there is no real index for it by name or mfg.

Pete, Ohio Vintage Coal

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Pioneering the next INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION (Preservation ! ). . . Saving equipment (1) mine site at a time.

Thank you sir, any luck on finding information?

This doesn't sound too different from modern vertilation. A mine can be ventilated either by a push or pull ( pressure or vacuum ) or on a big mine a combination of the two. The only way to know for sure is to know the fan and its placement. A mine map if most helpful, too.

When the description says two splits, this could indicate the fan was near the middle of the mine or there were multiple sections.

Assuming the mine is on a pressure system, the fan in pushing air into the mine, a portion of the air is directed to one section of the mine and the rest of the air current is directed to the other section. The air current will be directed through the mine across the working face. Now it will contain some percentage of methane, if present, and coal dust and will be called "return air" . Return air is directed back through the mine to an exit point and vent outside.

Mines are generally layed out long and narrow. Think of city streets and blocks, the streets are where the coal is removed and the blocks are where coal is left to support the top, This is called "room and pillar" . Now imagine a "city" 4 blocks wide and 100 blocks long, There will be 5 streets that run the length of the town. Call these entries and the short streets crosscuts. One of the street on the outside will be incoming air. The 3 in the middle will be "neutral" with little air movement. The other outside street will be the return air. The beltway or haulage will be in the neutral air and will be the main passage. The main esacpeway is often in the incoming air and the secondary is in the neutral air.

It's really pretty simple when shown on a drawing. Now if you want to discuss Pitch mining, or longwall, throw most of this out.

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I don't have all the answers.
I don't even know all the questions!

http://www.msha.gov/quecreek/QueCreekInvestigationReport.pdf

Appendix G, Map 1 is a real good example with good markings and notes.

This mine had 7 entries. Ventilation was a single split, with the fan pulling on the return air.

_________________
I don't have all the answers.
I don't even know all the questions!

Awesome. Thank You! I had found some Google books from the day that talked about furnace and fan ventilation, but I couldn't wrap my head around it. After reading your post i light in my head went off and I was finally able to grasp it.

I also found a book through Google about Monobel. It was an explosive made by DuPont for wet mines, and would not ignite coal dust or gasses upon explosion. according to the description i was reading it was very common during those times. Being used in mining, quarrying, railroading and bridge work. Neat stuff all around.

I still haven't found any information on the Stewart or Montgomery coal washers. I did find a patent, but It really doesn't include a description of any sort.

Well, after more searching on Google and a run to a local library to look at some old books, I return with all of my questions answered. I would like to thank Doug and Pete for replying. Below is a link to what I have wrote. This was a quick draft just writing all of the information down. I'm sure it contains many grammatical and typographical errors. These will be reviewed and corrected before the final draft. I just wanted everyone to make sure I accurately described the process in a way to inform and educate the reader. Any criticism is valued, and corrections and additions valued even more. The link goes to my Google docs, it doesn't seem to be loading right inside my browser. You may want to open it or save it and open with adobe reader instead of the Google docs program.

Thank You very, very much.
http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B_ifJrRCpDgaNWFjMmQ1NTgtZGJmOS00MjI5LThkY2ItZDdkYzQ2ZmRlZWE2&hl=en

This is where they would build a fure inside a coal fired stove and that stove would be located directly underneath a bore hole. The heat would rise up through the borehole causing a draft to pull air through the mines and up and out through the bore hole and outside of the mine.

The 1919 mining catalog has good info on equipment just you know