US970725A - Method of mining coal. - Google Patents

Description

Patented Sept. 20, 1910.

8 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

H. A. KUHN. METHOD or xmms con.. APPLICATION IIIBD 00T- 19. 1907.

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H A. KUHN.

METHOD .0F MINING COAL. APPLxoA'rIoN 'FILED 001'. 1o, 1901.

Ptented Sept. 20, 1910.

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H. A. KUHN. METHOD or umm@ ooAL.- 4 ArlfLloA'rIon FILED 60119. 1001. 970,725. Patented e 2o, 1910.

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UNITED STATES PATENT oEEIcE.

HARRY A. KUHN, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

METHOD or MINING COAL.

specification of Letters Patent. Patented Sept. 20, 1910.

Application led October 19, 1907. Serial No. 398,196.

To all whom 'it may cof/wem:

Be it known that I, HARRY A. KUHN, a resident of Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Methods of Mining Coal; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and

4or dynamite were inserted. The effect of the blast was to break down the coal and great quantities of it were often reduced to a very fine state so as to be practically useless for certain purposes, thereby greatly reducing the value of the output of the mine. It is very difficult for the miner t0 judge the effect that a certain charge of powder will have on the coal in all cases, as the effect may vary according to the seam in which the work is being done, so that the blasting has always been done more or less in a haphazard sort of manner.

The object of my invention is to provide a method of mining coal which will dispense with the blasting and which will produce the coal in large lumps, thereby doing away with the ne Vslack which has to be .disposed of at a very low price.

To these .ends my invention comprises, generally stated, the method of` mining coal consisting in making a plurality of parallel cuts simultaneously in the wall or solid of the coal seam, and subdividing intermit- .tently the direct cutting force, making each cut, into two component forces, one component working in the plane of the cut and the other component working at an angle to the plane of the cut, thereby cutting and directing simultaneously all the coal in a deinite direction to a definite place and then conveying away the coal from said place.

In the accompanying drawing Figure 1 is a side elevation partly in Vertical section of a suitable machine for carrying out my invention; Fig. 2 is a plan View; Fig. 3 is an enlarged section on the line 3-3 Fig. l; Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail of the yoke head; Fig. 5 'is an inverted view of one of mine.

the disk cutters; Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail of a portion of va cutter and wedge; and Fig. 7 is a face view of the wall of coal after the cuts have been made therein.

I will describe my improved method inV connection with a suitable machine, al-

though my improved method may be carried out with varied forms of apparatus.

In the drawing the numeral 2 designates a suitable truck with the wheels 3 adapted to travel on the track 4 which is laid in the Erected on the truck 2 is the frame 5 which may be composed of channels and angle bars suitably connected and braced to form a rigid structure. Supported by the frame is the conveyer trough 6 which is arranged at an incline and within said trough.

is the conveyer chain 7 provided with the conveyor arms S. This chain passes around the sprocket wheels 9 and 10 at the rear end of the machine, said sprockets being mounted on the shafts 11 and 12, respectively. A motor 14 is mounted on the truck 2, and the motor shaft has the pinion 15 thereon which meshes with the pinion 16 which meshes with the pinion 17 on the shaft 18. This shaft 18 carries the bevel pinion 19 which meshes with the bevel pinion 20 on the shaft 1l. The chain 8 passes around the sprocket wheel 21 on the vertical shaft 22. Secured to the lower end of the shaft 22 is the under-cutter disk 23. Carried by the truck 2 is the carriage 24 mounted on the wheels 25. On said carriage 24 is the frame 26 which has the center pin 27 swiveled in the center plate 28 of the carriage 24. This frame 26 has the uprights 29 connected at the upper end by the channels 30. Vithin the uprights 29 are the vertical ,guide-ways 31.

Resting on the frame 26 is the base plate 32 provided with the upright end pieces which have the tongues 34 engaging the grooves 31 in the standards v29. To provide for the raising and lowering of the base plate 32 threaded bars 35 engage threaded seats 36 in the end blocks 33. The upper the stub shaft 44. vSecured to the stub shaft 44 is the operating wheel 45'.

Mounted on the base plate 32 isthe motor 46 andJ a pinion 47 on the motor shaft engages the gear wheel 48 on the shaft 49. The shaft 49 'projects through the forward end' block 33 and through the gear wheel 50 portion 53'which is adaptedV to engage the inwardly projecting p0rtionf54 of the end block 33. This permits of the rotary movement of the ear wheel for the purpose hereinafter se forth. The pinion meshes with the gear wheel 50, said pinion4 being mounted on the shaft 56 operated by the handle 57.

The shaft. 49 asses through the' yoke 51 and carries at iss outer end the pinion 58 which meshes with the pinion 59 on the shaft 60 journaled in the yoke 51. Mounted on the shaft 60 arethe sprockets 61 and 62. Sprocket chains 63 lead from the sprockets 61 and 62 to 'the sprocket wheels 64 on the shaft 22a. Idler sprockets 65 are mounted on the shaft 66 to guide the sprocket chains 63. The chains 63 are prof vided with the conveyer arms 68. which are adaptedto sweep over the cuts/made by the disk cutters 69 and convey the dust or cuttings from said cuts. These disk cutters69 are secured to the shaft 22a and said 'shaft is vdriven by the sprocket chains 63. Secured to the lower face of the disk cutters 69 are the wedges 70 which are adapted to` wedge down the coal in the manner hereinafter set forth.

In order to provide for the driving of the 4undercutter 23, a clutch sleeve 71 is secured engage a clutch face on the lower sprocket 62. A sprocket chain 74 is adapted to pass around the sprocket 72 and around lt-he i sprocket wheel 75 on the shaft 22 to which the undercutter 23 is secured.l In carrying out my improved metho with `the above described apparatus, -the truck is run into the mine upon the track 4, and when the cutters-have been brought up in front of the face or seam of the coal poweris applied to drive the-cutters,'where upon the cutters rotating ata high rate of speed cut into the face of the coal and a plurality of Aparallel cuts or kerfs are made therein, leaving between the cuts the par-l tially severed block vof coal..A Simultanedisks,'bring a force` to bear upon the par` ously with the cutting of these parallel cuts,

the action of the wedges takes place which, rotating as they do with the-cutting tially severed blocks at an an' le to thev line of the cut, whereby the said blocks are broken by said forceand the coal in this way dislodged In other words, I subdivide intermittently the direct cutting force,'making each cut and working in each cut, into two component forces, one component force working in the plane of the cut and acting to cut the coal'and the other component force working' at an angle to the plane of lthe cut, which is the wedging action, whereby the coal is cut and dislodged simultaneously and' when so dislodged is directed ina denite direction to a denite place to be acted on by the cbnvey'er arms 8 and con- 'veyed away.

The carriagecarrying the cutters may be conveyed in any suitable manner, 'and after a series of cuts have been made to proper depth and the coal between the cuts 'dislodged,' the carriage may be withdrawn,

whereupon the operator by turning the hand wheel 45 land through the threaded bars 35 lifts or raises the bed plate 32 carrying the motor. and the parts connected therewith, together with the oke carrying the cutters 69. This lifting o the bed plate may be continued until the cutters 69 'have been brought into the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1, whereuponpower is applied to rotate said cutters and another series -of parallel cuts are made at a higherl point. In. the same manner as above described this coal at a higher level is cut and dislodged. By raising the bed plate 32 the sprocket 62 is disconnected from the clutch 71 and the under-cutter 23 .remains inopery ative.

If desired, a plurality of vertical cuts may be formed in the coal and toaccomplish this the operator turns the harfdle 57 and so rotates the yoke 51 until the 4disk -cutters 69 are brought-A around into a vertical position. By the above method I am venabled to remove the coal continuously by making a series of parallel cuts and dislodging the coal between the cuts without cutting, clawing or scraping it loose. In connection with the cutting operation I combine a forcel which acts at an angle to the lineof cut` and which breaks loose the coal in lumps -and withgreat saving in power. Furthermore, the coal as it 1s. cut' is continuously directed to one spot where the conveyer re ceives it and conveys it away to be loaded upon the cars.

After having made. a series of horizontal parallel cuts 4in the` face of the coal I may stop the operation of the machine before the wedges have begun to'break -loose the coal and by swinging the machine aroundso as indicated' in* dottedlines Fig. 1, I may make to bring the cutters into the vertical position a series' ofcross cuts intersecting the parallel Y cuts. In thismanner I cross-cut the face-of the coal at regular intervals so that the coal is readily broken down by means of the wedges when the cutters penetrate suiiiciently to bring by other` forms ofv a paratus than 'that illus- .trated and describe i' .apparently even so 'tlng operation be 'ns I have a comparatively f y i 970,725

the Icoal when cross-cut in the above manner breaking off in large lumps and the amount of line slack is reduced.- Furthermore, by cross-cutting in this manner and by cutting down the coal the face of the coalis kept that when the next cuteven wall to wor on.

My improved methodv may be carried out such as by two cutters 'operated 'as saws with means carried'thereby for dislodging or breaking loose the coal between the cuts' by means of a tool consisting of vtwo cutters connected up to ya ycommon shankl ortion adapted to be driven into the wall o the coal by blows administered to the shank portion and av wedge carried by one of the/cutters adapted to dislodge or break loose lthe coal severed by the cutters. WhatI claim is: l

1. 'The method of mining coal consisting in cutting a plurality of slits simultaneously in `the wall or solid of the coal at right angles tothe face thereof,l and dislodging .the 'coal lying between said slits simultaneously with the cutting action.'l

i2. The method of mining coal, consisting in cutting a plurality of parallel slits simultaneously inthe wallor solid of the coal at right angles to the face thereof, and disthese wedges or-jars to bear,y

nent force working in the lodging the coal lying between Vsaid slits simultaneously withthe cutting action.

3. The method of mining coal', consisting in cutting continuously al luality of slits simultaneousl in the wall).or solld of the "coal, and app yinor a dislodging force intermittently 1n the sl1ts at an angle to the plane of the cut, -while the cutting operation is going on.

4..The method of timesin the w l or solid of the coal, and subdividing intermittently the direct cutting force making each cut and working in each cut into two component forces, one compolane of the cut orce Working at and theother component whereby the an angle to the lane of the cut, coal is dislodve. i V a 5. The method of cutting coal, consisting in cutting a plurality of arallel cuts in the wall or solid of the coal, t ien making a series of cross cuts intersectin said first cuts, and breaking loose the coa between said cuts simultaneously with the cross cuttin action. In testimony whereof, I thesai HARRY AXKUHN Ihavehereunto set my hand.

' HARRY A. KUHN.

,Witnessesz ROBERT C. To'rrlm, J. R. KELLER.

mining coal, consisting 'in cutting a plurality of slits at Vthe same

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