Coal-boring Machines

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24905, 19 June 1946, Page 8

Coal-boring Machines

High speed rotary coal boring machines are to be installed m a section of the Strongman State mine shortly, and it is hoped that they will eventually permanently replace the hand methods used at present. The men will provide their own bits, which screw on to the shank of the drill. These machines are capable of drilling holes of up to six feet in little over a. minute, and their use should add considerably to the production of coal. A feature of their use is the comparative absence of coal dust, the coal coming away in nodules. ’ This will be the first time that machines of this type have been used in the regular production of coal in State mines in New Zealand, The Mines Department is at present experimenting with three types of boring machines, and the one most adapted to conditions at the Strongman colliery will be installed in the near future. Because of the extremely hard nature of the coal in the Strongman mine, boring operations by hand methods were very slow and laborious, said the Hon. A McLagan. when discussing the drills. If the use of airpowered equipment proved to be successful, he added, it should add materi■Hr *a tbs cntoat jrael.