WIRELESS TELEPHONES IN MINES.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1894, 31 October 1913, Page 7

WIRELESS TELEPHONES IN MINES.

♦— TALKING THROUGH SOLID ROCK. Recent calamitous, disasters in' the Old Country lend special interest in the experiment which lias been carried out at tho Dinnington Colliery; near Rotherham, in the installation of a new system of wirelesß telephoning. It is claimed for this Bystein that it completely answers all tho tests that can uo applied, and it' is probablo tSat it will uo adopted in many collieries before long. It is the invention of a Gorman engineer named Josef Heinrich Rcineke, and lias been adopted by a large number of GeTman mines with such success that tho German Government aro expected to malco wireless telephoning icompulsory. An English company 'lias beon formed to work tho patent. Stationary instruments aro fixed nt given points in tho mine, and each station can communicate with or ring up any other station. In addition the deputies, or tho head of each gang of colliers, can carry with them a portablo telepliono, bo that if an accident occurs thoy can communicate with any of the stationary telephones, and in consoquenco many lives may he saved. If the miners are entombed in any seotion thoy can keep up communication with tho relief parties, and eo assist in locating their position. Communication can also bo maintained from tho pit-, ■head or the pit bottom with tho moving cage, an advantago which will be fully realised by tlioso acquainted with milling conditions. At Dinnington signalling and talking havo been carried 011 through tho solid rock for distances of over a milo. It is stated that wireloss telephones liavo great advantages over . tho present system of wiro, which is admittedly unsatisfactory. as owing to tho continual falls of roclc the wires bccomo broken, and in tho caso of accidents Tescuo work is mado difficult or impossible. With tho wireless apparatus it will bo possible to communicate with entombed minors, and great, saving of life ought to result. It may also supersede tho apparatus in uso for signalling to tho engine-house to regulate tho ascent and dcscent of the cage, and to inform the gangs when to stop tliG trucks on tho haulage ropes. The old system of telephoning and signalling is expensive, and 0110 of the claimed for tho new is a great saving in cost.