“IRON MAN”

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 April 1941, Page 7

“IRON MAN”

CLIMBS STEEP COAL SEAMS. It is now possible to cut.coal,' without any men at hand, on a steep coal face with a gradient of GO degrees. This remarkable advance in the technique of coal mining, has been brought about by a famous engineering firm in Scotland. The clue to the new use of these “iron men,” as miners in early days called the coal-cutting machines, lies in the ingenious design of the hydraulic winch which, from its position on top of the coal face, directs the mechanical coal-cutter with extreme ease and certainty. For example, the strong wire rope connecting the winch to the coal-cutter draws the machine up the steep face at any one of seven speeds. Safety devices operate at all points. The pull on the rope cannot exceed the fixed minimum which is more than enough to haul the machine up the face during the hardest cutting, and, should the picks or teeth of the cutter be blunted or the machine be jammed by timber, work comes,to a standstill. After a little experience, the haulage operator in charge of the winch on top of the coal face can tell how the machine is cutting, the hardness of the material and' the sharpness of the me chanical picks, as accurately as if he were actually close at hand to the coal-cutter itself.