In drilling for water and oil to reasonable depths through the generally soft yielding clay and sand formation of the Coastal Plain of Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, the rotating method of drilling was adopted, principally on account of the easy and quick penetration, and the low cost of the drilling plant. In favorable ground, free … Read more
The hammer drill rightly receives the credit for having made the one-man drill possible, and so many economies seem possible through the proper application of different types of hammer drills to various mining, quarrying, and excavating operations, that an indication of the economies effected by the New Jersey Zinc Co. at its Franklin mines may … Read more
Torches were used by the early Romans for mine-lighting, and these were followed by open lamps or earthen jars filled with tallow or oil, and later by candles. In early coal-mining, explosive gases seldom occurred, and, if they were encountered, the danger of explosion was materially diminished by the absence of any ventilating-system and the … Read more
The design and specifications submitted in this paper are not offered as satisfying all conditions of gold dredging. Many rich stream-beds would not give “ elbow-room ” for such a dredge: many otherwise favorable gold-bearing areas are too small to warrant the cost of its installation; and, in some localities, as I have already remarked, … Read more
If we could keep the rock-drills running all the time, and eliminate all the other operations except as they could be carried on without interfering with the drilling, that would certainly seem to promise more rapid progress. This is the idea which the inventors of the tunneling-machines are working on, and it is no wonder … Read more
Frequently in using a thermo-electric pyrometer for measuring the temperature of a furnace, a hole is drilled at the back or side of the furnace, through which is introduced the tube containing the thermocouple. At times the couple is left almost where it drops, for the reason that it soon becomes too hot to be … Read more
Electric power in mining-operations is now successfully applied to haulage, hoisting, lighting and pumping; and until lately, drilling was the one department of mining in which an electric source of energy had not been introduced. Drilling by electric power has been the field for much investigation and several forms of electric-drills have been tried; but … Read more