CUT AND THRUST

Series

Series Name
Mining Review 6th Year

Issue

Issue No.
8
Date Released
Apr 1953
Stories in this Issue:
  1. 1THE BIG PUSH
  2. 2TIPTOE
  3. 3CUT AND THRUST
  4. 4OUT COLD

Story

Story No. within this Issue
3 / 4
Summary
BFI synopsis: a new combined cutter-loader at North Gawber Colliery.
NCB Commentary - North Cawber in Yorkshire is a quiet steady pit with an output of 2,000 tons a day. They don’t often hit the headlines.
But Manager Lister and Agent Greenfield were recently first in the field with a new idea - the North Gawber Cutter Loader. The Ruwood loader has been used in many seams as an independent unit following cutters which had pre-cut the face. Lister and Greenfield thought of joining a loader to a cutter as a combined unit. They made up a model, joining a Samson cutter to the Ruwood loader. The only alteration was to raise the height of the two inner flights - they’re the teeth which breaks down the coal from the face. They joined the units together by a hinged plate. The mock-up seemed to work well - on the surface.
So, in the Top Haigh Moor seam, they put the combined machine to test. After the seam has been overcut by a normal cutter, the combined cutter-loader gets to work on the day shift. It’s a two man team on the machine. As they switch on, the flights start loading straight onto the conveyor, while the cutter-loader winches itself up the face. The loader-man has to keep the flow clear as the machiine moves forward, and sets props to keep the roof up. They’re working in a 2 ft. 9 seam.
With a full team of men on the face, the output with this new unit reaches nearly seven tons per man shift, compared with five tons by ordinary methods. In saving man-hours and raising output, the new cutter-loader looks a good investment.
Researcher Comments
BFI sources suggest that this story was filmed from the 17th to the 19th December 1952. Commentary recorded 9 March 1953.
Keywords
Mining; Engineering; Inventions and discoveries
Locations
Yorkshire; England
Written sources
British Film Institute Databases   Used for synopsis
Film User   Vol.8 No.87 January 1954, p32.
The National Archives COAL 32   /3 Scripts for Mining Review, 1949-1956
Credits:
Production Co.
Documentary Technicians Alliance
Sponsor
National Coal Board
Director
Peter Pickering

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