CUT AND THRUST

Series

Series Name: Mining Review 6th Year

Issue

Issue No.

Date Released

Apr 1953

Stories in this Issue:

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