DERBY RAM

Series

Series Name: Mining Review 6th Year

Issue

Issue No.

Date Released

May 1953

Stories in this Issue:

Story

Story No. within this Issue

2 / 4

Summary

BFI synopsis: new automatic mine car handling (surface tub handling) at Donisthorpe Colliery.
NCB Commentary - Donisthorpe Colliery in Derbyshire has installed a new tub handling circuit on the surface, where one man is now controlling all operations.
As a full mine car comes up with 3 1/4 tons of coal, pneumatic rams push it out of the cage and push in an empty at the same time. The full car runs down a gradient towards the tippler. Here its speed is checked automatically and it’s rammed in to be tipped, pushing out an empty car again on the other side.
This empty runs on to a traverser which moves it over to one side of the pit bank and on to one of two sets of tracks. One by one, the empties are rammed forward so that the leading car moves on to a further traverser behind the cages. These traversers move each car in turn to face the cages, ready to be rammed in.
That - in brief - is the cycle of movements. The system is pneumatic and semi-automatic in operation. At every stage, protective devices are built into the circuit, like automatic signalling on a railway.
Under the tippler is a moving conveyor on which the coal is automatically weighed as it starts off on the journey to the preparation plant. This highly efficient layout handles 1800 tons each shift - 3600 tons a day - with only one man in charge. There used to be 16 at Dinisthorpe pit bank; today the other 15 are free for productive work.

Researcher Comments

BFI sources suggest that this story was filmed from the 2nd to the 5th February 1953. The budget was £201 7s 9d. Commentary recorded 7 April 1953.

Keywords

Transport; Mining; Engineering

Locations