IDEAS MAN

Series

Series Name

Mining Review 7th Year

Issue

Issue No.

8

Date Released

Apr 1954

Stories in this Issue:

1. 1ANTHRACITE FIELD
2. 2TIME OUT
3. 3BOWHILL ON TOP
4. 4IDEAS MAN

Story

Story No. within this Issue

4 / 4

Summary

BFI synopsis: Gerald Russon from Thoresby Colliery demonstrates two of his inventions for safety in mines. The first is the face conveyor signalling and motor control device which allows the conveyor to be stopped at once from anywhere on the face. The second is the slack rope alarm for the safe operation of the cage up and down the mineshaft.
NCB Commentary - At Nottingham’s Thoresby Colliery a young man started work as electrician’s mate in 1927.
To-day Gerald Russon is chief electrician and an inventor who has contributed a lot to safety in the mines. Across the fields from the Colliery is his house, which as a young man he helped to wire for electricity.
Gerald Russon takes his inventive flair home with him - so much so that he often has to be reminded of the workaday jobs about the house. Safety precautions are always in the front of his mind - never touch an electrical circuit without first switching off.
At home it’s useful to have a man who can build his own television set, but back at the colliery the Russon know-how pays dividends not only in Coal Board Invention Awards but in practical results in improving mining techniques in the field of engineering.
Here’s his face conveyor signalling and motor control device which allows the conveyor to be stopped at once from anywhere on the face. To Gerald Russon it was worth a handsome prize, but miners rate it higher than money.
One of his new inventions is the slack rope alarm. On the model you can see how a cage is made to trip switches to show that it’s reached the top of the shaft. In the winding house is the other end of this imprtant safety device. A photo-electric cell mounted near the drum works in connection with the cage switches and makes it impossible to wind a cage down the shaft until the kept which hold the cage have been released. Another source of colliery accidents has been neutralised.
With an eye on the future, Gerald Russon spends much of his time in the workshop with his trainees. They too have an eye on the future, and a look at Nottinghamshire’s output figures will tell you the reason why.

Researcher Comments

According to bfi records, this story was filmed from the 26th to the 28th January 1954. ‘Dornan Long’ and ‘Harpo Marx/Molotov’ were also credited as cameramen. Commentary recorded 8 March 1954.

Keywords

Communications; Mining; Safety devices; Inventions and discoveries

Locations

England; Nottinghamshire

Written sources

British Film Institute Databases   Used for Synopsis
Film User   Vol.8 No.95 September 1954, p436.
The National Archives COAL 32   /3 Scripts for Mining Review, 1949-1956

Credits:

Production Co.

Documentary Technicians Alliance

Camera

John Reid

Camera

Kenneth Reeves

Sponsor

National Coal Board