London & Denbyshire - Big Show

Series

Series Name

Mining Review 19th Year

Issue

Issue No.

1

Date Released

Sep 1965

Stories in this Issue:

1. 1Lancashire - Guys and Dolls
2. 2Nottinghamshire - Push-Button
3. 3Yorkshire - Miners at Sea
4. 4London & Denbyshire - Big Show

Story

Story No. within this Issue

4 / 4

Summary

NoS synopsis: Delegates from the international mining congress visit the Board’s Central Engineering Establishment.
NCB Commentary - To London’s Olympia this summer came the world’s mining experts to see the mining machinery exhibition.
Into the lift shaft for a quick wind up to the first floor and a bird’s-eye view of some of the equipment which keeps the world’s mines humming.
An exhibition replies of a shearer drum - a British invention which cuts and loads coal all over the world.
Talking shop was the order of the day between visitors from more than 50 countries, and our own mining engineers.
A highlight of the exhibition was the Coal Board’s own stand, where a working installation showed how all mining operations can be run from a central control room sited above ground - an important step towards the ultimate goal of remote controlled mining, in which Britain is the pioneer.
Meanwhile 350 mining experts from overseas, attending the 4th International Mining Congress, were guests for 3 days at the Coal Board’s Central Engineering Establishment at Bretby in Derbyshire - where many of the Board’s revolutionary mining inventions are developed and tested.
Guests had a choice of literature in English, French, German or Russian, and each party had its own interpreter.
Before touring the Establishment parties were welcomed by Bretby’s director Roy Lansdowne, who later escorted members of the Russian delegation.
This fearsome-looking machine is known as a Mk. II Lothians Heavy Impact Plough. When it meets up with extra hard coal it packs a mighty punch.
Visitors saw how Shearer drums must be ventilated at the coal face to remove accumulations of gas. An important advance in the continuing drive for safety underground is to use water to make a current of air between the drum and the coal-face.
The Bretby-Mavor Miner has two revolving drums to cut and range into the coal at each end. It is designed to save time and money in winning coal from our thinner seams.
To accent the co-operation which exists between overseas mining engineers and our own - visitors saw the Bretby-Dutch State Mines Joint Automatic Plough Project - a fitting example of the free exchange of ideas between the world’s coal mining communities, to whom Britain played welcoming host.

Keywords

Mining

Written sources

British Film Institute Databases
Films on Coal Catalogue   1969, p.51
The National Archives COAL 32   /13 Scripts for Mining Review, 1960-1963

Credits:

Sponsor

National Coal Board

Production Co.

National Coal Board Film Unit