London - JOIN UP

Series

Series Name

Mining Review 20th Year

Issue

Issue No.

5

Date Released

Jan 1967

Stories in this Issue:

1. 1London - ENGINEERS’ DAY
2. 2Denbighshire - LOCAL TALENT
3. 3London - JOIN UP
4. 4County Durham - GEOLOGIST

Story

Story No. within this Issue

3 / 4

Summary

BFI synopsis: The development of a conveyor belt joiner by the Coal Board’s Mining Research Establishment.
NCB Commentary - When rubber conveyor belting was used in our mines, it presented a fire hazard. But since the introduction of P.V.C. belting fire risks have almost been eliminated.
P.V.C. belts last longer too - but the weakest part of any belt is at the joint. Repairs and replacements took up a lot of time.
And so the Coal Board’s Mining Research Establishment took on the job of developing new ways to join belting.
The first job was to discover exactly how and why joins broke at all. To do this many types of belts and fasteners had to be tested.
The scientists found three main causes.
1. The wire is too thick - the fasteners tear the fabric of the belt.
2. The wire is too thin - the fasteners open out.
3. In some belts, fasteners pulled right through the belt fabric.
The results of the tests were analysed - to determine in the first instance which type of fastener was most suited to what type of belt. These findings alone will save the industry thousands of pounds worth of production time.
But this was not enough - the next task was to design a fastener that would do the job more efficiently still - a fastener that would be suitable on many types of belts.
So tests went on - and finally the new fastener was designed.
On the 3,000 miles of conveyor belting in use in British pits research has paid off.

Keywords

Science and technology; Mining

Locations

England; Gloucestershire

Written sources

British Film Institute Databases   Used for synopsis
The National Archives COAL 32   /13 Scripts for Mining Review, 1960-1963

Credits:

Sponsor

National Coal Board

Production Co.

National Coal Board Film Unit