OCR Text |
Show Miscellany Model Coal Mine. A huge working model of a colliery and coal mine has been put in operation dally for five, minutes every half hour, as tho first exhibit of the now division of mineral min-eral technology of tho United States National museum. To children It will "d a sourco of delight greater than even the most intricate modern mechanical me-chanical toy can Afford, on account ac-count of its slzo and completeness and the VarietV nf tn nnnmlni- nayto ,..V,ll. odult visitors will find the accurate representation rep-resentation of a colliery In operation intensely in-tensely interestinp;. Coal docs not go directly from mine to market, but passes through various processes pro-cesses carlcd on by what are known as the tipple, washory, coko ovens, etc To lllustrato these processes, this largo model has been devised. It occupies a epaco of thirty by forty feet, and Is not merely a m,0e' ""t a miniature colliery, one-twelfth one-twelfth actual size, reproduced with even-detail even-detail faithfully represented down to tho railway spikes. All of the parts aro mo-chanicRlly mo-chanicRlly operative, and the buildlng3 are Illuminated Just as in actual practice. prac-tice. The model is a gift of the Consolidation Con-solidation Coal company 0f West Virginia, Vir-ginia, and reproduces the conditions at that company s mine at Fairmont. A small eloctrlo haulage locomotive makes Ecrlodlc trips in and out of thn mine. .oaded cars are run upon an automatic Jump In thn tipple, arranged beneath which jh a syiiiem of gratings and screens, which lioparntc the coal Into its various market sizes of lump, egg. nut nnd powder pow-der or ulack. 'i'ho larger skies Rro all loaded directly Into waiting freight cars, but Uio powder, ninco It contains most of tho Impurities originally contained In the coal, must be cleaned. The mechanl cal separation of tlio powdered coal from Ita impurities )s mudu In tho waahery by a process called ".Urging." An equipment. I'or tho use of the washed coal powder In the inonufacturc of coke, Ik shown by ii row of beehive ovons with all their appurtenances; tho charging with coal of ono of these ovons, and tho withdrawing' of the resulting coke from another. This lump coko may bo loaded directly into tho freight cars, or first treated In a crushing and tUzfng building, build-ing, which is nlxo shown in operation. Not only tlio colliery buildings proper, hut, tho power house, boiler houfc. railroad yards, office building, superintendent's house an1 miners' cottages nro Included. Tn nddltlon tu tho direct mining and marketing of coal for industrial nnd household use. an enormous Industry has dovoloped In the inanufnctiirc of a largo variety of coal products, extending all the way from gas. coke and tar, to drugs, photographic chemicals and rare compounds. com-pounds. To a great extent, this Industry is Incidental m the manufacture and supply sup-ply of illuminating gas for household use. A scries of models and samples hi now being developed showingMho process involved in-volved in the illuminating gat; and byproduct by-product Industry, together with exhibits of the products secured. There will bo shown a "00-pound lump of coking coal, with the proportionate amount of gn, lar, ammonia and drugs obtainable therefrom, there-from, as well as a model of a by-product plant In which the process is carried on. Tho geological occurrence of coal Is represented by a model of the Takashlina field In Japan a gift of the Mltsu Blsbl company. This field was selected owing to its two-fold Interest; It not only serves primarily to lllustrato tho occurrence occur-rence of bituminous coal In general, but Is also unusual In that tho liiino operations opera-tions arc actually carried on under the ocean. Another model, that of the Jenny Llnd rnlno In Arkansas, presented by tho Western Coal company, represents the general layout of a whole mine, but while showing much greater detail than the foregoing model. It docs not. Indicate the coal working practice. This Is reserved re-served for a third model of tho colliery of the First Pool Xo. 2. mine of the I'lttsimrg Coal company, willoek, Pa., which serves to bring out clearly in. a popular way tho details of tho various steps from tho first opening up of the seam to the removal of the last available coal in that area, showing the mining town, surface plant and workings below ground. Tho exhibits of tho division of mineral technology arc to occupy the southwest iiiarter of the old museum building, their purposo being to represent by models aud specimens each of the Industries based on the mineral resources of tho world, covering not only eurrent practice, but also the historical development of these Industries. |