Rock Springs Miner

ROCK SPRINGS MAN INVENTS SAFETY DEVICE

Recently the attention of the Miner has been called to a copy of the Rensselaer Polytechnic, a paper published by the students of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, of Troy N. Y., under the date of March 7th. 1924.

This paper gives an interesting account of an invention recently perfected by a Rensselaer student, Edward de F. Brooks of Rock Springs.

Edward Brooks has been a student at Rensselaer for the past two years. but was called home a few days after the publication of the article, by the death of his father, E. S. Brooks. He expects to return to the school next year.

Rock Springs friends of the young inventor will be interested in the article which is as follows:

"Again a Rensselaer man has done something to show the spirit of the school, but this time it is an undergraduate who has made his mark as an engineer. Edward E. F. Brooks '26. Rock Springs, Wyoming. has invented an anti-explosion coal dust device, whereby lives, as well as thousands of dollars, may be saved.

Brook's father is Vice-president and general manager of the Union Pacific Coal Company, with the result that Brooks himself is interested in mining. Last summer in the vicinity of his home, an explosion occurred in one of the mines, killing nearly a hundred men and tying up operations for several months. Knowing the succession of events that happen when an explosion of gas or coal dust takes place, he attempted to find some means, whereby the explosion could be localized. He worked on the principle that the "pioneer wave" precedes the flame by about 400 feet and that fine rock dust extinguishes the flame very effectively.

"In a mine the roof is held up by rough timbers. one on either side of the track. supporting horizontal beams laid lengthwise in the tunnel. From two of these parallel. horizontal beams he suspended by means of hinges, a 1x12-inch board with a notch from the lower edge to the center, at each end of the board. This notch is like a letter T being wider inside than at the edge. It supports a 1-inch rod, which in turn holds up close to the horizontal beams, four or five boards running across the tunnel. The rod is flattened at the end in the notch. and is drilled for a tight fitting pin. In its normal position·the pin rests on the edge of the board in the notch. and thus supports the rod and the boards on it. Fine adobe rock dust is piled on the boards, because from experience it has been found to be an excellent flame-killer.

"These rock-dust quenchers, as they are called, may be put up in sets of two or three or singly, depending on the chances of explosion. When an explosion occurs, a blast of air precedes it. This blast causes the wide board to swing back. The pins in each rod rest on the edge of this board. which is only one inch thick. As soon as the board swings back, the pins slip off the edge, allowing the rods to drop. The boards, supported by the rods, tip, one edge being fastened to the overhead beams by a wire and the rock dust sifts down in time to fill the whole tunnel with fine dust particles. The dust quenches the flame that follows and prevents the explosion from affecting distant parts of the mine.

"At present this device is being used in all seventeen of the Union Pacific Coal Co. mines. It is cheaply made of material on hand in every mine. and requires no expert workmanship to construct and install. Numerous mining engineers have inquired about it with a view to installing it on their property."