Longwall mining roof support for double deck machines

A mineral mining installation comprising a plurality of support units arranged alongside a mineral face, each unit having an underframe and an upper frame disposed above the underframe, the underframe being composed of a floor part engaging on the floor of the working, a roof part supported on the floor part by at least a rear structure located remote from the face and facing the goaf zone to form a goaf shield with a chamber extending between the rear structure and the face and between the roof and floor parts and the upper frame being composed of hydraulic props carried on the roof part of the underframe, a roof-engaging girder supported by the props and a goaf shield pivotably connected between the roof girder and the underframe, wherein an intermediate structure interconnects central regions of the floor and roof parts of each underframe to subdivide said underframe into a winning chamber adjacent the face and an access chamber, and wherein means are provided for supporting and guiding a winning device in both the winning chamber and the face side region of the upper frame.

A mine installation for use with a thick-seam mineral face;

• said installation comprising several support units disposed along a mineral face and interconnected through a shifting system employing double-acting hydraulic rams operative to selectively move one of the units in relation to the other units, the shifting system also comprising a beam extending parallel to the mineral face, the hydraulic rams being interconnected by the beam, each unit having a rigid underframe with a floor part, a roof part and rear and intermediate structures interconnecting the roof and floor parts to define an access chamber between the roof and floor parts remote from the mineral face and a winning chamber adjacent the mineral face, the roof part extending at least over the entire area of the access chamber, and each support unit having an upper frame constituted by hydraulic props supported on the roof part of the underframe and carrying a roof girder, the hydraulic props having lengths considerably less than the thickness of the seam, wherein means are provided for supporting and guiding a winning device in both the winning chamber and the face side region of the upper frame.