Liquid discharge apparatus for a shearing-loader type mining machine

In a mining machine having drive means for propelling the mining machine along a course of travel of a mine face, the mining machine including a machinery unit, a pivotal support arm carrying a rotatably-driven shearing drum, the combination therewith of apparatus to discharge liquid from only an arcuate face segment of said shearing drum while directed toward a mine face, said apparatus including;

• liquid discharge nozzle members circumferentially distributed about the periphery of said shearing drum,
• conduit members extending radially in said shearing drum to communicate with the circumferentially-spaced nozzle members,
• shaft means about which said shearing drum independently rotates, said shaft means having at least one internal opening to conduct liquid in a direction generally parallel to the rotational axis of the shearing drum, said shaft means including a valve having a valve recess substantially at the longitudinal center within the periphery of said shaft means for communication with the internal opening thereof, said valve recess extending about a peripheral surface of the shaft means through an angle selected to correspond to at least part of the arcuate face of the shearing drum while directed toward the working face of the mine, and
• means rotatable with said shearing drum in sealed communication with the valve of said shaft means to control the period while individual ones of said conduit members deliver liquid passed through said valve to said nozzle member.