Contour miner
AssigneeJohn M. Daniel
InventorGwyn G. Hart
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A contour miner has walker means carrying an external deck outside the formation being mined having power supply and control means for movement along the periphery of a coal seam with a reciprocating carriage having a rotary cutter for removing the coal from a work face extending inwardly below the overburden perpendicular to the seam periphery; a conveyor extends adjacent the work face and conveys the removed coal out beyond the external deck; an internal roof support-walker assembly is positioned inwardly of the formation and has hydraulic cylinder actuated movable roof supports and ground pads and hydraulic cylinders for walking forward toward the work face with dragline means moving prefabricated roof supports behind the support-walker assembly as it is moved toward the work face.
Claims29
A contour miner for movement along the periphery of a coal seam for removing coal from a work face perpendicular to the periphery of the seam to a desired depth inwardly of the periphery, said miner comprising:
- a movable external deck assembly positioned on a supporting surface externally of the formation outwardly of the periphery of a coal seam to be mined;
- external deck forward drive means for moving a forward end of the external deck in a first direction generally parallel to the outer peripheral surface of the seam;
- external deck inward-outward drive means for moving the external deck in a second direction substantially perpendicular to the first direction;
- an internal roof support-walker assembly positioned inwardly of the formation adjacent the external deck assembly and having a forward portion facing a work face of the coal seam being mined;
- power drive means for moving the internal support-walker assembly in said first direction;
- carriage means mounted for horizontal reciprocation in said second direction adjacent the forward portion of the support-walker assembly;
- a power driven rotary cutter head mounted on said carriage means;
- and
- conveyor means extending along said forward portion of the support walker beneath the rotary cutter head outwardly to a discharge end adjacent the forward end of the external deck assembly.
A method of mining a mineral seam capped by an overburden and having a peripheral edge surface comprising the steps of:
- A. providing a work face in the mineral seam substantially perpendicular to the peripheral edge surface;
- B. moving a cutter head along the work face in a cutting direction substantially perpendicular to the peripheral edge surface to effect separation of particles of the mineral from the seam by a predetermined distance forwardly from the work surface to provide a new work face while supporting the overburden with movable roof supports adjacent the work face;
- C. moving the cutter head to a position outward of the peripheral edge surface;
- D. moving the cutter head and the movable roof supports in a direction substantially parallel to the peripheral edge surface a distance equal to said predetermined distance;
- E. moving the cutter head in said cutting direction along the new work face to effect separation of mineral particles therefrom;
- F. moving the prefabricated roof supports inwardly in a direction generally perpendicular of said peripheral edge surface to a position beneath the overburden following step D;
- and
- G. permitting the overburden to settle on the prefabricated roof supports as steps B, C and D are repeated.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.