On Watering the Coal-Dust in Mines

Airborne dust in coal mines: the sampling problem.

How does limestone rock dust prevent coal dust explosions in coal mines?

Coal dust explosions in underground coal mines are pre­ vented by a generous application of rock dust (usually lime­ stone). If an explosion should occur, the rock dust disperses, mixes with the coal dust and prevents fl ame propagation by acting as a thermal inhibitor or heat sink. To investigate this process in more detail, a number of ex­ plosion experiments using various coal dust and limes...

Effect of Dust Suppression Measures on the Prevalence of Coal-workers' Pneumoconiosis in the Dutch Coal-mines.

The underground workers in the Dutch coal-mines have been radiographed (70 mm.) seven times since 1949. The prevalence of coal-miners' pneumoconiosis shows a continuous decrease in all age groups. To evaluate the effect of the intensive system of dust suppression over this period a cohort analysis was made of the proportion ofmen with pneumoconiosis with the same number of years of exposure und...

Controlling respirable dust in underground coal mines in the United States

As mining operations in the United States (US) have become more productive, con­ trolling the dust exposure of mine workers has become more challenging. In response, US mining operations are applying basic controls at elevated levels and are looking to emerging control tech­ nologies in an effort to better control airborne respirable dust levels. The Pittsburgh Research Laboratory (PRL) of the ...

Fossil hunting in coal mines.

At the northern tip of Colombia, Jonathan Bloch hunts for fossils in the midst of spontaneous combustion fires, noxious gases laced with foul-smelling sulfur, rock-shattering explosions, and some of the largest machines in the world. “It is a weird place to work,” Bloch admits, an associate curator of vertebrate paleontology at the FloridaMuseum of Natural History, although he says he feels saf...