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Ron Olive (1927-2005) - Electrical engineer, Pelton Colliery. Recorded 9 April 1990. Part 3 of 3.
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SummaryTAPE 430A RON OLIVE
Recorded 09 April 1990
Part 3 of 3
0:03
The capacity of a shuttle car is 10 ton. Emptying takes on average 7 ton a minute. A belt measures 900ft. The bulk of the emptied coal happens in the first few hundred feet. It’s important therefore not to have surges of coal coming into the washing plant. The belt often runs empty for periods of time because of the inconsistent delivery on the belt. The belt therefore needs to made bid enough to carry the surges. Ron suggests using a buffer or bin which reduces the use of power.
2:56
Bins used underground at Pelton. Feeders were another system. Sherwin Vibrators – electro vibrating feeders – Cintron is another brand. Belts. Ropes and locos. 1946/7 – Trackless mining coal cutters. They mounted the coal cutters on rubber tyres. It was post WW2 and they used the pre-war coal cutter and converted it to trackless mining using the Mustang Fighter Plane wheels.
6:25
Kalingo had track mounted and Extended had the rubber tyre mounted but you could also have them mounted on rails. Everything at Pelton was caterpillar mounted. The loader and the coal cutter were “cat” mounted.
7:00
1951 Ron was assistant engineer at Kalingo – Reg Currey was the engineer. Ron then went down the south coast for about 12 months. Kalingo had track mounted stuff but they used locos to push up loaded skips. Cleats were set on the tracks for the rail gauge.
8:13
Kalingo got started till about 1938. 1,256ft deep with a heavy roof. A lot of timber was used when they were mining – the cost of labour was low compared to the material costs. Stan Coffey and Ellalong. His experiments with the heavy roof being supported after each 2ft of coal being taken and bolted up to the face – “if I make my main headings narrow, I have less unsupported space” – he drove at 12ft rather than 18ft. He went to long wall mining.
12:19
The only problem with this was that the miners couldn’t retreat quickly enough with that space. Using that method the coal was removed by belt. Using two headings in one place and two in another 40 feet apart and cut throughs enabled ventilation. The air intake has the belt in it. “You’ve got to work your mine to suit your layout. “ Panels can be driven off a heading to access coal or avoid obstacles.
15:51
Clem Jones and Little Cessnock. There was another pit (called Crawford) between Pelton and Bellbird – (a tunnel, a drift or a shaft?) It was a tunnel straight in to the coal. A small mine which had one fatality (possibly George Crawford). They brought the coal out and tipped it into a truck and took it away with horse and cart. Similar to Joshua Brown and Abernot. This operation may have taken place during the Lockout.
19:50
The working of Pelton. There is a peak on the opposite side of the road to the tunnel, apparently where Edgeworth David recognised that from that point all the faults in the Maitland field radiate from. Pelton was heavily faulted – most of the mining had occurred at the surface because they couldn’t get past the faults. David Haldane introduced jack hammers etc. to get through the faults with a plan on how to operate the mine. He got over the industrial troubles at the beginning.
22:06
There was a confrontation attitude with the Federation. Henry Hill. The bath house. Haldane changed the attitude to one of reconciliation – working together.
23:46
They also had access to the virgin coal they hadn’t been able to access earlier. Haldane came there in 1948. He picked good people too. After 6 months the output went from one and three quarter ton a man to 8 ton a man and eventually reaching 11 ton a man.
26:32
Bellbird – The Ballroom – percentages of coal taken from mines. The Creeps in mines – the pillar pushes into the roof or the roof pushes into the ground. The Holland lease – the Ellalong lease can be seen from the verandah of the hotel – looking straight out to the mountain for 3 miles, along the base of the mountain for 3 miles, back 3 and a quarter miles. Altogether 10 sq miles.
34:08
End (Tape430/Side A) Part 3 of 3
Olive, Ronald Peter, 1927-2005PersonJack DelaneyDepicts or Relates ToStan CoffeyCollectionVoices of the HunterPlaceCessnock, NSWLocation[1] Pelton Colliery, NSW[2] Kalingo Colliery, NSW[3] Bellbird Colliery, NSWIdentifier430A
Recorded 09 April 1990
Part 3 of 3
0:03
The capacity of a shuttle car is 10 ton. Emptying takes on average 7 ton a minute. A belt measures 900ft. The bulk of the emptied coal happens in the first few hundred feet. It’s important therefore not to have surges of coal coming into the washing plant. The belt often runs empty for periods of time because of the inconsistent delivery on the belt. The belt therefore needs to made bid enough to carry the surges. Ron suggests using a buffer or bin which reduces the use of power.
2:56
Bins used underground at Pelton. Feeders were another system. Sherwin Vibrators – electro vibrating feeders – Cintron is another brand. Belts. Ropes and locos. 1946/7 – Trackless mining coal cutters. They mounted the coal cutters on rubber tyres. It was post WW2 and they used the pre-war coal cutter and converted it to trackless mining using the Mustang Fighter Plane wheels.
6:25
Kalingo had track mounted and Extended had the rubber tyre mounted but you could also have them mounted on rails. Everything at Pelton was caterpillar mounted. The loader and the coal cutter were “cat” mounted.
7:00
1951 Ron was assistant engineer at Kalingo – Reg Currey was the engineer. Ron then went down the south coast for about 12 months. Kalingo had track mounted stuff but they used locos to push up loaded skips. Cleats were set on the tracks for the rail gauge.
8:13
Kalingo got started till about 1938. 1,256ft deep with a heavy roof. A lot of timber was used when they were mining – the cost of labour was low compared to the material costs. Stan Coffey and Ellalong. His experiments with the heavy roof being supported after each 2ft of coal being taken and bolted up to the face – “if I make my main headings narrow, I have less unsupported space” – he drove at 12ft rather than 18ft. He went to long wall mining.
12:19
The only problem with this was that the miners couldn’t retreat quickly enough with that space. Using that method the coal was removed by belt. Using two headings in one place and two in another 40 feet apart and cut throughs enabled ventilation. The air intake has the belt in it. “You’ve got to work your mine to suit your layout. “ Panels can be driven off a heading to access coal or avoid obstacles.
15:51
Clem Jones and Little Cessnock. There was another pit (called Crawford) between Pelton and Bellbird – (a tunnel, a drift or a shaft?) It was a tunnel straight in to the coal. A small mine which had one fatality (possibly George Crawford). They brought the coal out and tipped it into a truck and took it away with horse and cart. Similar to Joshua Brown and Abernot. This operation may have taken place during the Lockout.
19:50
The working of Pelton. There is a peak on the opposite side of the road to the tunnel, apparently where Edgeworth David recognised that from that point all the faults in the Maitland field radiate from. Pelton was heavily faulted – most of the mining had occurred at the surface because they couldn’t get past the faults. David Haldane introduced jack hammers etc. to get through the faults with a plan on how to operate the mine. He got over the industrial troubles at the beginning.
22:06
There was a confrontation attitude with the Federation. Henry Hill. The bath house. Haldane changed the attitude to one of reconciliation – working together.
23:46
They also had access to the virgin coal they hadn’t been able to access earlier. Haldane came there in 1948. He picked good people too. After 6 months the output went from one and three quarter ton a man to 8 ton a man and eventually reaching 11 ton a man.
26:32
Bellbird – The Ballroom – percentages of coal taken from mines. The Creeps in mines – the pillar pushes into the roof or the roof pushes into the ground. The Holland lease – the Ellalong lease can be seen from the verandah of the hotel – looking straight out to the mountain for 3 miles, along the base of the mountain for 3 miles, back 3 and a quarter miles. Altogether 10 sq miles.
34:08
End (Tape430/Side A) Part 3 of 3
Olive, Ronald Peter, 1927-2005PersonJack DelaneyDepicts or Relates ToStan CoffeyCollectionVoices of the HunterPlaceCessnock, NSWLocation[1] Pelton Colliery, NSW[2] Kalingo Colliery, NSW[3] Bellbird Colliery, NSWIdentifier430Aloading google map....
Delaney, Jack, 1919-2010, Ron Olive (1927-2005) - Electrical engineer, Pelton Colliery. Recorded 9 April 1990. Part 3 of 3., [430A]. Living Histories, accessed 01/12/2023, https://livinghistories.newcastle.edu.au/nodes/view/56087