THE AERIAL TRAMWAY.

Otago Witness, Issue 1419, 1 February 1879, Page 20

THE AERIAL TRAMWAY.

J'rom time to time within the past ew months paragraphs have been published relative to the aerial tramway which has been

erected in connection with the Fernhill Com-

pony's coal-mine, Abbotbford, and many must have noticed it in working order as they have -passed between Abbotsford and the Chain Hills funnel on the Southern Railway. The tramway is the property of Messrs Alves and .Howorth, who have patented it in this Colony, and we believe also in Australia. As it is certainly a novelty, and is besides an invention which in all probability will come to be of considerable use in the future, a few words of -description of its main features may not be out of place. We may here mention that Messrs Alves and Howorth have "*?had several applications for particulars as to -cost, &c, and there is every likelihood, seeing the success attendant upon the Fernhill tramway, of several being in operation in Otago shortly. The Henley Estate Company contemplate the erection of one for a novel purpose — namely, the construction of several mounds — or islands, if such they may be called — upon their estate for the purpose of affording a retreat for stock during floods. Each of these mounds is intended to be perhaps two or three acres in extent, and the use the tramway ia to be put to is to bring material from the hills some distance away, a work which would be expensive and especially difficult by any other means, owing to the soft swampy nature of much of the ground. Besides the Dusky Sound Copper Mining Company, and one or two reefing companies at Macetown, inquiries regarding the tramway have come from more than one coal company in ihe North, and also from several mining concerns in Australia. The tramway at Fernhill extends from the pit to the railway siding, a distance of 75 chaiEs, or over three-quarters of a mile. It consists of an endless wire rope, which revolves at each end round a grooved pulley-wheel, nine foot in diameter. Ihe wh\> rope is constantly travelling, and the coal is carried in buckets which, fixed firmly to the wire, are brought along on the one side full and return empty. As may be expected, especially by those who know the nature of tbe country over which ihe tramway goes, for in parts of the line the gradient is about one foot in two and a-half feet, tbe buckets have to be fixed very thoroughly to the wire, and this is achieved in a highly ingenious manner by a "clip," which Is grooved similarly to the wire itself, .and fastens remarkably closely. The buckets come from the mine filled, each containing from 2cwt to 2^cwt, aad by the aid of a cleverly-contrived lever the full bucket is lifted on to what is called the " shunt-bar," ■which is constructed on an incline, and along which the bucket runs till it reaches the con-

tmually revolving wire. Each bucket has of coarse a hanger fitted on to it, with the " clip" •at the top, and a workman guides the bncket on to the wire, fixes the clip, and away ifc goes upon its journey to the siding. Arrived Ifaere, it hhunts itself off the travelling tram on to the stationary shunting- bar. This is on an incline, as at th 6 pit end, and as the bucket shunts itself a bolt, by an arrangement which must be seen >to be understood, unfixes the slip, a couple of small pulleys (which are out. of use while the jouraey over the wire is made) fixed in the top of the hanger come into play, and on the bucket goes to the shoot over the railway-truck on the siding below. A workman stands ready, tips the bucket over, places it in an upright position again, and round the sbuntiug-bar it slides towards the return travelling wire. Here, as when it set out, it has to be placed in position by a workman, but very shortly a bolt will be provided to clasp the clip on the wire, so that the bucket may start on the return without any assistance. _ As the empties return the full ones come, and it looks almost a miraculous sight to see the buckets every here and there along the tram travelling to and fro as fast as a man can walk, and with all the regularity of clockwork. Very rarely indeed now does any hitch occur, and any occasional stoppage is always due to some oversight on the part of the workmen — not, so far as we could learn, to any detect in the machinery or the working of the concern itself. The vvirb is carried over tresfels. The mine is in a yuiiy, and tue siding also, and at each and a etoep hill has to be ascended. About halfway also there in another deep gully to be crossed, and the span between two tressels is at this point no less tbau 1200 feet. This, however, h intended to be reduced to 900 feet, «ad a trcßDul 56 feet high ia now in course of .-■erection on an eminence which will reduce it

to the distance mentioned. The number of * buckets now used in 23, and by their means, the wire travelling at two and a-half miles an &our, a six-ton track can be filled in an hour and twenty minutes. Within a week or two, At is intended to bring 40 buckets into use, do ■that it will be seen that no delay in loading tracks will take pkre ; in fact,, the difficulty will be to get out coal enough to keep the tramway going. The mine proprietors, however (of iswhiau Messrs Alves and ilowoith are among

the principal) have it in contemplation to begin " stripping " at once, and thus to open out the seam, which is over 19 feet through, from a face, and quarry the coal down, by which means they will be enabled to get a very large supply at extremely small cost. In connection with the mine, also, it may be mentioned that an inexhaustible quantity of building sand exists right over the seam they are now working, and they intend to begin sending this into tha Dunedin market at once. Of course, it can be understood that the tramway was nofc got into the satisfactory working order in which it now is without a great deal of contriving and experimenting to meet defects that showed themselves from time to time. It must be remembered that this tramway is worked on a much steeper gradient than any in use in any other part of the world, so far as the patents know. In England none ard worked at greater gradients than one in eight. It would be tedious to explain in what way the various detects were remedied, and hitches successfully surmounted. It is enough to say that now the affair works with the most desirable smoothness, and is a high credit to all concerned with it, and especially to Mr John Alves, who had the whole of the various articles of ironwork, wire ropes, &c, made to order from his plans, and the whole thing erected and improved under his own superintendence. A written description of it must necessarily give a very imperfect notion of the details of this interesting contrivance, which yet is exceedingly simple in its working, and * visit to it will well repay all who take any pleasure in seeing a really deter and labour-saving contrivance in operation. . The engine giving the driving power is at tna siding terminal. It is a 10-horse power nominal, with double cylinders, and is altogether too powerful for the work required of it. It is very rarely worked beyond 3-horse power, which is found amply sufficient. Between the enginehouse and the pit a telephone and electric bell are rigged up, which keep up a perfect communication, and it is simply wonderful to see how »oon atter the signal has been given from the pit the wire rope begins to travel and the freighted buckets to move off. Messrs W. Davidson and Co., of the Otago Foundry, turned out the whole of the buckets, hangers, &c, used, and Mr Henry supplied and erected the telephone.