A variation of water infusion that has been effective in reducing both
explosives consumption and airborne dust concentrations during mining.
Water is introduced under pressure into long holes containing explosive
charges and forced into the coal seam by detonation of the charges.
See also:infusion shot firing
A coal blasting technique that consists of firing an explosive charge in a
borehole filled with water under pressure. The water is introduced through
an infusion tube that also seals the hole. When the charge is fired, it
produces in the water a high-pressure impulse that is transmitted into the
numerous water-filled cleavage planes and slips and thus breaks the coal.
The energy from the explosive is used more efficiently than when blasting
in the conventional manner, and better coal preparation is obtained.
See also:water infusion; long-hole infusion. McAdam, 2
In mineral concentration by jigging, the stroke of the plunger device that
controls the hydraulic lift of water through the bed of particles.
Pryor, 3
a. A steam pump in which an automatic ball valve (the only moving part)
admits steam alternately to a pair of chambers, forcing out water that had
been sucked in by condensation of the steam after the previous stroke. It
can tolerate very dirty water and has been widely used for shaft sinking
and miscellaneous pumping duties. Nelson
b. A displacement pump with valves for raising water by steam, partly by
atmospheric pressure, and partly by the direct action of the steam on the
water, without intervention of a piston. Also called: vacuum pump.
Webster 3rd
Pump with two chambers that are alternately filled and discharged. An
automatic ball valve admits steam, which forces out the charge from the
filled chamber while the other is filling as its steam condenses.
Pryor, 3
a. In soil stabilization work, the separation of particles from each other
rather than the breaking up of individual particles. Separation of the
particles is the first step towards good dispersion of stabilization
additives and moisture. Nelson
b. The reduction of metal to fine powder by mechanical means.
Syn:comminution; soil stabilization.
To reduce (as by crushing or grinding) to very small particles (as in fine
powder or dust). Webster 3rd
Finely ground coal or other combustible material, that can be burned as it
issues from a suitable nozzle, through which it is blown by compressed
air. Pryor, 3
See:fine grinder
That which may easily be reduced to powder. Said of certain ores.
Weed, 2; Fay
A light-colored, vesicular, glassy rock commonly having the composition of
rhyolite. It is often sufficiently buoyant to float on water and is
economically useful as a lightweight aggregate and as an abrasive. The
adjectival form, pumiceous, is usually applied to pyroclastic ejecta.
CF:scoria; pumicite. AGI
Adj. form of pumice.
A very finely divided volcanic ash or volcanic dust ranging in color from
white to gray and buff. It is the unconsolidated equivalent of tuff.
See also:ash
A mechanical device for transferring either liquids or gases from one
place to another, or for compressing or attenuating gases. AGI
The balance weight used to bring up the plunger in a Cornish pumping
engine. Standard, 2
An underground pumping station. Fay
a. A monoclinic mineral, Ca2 (Mg,Fe,Mn)(Al,Mn,Fe)2 (SiO (sub
4) )(Si2 O7 )(OH)2 .H2 O ; pumpellyite group;
individual species named according to the preponderance of Fe, Mg, or Mn;
occurs in minute bluish-green fibers or plates in Michigan, California,
Haiti, and New Zealand.
b. The mineral group jugoldite-(Fe), okhotskite, pumpellyite-(Fe),
pumpellyite-(Mg), pumpellyite-(Mn), and shuiskite.
Syn:Lake Superior greenstone
The generalization, made by Pumpelly in 1894, that the axes and axial
surfaces of minor folds of an area are congruent with those of the major
fold structures of the same phase of deformation. AGI
In bituminous coal mining, a person who works a hand pump to force water,
accumulated underground in low places, into a drainage ditch flowing to a
natural outlet or pumping station. See also:ram operator
Eng. The lower end of a plunger case of a pump.
a. The act of moving a liquid or gas by means of a pump.
b. The operation of filling a sludge pump by an up-and-down motion of the
rods or rope. Also called pumping the sludger.
c. In scraper operation, raising and lowering the bowl rapidly to force a
larger load into it. Nichols, 2
d. Alternately raising and lowering a digging edge to increase the volume
of dirt being transported. Nichols, 1
e. The motion of mercury in a barometer arising from the movement of a
ship or from fluctuations of air pressure in a varying wind. CTD