The Mechanical Handling and Storing of Material

INTROD UCTOR Y 5 Hand labour was good enough in the days when, according to the earliest records, the first coal was shipped from Newcastle in 1226, and landed at Jacob’s Lane, in the Fleet, in London; but since then great changes have taken place. In 1849 the annual production of coal in this country was 107,427,500 tons, of which 13,053,000 tons were exported as cargo or used for steam navigation. The import of sea-borne coal into London is but a small proportion of the coal handled in the principal coal ports of this country. In 1899 the production was 220,094,781 tons, and the export 55,810,024 tons; while in 1913 the coal production was 287,430,473 tons, of which 98,338,104 tons were exported as cargo and used for steam navigation. Besides coal, an immense bulk of other minerals is handled year by year. According to official returns the mineral produce of the United Kingdom for the year 1913 1 amounted to 354,890,867 tons of raw material, this immense tonnage being made up as follows :—- Coal - Iron, lead, zinc, tin, and other ores Limestone, chalk, gypsum Slate, clay, oil shale Salt, sandstone, granite, gravel sand Other minerals - Tons. - 287,430,473 - 16,059,337 - 17,884,128 - 17,510,720 - 15,732,706 273,503 Total - 354,890,867 It is obvious that such quantities can only be economically handled by mechanical means. The quantities given for export coal are by no means the total quantity loaded and unloaded, as all the sea-borne coal that is only shipped from home port to home port must be added; whilst the former has only to be handled once at the dock, the latter may have to be handled twice or thrice. In addition to the coal shipped, there is a large bulk which is carried by rail, and should be more or less mechanically loaded or unloaded into or out of trucks. “The New Coal Tables—Falling Off in Labour Efficiency.—The statistical tables published annually by the Board of Trade relating to the production, consumption, and imports and exports of coal in the British Empire and the principal foreign countries, and the production of lignite and petroleum in the principal producing countries, become more and more valuable and interesting with each issue. The information is supplied in a clear and concise form enabling comparison to be made of many different countries one with another over a long series of years. ‘Considering the difficulty in obtaining anything like trustworthy figures from many foreign sources, it is inevitable that much delay must be experienced, and the last ‘Coal Tables’ issued close with 1912. In some ways this delay is unfortunate, but it enables the information in many cases, to be given with greater accuracy. “One of the most instructive sections of the return is that which deals with the production of coal per person employed, for it throws some light upon the physical, social, and economic relationships existing in the coal-mining industry. As the workings become deeper and further from the shaft, and as more time is occupied in protective operations, the output per person employed will decrease. Again, the same result must follow from general reductions in the hours of labour and from irregularity of employment. 1 These are the latest statistics available at the time of publication.