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Shaft Grab

I couldn’t think of a better title myself! When you’re sinking a shaft, where does the muck go – to the bottom of course! – this fixes that problem. The grab was suspended under the staging in the shaft which in turn was suspended on steel ropes from the stage winder. The ”cactus grab” was powered with compressed air, operated by a man in a small cab – it worked magnificently. Alan Franks tells us:”This could be the shaft grab in the middle of Cragg Hall roundabout.”

Image and information courtesy of Alan Franks, also thanks to Alan for the update.

Tunnel’s Geology Structure

Because of the way the potash is won, the machinery leaves a nice clean edge on the tunnel walls – showing the geology off to its best advantage – also useful to tell you what you are cutting into as well!

Image courtesy of Alan Franks.

Auger Borer Twin Boom

As if one wasn’t enough – but I believe they go as far as six boom – pretty awesome!

Image courtesy of Alan Franks.

Auger Borer Single Boom

Heliminers aren’t the only exotic pieces of machinery in use below – here is an Auger Borer – pretty useful if you want to make a bang! Ian Benson tells us: ”The fitted the scroll borer to an old joy shuttle car chassis several of these were built in the underground workshops. They immediately were called Scud borers as the first Gulf war was underway at the time and named after Saddam Hussein’s ineffective Scud missiles. These borers were a little crude but they did the job apart from being a little unwieldy.”

Image courtesy of Alan Franks and thanks to Ian Benson for the update.

Shuttle Car Working

This is an image of a shuttle car collecting product from a Heliminer; the mined potash passing over the front of the Heliminer for collection in the cargo area.

Image courtesy of Alan Franks.

Shuttle Car

Looks kind of space age, but this is strictly utilitarian; designed to get product (potash) from the back of the miner onto a moving belt system.

Image courtesy of Alan Franks.

Joy Continuous Miner in Action!

I suspect that I’d have to shout to make myself heard with this going flat-out in front of me! Notice the crush stacks on the right hand side of the image.

Image courtesy of Alan Franks.

The Business End!

A close-up of the cutting face of a Heliminer; like a rotary miller with attitude!

Image courtesy of Alan Franks.

Heliminer and Shuttle Car

Here, again at rest, is a Heliminer and Shuttle Car combination.

Image courtesy of Alan Franks.

Heliminer and Operator

A Heliminer is a Remote Mining Vehicle; this posed shot shows the beast at rest.  The mined product is collected in the powered scoop at the front and passed along a belt to the following shuttle car.  When full the shuttle car connects to a horizontal belt system and discharges its load for transfer to the surface storage.

Pretty cool beast ehh!

Image courtesy of Alan Franks.