h.dirix
The grand old Lady of the coalmine of Winterslag (Belgium)
The shafts are the lifelines of a mine because they only can be reached trought perpendicular entrances. This allows materials and miners to be brought down an the mined materials to be brought up.
The transport in the shafts is done with giant elevator machines.
What we see is the giant elevator machine of the coalmine of Winterslag (Belgium), equipped with 2 Direct Current motors of 10.000 Volt each and it raised or lowered the lift cages at a speed from 72 km per hour until a depth of 750 meters.
This crafty lady has been in operation from 1916 to 1988 and has raised a total of 66.593.000 tons of coal from below the mine.
The big wheel in the middle is the so called "Koepe disc" around which an arm thick steel cable, weighing 100 tons, was wound half a turn. The lift cages were attached at both ends of this cable.
The machine operator had a very responsible task and no computers were available: it was purely manual and was done with hands, eyes and ears.
The dashboard stands in front of the machine and consists of bells with which signals were passed from below, volt and ammeters and a level gauge which shows the movement of the lift cages and its speed in the shaft.
The grand old Lady of the coalmine of Winterslag (Belgium)
The shafts are the lifelines of a mine because they only can be reached trought perpendicular entrances. This allows materials and miners to be brought down an the mined materials to be brought up.
The transport in the shafts is done with giant elevator machines.
What we see is the giant elevator machine of the coalmine of Winterslag (Belgium), equipped with 2 Direct Current motors of 10.000 Volt each and it raised or lowered the lift cages at a speed from 72 km per hour until a depth of 750 meters.
This crafty lady has been in operation from 1916 to 1988 and has raised a total of 66.593.000 tons of coal from below the mine.
The big wheel in the middle is the so called "Koepe disc" around which an arm thick steel cable, weighing 100 tons, was wound half a turn. The lift cages were attached at both ends of this cable.
The machine operator had a very responsible task and no computers were available: it was purely manual and was done with hands, eyes and ears.
The dashboard stands in front of the machine and consists of bells with which signals were passed from below, volt and ammeters and a level gauge which shows the movement of the lift cages and its speed in the shaft.