LOADING AND FIRING MINES.
63. Preparing the Charge.—The weight of the charge necessary to produce the desired effect is determined by the rules previously given. Its volume, if of powder or compressed gun-cotton, may be found by allowing 30 cubic inches to the pound; and if of dynamite, about 20 cubic inches.
If the mine-chamber is perfectly dry, and the mine is to be fired at once, a layer of straw may be placed upon the floor of the chamber and the charge contained in canvas bags laid upon it. When the ground is more or less wet, or when the mine is not to be fired immediately, the charge should have a water-proof covering, which may be a thoroughly calked and pitched box, an ale-barrel or beer-keg, the metal barrels in which powder is shipped, or India-rubber or pitched-canvas bags,—depending upon the amount of moisture present and the time that the charge is to remain in place. Many of the high explosives are not affected by dampness, and but little if any by water; but to secure the fuse and its connections from injury, and to remove all danger of misfires, the explosive should in all cases be protected from water if practicable.
64. Distribution of Fuses in the Charges.—Gunpowder will explode with full effect if ignited, but to prevent the explosion of the central part of a large charge scattering the exterior portion before it is ignited a number of fuzes should be used. They may convey fire only, but must all be ignited by the firing apparatus, and simultaneously. One fuze to each 100 lbs. of powder is not too great an allowance; but when lack of time or appliances does not admit of placing a number of fuzes, the desired effect may be obtained by increasing the charge of powder and using one fuze. (See Abbot, Prof. Papers Corps of Engineers, No. 23, 1881, p. 62, for number of fuzes needed; and pp. 244-51 for simultaneous ignitions.)
The high explosives detonate with full force only when exploded with a detonating fuze. Under favorable conditions one fuze will detonate a very large charge, but cases arise in which a portion of the charge explodes and the remainder does not. To insure the best results, therefore, it is desirable to distribute fuzes throughout a large charge, at the rate of perhaps one fuze to each 50 lbs. These fuzes should contain from 20 to 30 grains of fulminate of mercury, which is itself very sensitive to shock, and has in a high degree the power of detonating the other explosives. One fuze only (or, for safety against defects, two or three) need be connected with the firing apparatus, the others serving to reinforce and carry on the wave of explosion after it is started—differing in this respect from their use with charges of gunpowder.[19]
65. Character and Construction of Fuzes.—Formerly, for firing mines, trains of powders put up in linen tubes, quick-match, and other similar devices were used. Electric-blasting apparatus is now in such common use that it will always be available for any extended mining operations. For single mines with small charges it may, however, be necessary sometimes to resort to the older method of firing, the apparatus for which can be readily improvised. But even in these cases “Bickford” or “Safety” fuze will usually be available, and may be used alone for firing gunpowder, or with a common fulminate-of-mercury “blasting-cap” for high explosives. It burns at the rate of about 4 feet per minute. Very quick-burning fuzes are also made which may be used at times (e. g., Bickford Instantaneous, which burns at the rate of 120 feet a second; Gomez Lightning, which burns so rapidly that it may almost be said to detonate; etc.) Great care must be taken not to mistake them for the common Bickford.
66. Electric Fuzes are made of three general classes: First, those which are fired by a spark from a high-tension machine; second, those which are ignited by a current from a battery or “dynamo;” third, those which can be fired by either. (Abels, etc.)
67. Those of the second class are manufactured in large quantities, and, in connection with a portable dynamo or “blasting-battery,” are almost universally used for blasting operations throughout the United States.
These fuzes ([Pl. XII], Fig. 32) are made up of two insulated copper wires, A, A, passing through a small cylindrical block of insulating material, B, and terminating about 1/16 inch above its end. A very fine platinum wire, C, about 1/1000 inch in diameter and 1/8 inch long, connects the ends of the insulated wires. Surrounding the platinum wire is a small quantity of gun-cotton, mealed powder, or fulminate of mercury, D. A copper capsule containing 15 to 30 grains of fulminate of mercury, E, is pressed down over the cylindrical block far enough to bring the fulminate in contact with the material surrounding the platinum wire, and the whole fuze is then coated with a water-proof composition. The insulated copper wires are cut to various lengths for convenience in connecting with the conductors or lead wires from the battery.
68. Fuzes of the first and third classes are now but little used. Many of them are unsatisfactory and dangerous. They differ in construction from those of the second class principally in that the platinum-wire bridge is omitted, and the exploding spark or current passes from one insulated copper wire to the other through a material which is ignited by it.
69. Placing the Fuses in the Charges.—A certain number of cartridges or packages should be selected, each fuse inserted and well packed in the explosive, and the wires or free end of the safety fuse brought out through the opening, which should be made water-proof, if necessary, by securely closing and thoroughly pitching it. The wires or exterior part of the fuse should then be securely fastened to the outside of the cartridge, so that an accidental strain upon them will not break the waterproofing or move the fuse from its place. They are then coiled up and remain so until the cartridge is placed in the general charge of the mine.
70. Several of the high explosives congeal at a temperature above the freezing-point of water, and in this state are less sensitive to shock, and explode with difficulty if closely packed in cartridges as usually delivered from the factories. They explode more readily when in the form of a powder. When using them in cold weather, therefore, each fuse should be put in a cartridge loosely filled with the powdered explosive, or with some high explosive not affected by cold. Others need special primers to cause detonation. The fuses should, of course, be placed in these primers.
71. Placing the Charges.—The charge is placed in the mine-chambers, either in the dark, by light reflected through the galleries, by closed lanterns carefully placed and guarded, or, when practicable, by incandescent electric lights. It is carried through low and narrow galleries on men’s backs or in miner’s cars, and should for this reason be put up in packages not exceeding 50 lbs. in weight.
It is packed in the chamber with great care, and under the immediate supervision of the responsible officer. The packages containing the fuses are distributed uniformly throughout the mass, and the wires uncoiled and led back into the gallery, the free ends of the two wires of each fuse having been previously twisted together for safety against electric currents and for identification.
These wires, which must be long enough to reach through the tamping, are all collected together and led back through it in a wooden or other conduit, which protects them from injury while tamping the mine.
When electric lights are used, great care must be taken to remove the light and all its conducting wires before the wires of the fuses are uncoiled and laid along the gallery.
72. Tamping.—Mines are tamped with sods and earth, wood and earth, sand-bags, etc., etc.
When sods are used the branch is filled for about 3 feet with sods carefully laid and packed with the joints filled with earth. About 3 feet of earth is solidly packed against this, then alternate layers of sods and earth until the desired length of tamping is obtained. To tamp with wood and earth or sand-bags, a wooden shield is first placed across the branch and firmly braced; behind this, earth is solidly packed or sand-bags carefully laid until the required length of tamping is obtained. Sometimes a second shield is put up behind the earth tamping, and firmly braced in position. The strength of the tamping is also increased by pieces of timber crossing each other diagonally, with their ends resting against the sides of the branch. Sand-bags make the best tamping, as they offer high resistance and are easily placed and removed.
The tamping should have a length equal to at least 1½ times the line of least resistance of a common mine corresponding to the charge, and if not of the best quality, to twice this line.
73. Firing Mines.—If electric fuses are used the main conductors or lead wires coiled upon a reel are taken in and the ends properly joined to the fuse wires; they are then led through the galleries, attached to the battery, and fired at the designated instant. Under no circumstances should the main lead wires be connected to the battery or dynamo until everything is ready for firing.
If a Bickford fuse is used its length is regulated to the desired time of firing from its known rate of burning. The miner lights the end and retires; the explosion takes place approximately at the calculated time. With the “Lightning Gomez” or similar fuses a length reaching to the firing-point may be used. It is lighted at the desired time, and burns with such rapidity that for lengths not exceeding 300 or 400 feet the time of burning is inappreciable.
Instead of using great lengths of these fuses, they may be cut shorter and their ends be brought together and inserted in a little mealed powder which is fired by a piece of safety-fuse, slow match or port-fire, etc., long enough to give the miner time to retire to a safe distance after igniting it.
Bickford fuse is best ignited by a piece of cotton wicking soaked in oil and loosely tied around it. This, when lighted, will burn through the covering and set fire to the composition. By this device many fuses may be ignited in a short time. A slow match or “touch-paper” for igniting quick-burning fuses or powder-trains may be made by soaking common paper in a strong solution of nitre and drying it.