Vol 24

The issue of coal provinces is of great practical importance. It is closely related to forecasts in the search for new or abandoned coal deposits and the prediction of possible qualities of coal in unexplored areas. Therefore, not only coal geology is interested in establishing coal provinces, but also prospecting and exploration and the coal industry. This issue can only be correctly resolved as a result of a thorough comparative study of coal basins and the generalization of individual coal occurrences into a single whole. However, it cannot be separated from the discussion of the scope and of larger and smaller subdivisions than the province. The next and smaller subdivision unit is the coal basin. A province consists of several basins and isolated deposits. The basin itself is divided into a number of regions and deposits. The boundaries of these concepts are quite clear. The issue of larger units of the coal hierarchy is much less developed. Academician P. I. Stepanov introduced the concept of coal accumulation belts into science. By coal accumulation belt he means that "...area of the earth's surface within which, during a certain geological period, the most abundant accumulation of carbonaceous deposits and coal masses occurred."

The idea of applying an electro‑hydraulic drive to mine hoisting occurred to the author of this article in 1944. To implement it, at the author's suggestion and under his scientific supervision, research work was organized in 1945 at the Leningrad Mining Institute, with the participation of Associate Professor A. E. Maksimov as principal investigator. After obtaining theoretical and experimental results, the first electro‑hydraulic hoisting machine in mining practice was built in 1947 through the joint efforts of researchers from the Department of Mining Electrical Engineering of the Leningrad Mining Institute and a group of engineers. The operating principle of the electro‑hydraulic drive is as follows. Between a continuously rotating electric motor and the working machine – in this case, the hoisting machine – a hydraulic link is inserted: a centrifugal fluid coupling. Thanks to this, depending on the degree to which the fluid coupling is filled with working fluid, it becomes possible to obtain various hoisting speeds, from zero to maximum.

The method of multi-group equalization by the method of indirect observations, proposed by I. Yu. Pranis-Pranevich, has now received very wide application in the Soviet Union in adjustment of large filling networks of class II. This method is not entirely rigorous and leads to results somewhat different from the results obtained with strict joint equalization of the network by the method of indirect observations in corrections to directions. In this article, we will give a quantitative estimate of the distortions in the network arising from the non-rigor of the multi-group equalization method, and we will show that without significantly complicating the equalization calculations, these distortions can be almost completely eliminated.

High refractoriness (2715°), slag resistance, low thermal and electrical conductivity at high temperatures, mechanical strength and thermal stability under sharp temperature fluctuations make zirconium dioxide a very valuable source of highly refractory material, especially after it was discovered that cracking during heating of products made of pure zirconium dioxide, caused by the transformation of one modification into another at a temperature of 1000°, can be eliminated by adding more than 4% magnesium or calcium oxide, which form stable solid solutions with zirconium dioxide. In the Soviet Union there are numerous deposits of zirconium ores, ensuring their industrial use. As for magnesium oxide and calcium oxide, these source materials are available in unlimited quantities. All this shows that the study of the ternary system ZrO₂—MgO—CaO has not only theoretical but also significant practical interest.

The main iron‑ore strip of the Krivoy Rog basin is located along the right slope of the Saksagan River valley. Only in the lower reaches of the river does it also pass to the left slope. In this area, under the river bed and in the bank protective pillars, there are large reserves of ore with a high iron content. At present, these reserves are not being developed, since there is a fear that as the ore deposits are mined out, the surface will collapse and the river will flood the mine workings. In order to expand the production capacity of the basin, it is proposed to regulate the flow of the Saksagan River using storage reservoirs. One of these — the Dzerzhinskoye Reservoir — will be located in the lower reaches of the river, i.e., in close proximity to the areas being mined. In this regard, the question arises about the possible influence of the planned reservoir on the hydrogeological conditions of the mines in this part of the Krivoy Rog basin. The very interesting field and archival material we collected during our surveys in the summer of 1945 allows us to draw very definite conclusions on this fundamental issue, to which this article is devoted.

The usual methods of calculating mine electric locomotive haulage are very simple, convenient for operational calculations and for selecting elements during design. With some assumptions in the generally accepted traction calculations, they become quite elementary. The traction calculation is greatly simplified by introducing the so‑called equal resistance slope, i.e., a track slope such that the traction force when the locomotive moves in the loaded and empty directions is the same. The calculation for checking traction motors for heating becomes elementary if we assume that the current is directly proportional to the traction force of the motor. Significant simplifications are also introduced into the calculations for determining the elements of power supply networks, converter substations, and energy consumption. The simplicity of the calculations is an advantage of the existing methods for calculating underground electric locomotive haulage, especially since in most cases these assumptions and simplifications have little effect on the accuracy of the calculation. However, in some cases the existing calculations are incomplete and do not provide a final answer. This is observed particularly in traction calculations. The task of traction calculations includes determining the elements of electric locomotive haulage rolling stock — the size of the train consist and the adhesive weight of the locomotive.

The first published data date back to 1930, when attempts were made to study the melting diagram of the Cr₂O₃–ZrO₂ system. Having discovered the significant volatility of chromium oxide, the authors abandoned further research. The results of the work are presented in Fig. 1, which shows that the data obtained cannot even serve as approximate. These data exhaust the published information on the Cr₂O₃–ZrO₂ system. Believing that the volatility of Cr₂O₃ in itself cannot serve as an obstacle to studying the system, since the composition of each point can be determined by chemical analysis of the fused portion of the samples, after determining the melting temperature, we decided to study the equilibrium diagram of this system, which is of not only theoretical but also significant practical interest.

The low modulus of elasticity of light alloys based on aluminum and, accordingly, the large deformations of elements made of these alloys, compared to steel elements (lower rigidity), often raise doubts about the possibility of using light alloys in structures with strictly regulated permissible deformations. By analogy with steel structures, the same conditions are imposed on structures made of light alloys in terms of rigidity as on steel ones. This greatly limits the possibility of using light alloys in the construction industry. Other properties of light alloys, on the contrary, favor their use in metal structures instead of steel. Particularly broad prospects are opening up for the use of light alloys in the structures of skips and cages, which will provide a significant reduction in the dead weight of vessels during mine hoisting. The rigidity of the structure can be increased and, thereby, the deformations reduced in two ways: either by increasing the modulus of elasticity of the material, or by increasing the cross-sectional area of the element (moment of inertia).

Over the past years since the beginning of the industrial development of the Kuznetsk Basin, petrographic studies have covered coals from almost all known deposits within the boundaries of the basin. The results of coal petrographic studies, which contributed to exploration and identification of the quality of coals in the basin, have been published in a number of works. However, most of these works concern those deposits whose coals are of interest as metallurgical fuel and as chemical raw materials. Significantly less attention has been paid to coal petrographic studies of thermal coal deposits, which include Aralichevskoye. In particular, in works on the study of coals from the Aralichevskoye deposit, their petrographic properties are usually mentioned in passing. In essence, there are no complete coal petrographic studies of this industrially important deposit with distinctive coal quality. The information presented in this article cannot be considered exhaustive, but to a certain extent it still fills the existing gap in the coverage of the petrographic properties of coals and the structure of coal seams of the Aralichevskoye deposit. The article is written based on the materials of petrographic testing of coal seams and laboratory processing of samples, carried out by the author in the pre-war years in connection with the dissertation work on the comparison of coal seams of the Prokopyevskoye and Aralichevskoye deposits based on coal petrographic features.

The power of the scraper winch motor is known to be determined based on the expression ... (see the article). Thus, it is assumed that the scraper traction force is constant during the entire time of its operation, i.e., in essence, the choice of motor power for the scraper drive is carried out as in a continuous duty mode. In fact, the operating mode of the scraper winch drive should be classified as repetitive short-time duty, since the periods of working and idle runs of the scraper alternate, which is evident from the load diagrams given below, taken by the author in the mines of the Cheryomkhov coal basin. Therefore, from the point of view of the operating mode, the choice of scraper winch motor power based on expression (1) can hardly be recommended. In this sense, it would be most appropriate, using load diagrams similar to the one given in the figure, to determine the drive power as the root‑mean‑square value. Unfortunately, this is practically almost impossible to implement, since the scraping conditions are so varied with respect to the angle of inclination of the plane of movement of the load, the nature of the scraped material, the length of the delivery route, etc., that in each specific case it would be necessary to have either load diagrams taken from actual operation, or a large number of load graphs recorded on tape, on the basis of which experimental coefficients could be derived.

Among the refractory materials currently in use, chromite iron ore and magnesite deserve special attention. But, as is known, these refractories in their pure form are not stable enough and are destroyed relatively quickly, which causes frequent repairs of the internal lining of smelting furnaces. Therefore, the study of the dependence of the melting temperature on the composition of mixtures of highly refractory materials, in particular the determination of the areas of formation of solid solutions, is one of the ways to find new highly refractory materials. This prompted us to study the melting diagrams of the systems: Cr₂O₃ — MgO и Cr₂O₃ — ZrO₂.

The last two decades have been a period of intense and continuous work for the coal industry of the USSR in the field of solving the problem of complex-mechanized coal mining and, above all, the problem of mechanization of coal loading in working faces. In the development of technical methods and the design of new machines for this extremely important purpose, Soviet mining science and technology have achieved significant success and occupy a leading place. Our designers and inventors have an indisputable priority in the matter of creating loading machines and longwall mining combines, which are the first in world practice to be produced and used serially. Based on the accumulated experience in the design and operation of loading mechanisms in our country, it became possible to formulate and successfully resolve in the fourth five-year plan the most important national economic task: "...to mechanize labor-intensive processes in the coal industry in every possible way, in particular to ensure the widespread implementation of work on the mechanization of coal loading...". Both specialized loading machines and loading units of mining combines were designed in the Soviet Union according to a wide variety of schemes. Initially, designers and machine builders sought to create machines with constant mechanical characteristics, designed for use in any mining conditions. In our coal industry, the desire for universality of mining mechanisms determined persistent attempts to build a machine suitable for any conditions of extraction.

The choice of the scheme and recipe for flotation of ores is usually made only by comparing the final separation indices with variations in processing conditions, which often does not provide sufficient material for confident judgments about the defects of the adopted technological process mode. Theoretically, the most justified method for analyzing the results of flotation is the method based on the data of studying the kinetics of the process in its individual stages. This method, proposed by K. F. Beloglazov, allows for a quantitative assessment of the results obtained, a pre-calculation of possible separation results, and is a tool for a strictly justified resolution of many controversial issues in practice. Below is an account of the experience of applying this method to the assessment of industrial flotation schemes.

Very often, when designing a mining enterprise, when equipping new horizons of existing mines, as well as when reconstructing mine transport, it is necessary to preliminarily determine the number of mine cars in the train and the number of working locomotives (contact and battery electric locomotives, diesel locomotives, motor locomotives, etc.). Usually, when solving such problems, the predetermined factors are: 1) the general traffic pattern (haulage) indicating loading and receiving points; 2) the productivity of the mine and individual loading points, determining the volume of mineral transportation; 3) the type and capacity of the mine car; 4) the technological scheme, operating mode and throughput capacity of the type of transport following the locomotive haulage. With the generally accepted method of calculating locomotive haulage, having all these data, usually on the basis of very general and non‑specific considerations, mainly guided by "analogies" and available standard equipment, one or another type of locomotive is selected. Next, based on its adhesive weight, the maximum train consist for the mine car type adopted is selected, all calculation checks are made (for starting the train, heating of the motors, braking distances, etc.) and the locomotive's operating mode is established. Finally, in conclusion, motion diagrams are constructed, the trip time, the number of trips per shift, the productivity of one locomotive, the required number of working locomotives are determined, and a haulage schedule is constructed, which should be the main production operational document, the conclusion and consequence of all the numerous preceding calculations, and an inviolable law for the enterprise.

Lining of mine workings is usually carried out using brickwork with cement, concreting, or cement grouting. Depending on the water pressure, its quantity, composition, temperature, or technical conditions, cements of various grades are used, along with sands and gravels of the most diverse granulometric compositions and qualities. The disadvantages of brickwork and even concrete masonry include their water permeability (especially under high water pressure). In the case of cement grouting, a significant thickness of the cement layer is required, as well as the absence of water movement. Only under these conditions does the cement set and achieve a certain degree of water resistance. It should be noted at the same time that concrete and even cement do not completely fill all the voids they are meant to fill. For example, cracks and irregularities in the walls of mine workings are poorly filled if they are of small size. During concreting and cementation, these voids and cracks are always filled with water, because water penetrates into all, even the smallest, cracks. The author makes use of this ability of water to penetrate and fill all cracks in the proposed type of grouting. The substance that can isolate cracks and irregularities in the rock and prevent water from entering mine workings is rubber.

The study of the structure of molecules is of great importance for understanding the properties of matter. The most important means of understanding polyatomic systems are their vibrational spectra, especially the spectra of the fundamental vibration frequencies, which, in comparison with overtones, are very clearly and fully represented in Raman scattering and in infrared absorption spectra. It is in them that the vibrational properties of molecules, as systems formed from nuclei, are most fully and vividly manifested. A number of physical and chemical properties of matter are associated with the vibration of molecules. Any type of energy acquired by a molecule is converted to some extent into the energy of vibrations of nuclei. Therefore, the thermodynamic properties of matter are inseparable from the vibrations of the nuclei of molecules. Knowing the correctly interpreted vibrational frequencies of molecules, it is possible to calculate thermodynamic functions: energy, free energy, thermodynamic potential, etc., constants of chemical equilibrium, heat capacities, etc. Vibrational frequency spectra are successfully used for the purposes of molecular spectral analysis, qualitative analysis of complex mixtures (oils, gasolines, etc.), structural analysis. No less important is the possibility of predicting the frequencies of those molecules that cannot be observed experimentally. The theory of vibrational spectra led to the discovery of rotational isomerism. For the study of the structure of molecules in general and for the theory of vibrational spectra in particular, the coefficients in the expression of the potential energy of polyatomic systems play an important role.