Sumping and shearing

Question

It is from the mining area. Bolter miner can complete sumping and shering. Is the difference between these two processes that sumping happens in forward direction and shearing in vertical direction?

Thank you!

Avangi · Accepted Answer

Wow. I don't really know. What kind of mining is the Bolter used for?

My dad used to design coal mining equipment.

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/3966258.html

In the art of underground mining such as applied to the mining of coal from underground seams it is well known to mine solid mineral by providing mobile mining apparatus having disintegrating or mining head means adapted by means of articulated mountings for dislodging the mineral in a substantially continuous manner. In practice such continuous mining operations often have comprised alternating sump and shear cutting cycles wherein the mining head is first actuated through a sump or horizontal cut into the mine face preparatory to a shear cut, and then through the shear or vertical cut across the face surface to dislodge mineral therefrom and to provide clearance for the advancing mining apparatus to pass. Subsequently the mining apparatus is trammed forward into the clearance cut by the mining head on cats or like means to again position the apparatus adjacent the face surface for another sump and shear cutting sequence. Commonly, such continuous mining apparatus has also been adapted to automatically gather and load the mineral dislodged by the repeated cutting sequences into haulage means such as shuttle cars.

I'd say that "shear" in this case is used in the sense of a pair of shears (to shear something off), not necessarily in the sense of a "shear cliff."

The sump cut is indeed horizontal, but does not detach the "solid" chunk of coal from the vein. That is accomplished by the shear cut, which in fact would be vertical.

You're slicing out chunks of coal, probably one below the other. To remove each chunk, you must make two cuts: one underneath it and one behind it. (That's the way it seems to me.)
But the use of the word "gather" seems to suggest that the cutter bar brings the mineral out in many small chunks, rather than in one big one - which is more in keeping with my childhood impression of the process.

I'm a bit puzzled by "across the face surface," as one normally thinks of the face as vertical. I may be wrong.

My dad worked on the Joy "Continuous Miner" in the 50's. I think it was the original.

Natalia09 · Answer

Thank you. Maybe the word "across the surface" means "through the surface" which can also be vertical.

Avangi · Answer

Seems possible.[Y]

Sumping and shearing

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