Denaby Pit – Introduction of Samson Stripper – Output Boost

July 1950

South Yorkshire Times July 15, 1950

Denaby Pit Development
Introduction of Samson Stripper
1,000 Ton Output Boost
Parkgate Coal Cutter Ready in 17 Days

A new Samson stripper, a revolutionary British coal – cutting machine weighing 10 tons, which is to be Installed in the Parkgate seam of Denaby Main Colliery, is expected to go into production within the next 17 days, Mr. John Halford, agent of Denaby and Cadeby 1ain Collieries, told me yesterday.

Teams of Five

The Samson stripper, which has passed its test at Elsecar Main Colliery, another pit in number three area of the N.C.B.’s North-Eastern Division, is expected to increase output at Denaby by 200 tons a shift, or 1,000 tons a week. Denaby’s current production target is 12,750 tons a week. This is not being attained at present, but it is hoped that this new machine will enable the target to be achieved regularly,

Mr. Halford explained that the machine to be installed at Denaby was a similar machine to that at Elsecar adapted to suit the conditions at Denaby. “We are hoping that it will be in production between July 22nd and the end of the month,” he said. “Some of the parts are already going down the pit: the conveyor which goes with the machine and the supports for the face.”

The stripper will be operated by teams of 5 men per shift, with whom will be supporting men: packers and timber drawers-off.      The machine strips the coal from the face on to a conveyor chain, and the coal is transferred from the face by the gate belt system to the loading point.

“We are not the first in the field with this machine, but we are putting it to some real testing conditions,” Mr. Halford remarked.

There will be no redundancy of men, indeed, the introduction of the stripper will also increase labour production, for men not needed on the stripper face will be available for work on other faces.

Special features of the machine are that coal is won by direct shearing, and it is hydraulically operated. These features and its methods of propulsion are entirely novel in mining.

The system of operation becomes a sequence, instead of a rigid three-shift cycle, because coal-getting, support-setting and advancing the conveyor cease to be independent functions and there is no dislocation if work is stopped or started at any period.

Coal-getting can be continuous; only organisation of transport, packing and drawing-off affect the degree of continuity of production day-by-day.