SHOW OF STRENGTH

Series

Series Name
Mining Review 9th Year

Issue

Issue No.
3
Date Released
Nov 1955
Stories in this Issue:

Story

Story No. within this Issue
1 / 3
Summary
BFI synopsis: Report of a conference at Calverton Colliery, Notts., on power loading equipment.
NCB Commentary - Set in pleasant Nottinghamshire countryside is Calverton Colliery. Here N.C.B. divisional experts foregathered for a three-day conference opend by Divisional Chairman Rex Ringham. The purpose, to explore how production can be increased by the greater use of power loading equipment.
The new heavy stores in the colliery yard was the scene of an exhibition designed to underline the technical discussions at the conferece.
Some of the most effective machines, such as the Anderton Shearer-Loader and Brookhill Waffler are simple adaptations of coal cutters. What everyone agrees is that we need more of them.
One focal point of interest at the exhibition is the Joy-Sullivan loader, recently seen by the Pime Minister in Durham. The Gloster Getter has also been seen underground in Mining Review. So has the mammoth Canadian Dosco miner which alone has been turning out nearly 400 tons a day.
New British machines on show included the A. B. Cutter with triangular jib. Outside, running the whole length of the exhibition buildings, German Technicians had assembled a coal plough of which a score are already at work in British pits.
Not the least important section of the show housed modern methods of supporting the face. A step towards the automatic coal-face of the future is the British Dowty advancing support system which walks forward to support the roof as coal is cut.
For miners Sisson and Jarvis, fresh from the pithead baths, the exhibition emphasised Chairman Ringham’s words: "If we are going to get more coal we have either got to have more men or secure more productivity from the men we have. Power loading, given suitable conditions, will help us to acheive this."
Researcher Comments
Provisional title - Calverton story. Commentary recorded on 26 November 1955.
Keywords
Conferences; Mining
Locations
England; Nottinghamshire; Calverton Colliery
Written sources
British Film Institute Databases   Used for synopsis
The National Archives COAL 32   /3 Scripts for Mining Review, 1949-1956
Credits:
Production Co.
Documentary Technicians Alliance
Sponsor
National Coal Board

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