Storage battery locomotives for mine safety

The advantage of the storage-battery locomotive with respect to safe haulage in gassy coal mines is emphasized in a paper by L. C. Ilsley issued by the United States Bureau of Mines. In coal mining, the application of the storage-battery locomotive is chiefly in gathering service in competition with animal or cable-reel locomotives. The locomotive delivers empty cars to the rooms or working places where the coal is being mined and hauls the loaded cars from the rooms. The length of haul depends upon the distance of the junction point from the active workings of the mine. As a rule, the haulage from the junction point to the foot of the shaft or bottom of the slope is done by trolley locomotives, but in some instances, where the grades permit, the main-line haulage work is performed by storage-battery locomotives.