采矿工程-煤矿发展历程(英文翻译).doc

History Of Coal MiningThe exact date of mans first use of coal is lost in antiquity .The discovery that certain black rock would burn was undoubtely accidently and probably occurred independently and many times in the world over thousands of years It is quitely likely that these independently discoveries were made when primitive man chanced to build camp fires on exposed ledges of a black rock ,then was amazed when it caught fire.The chinese recorded the use of coal 1000 years before the Christian Era and from the Bible we learn that King Solomon was familiar with coal in what is now Syria .In Wales, there is evidence that the Bronze Age people used coal for funeral pyres ,and it is known that the Romans used this fuel .There are other ancient references.So the knowledge that coal would burn, and there even some uses of that knowledge ,go back thousands of years .However ,practical and consistent use of coal seems to date to Englangd in the Middles Ages.In the Amercias ,there is evidence here and there of occasional use by the Indians ,However, the first recorded discovery of coal ,in what is now US was by French explorers,who reported an outcrop exposure on the Illinois River in 1679. Following this other discoveries were made by French and Btitish explores ,but the first recorded actual usage was in Virginia in 1702,where a French settler was granted permission to use coal for his forge.Earliest recorded commercial mining was in 1750 from the James River coalfiele near Richmond ,VA,a deposit now abandoned .Besides local consumption from this field ,shipments were made to Philadephia,New York, and Boston.At first all coal was hewed by hand from the solid bed by use of pick and bar .It was then shoveled into baskets ,boxes or wheelbarrows and dragged by men ,or women ,to the outside or to the foot of a shaft .Later ,cars were developed but still drawn over wood plank by humans .As time went on ,iron straps ,then rails ,were used for the cars while mules ,ponies ,or horese did the pulling.Gradually ,black powder was introduced to blast down the coal ,but undercutting,sidecutting, and drilling were still done by hand .During the date 1700s and 1800s ,a number of basic developments greatly aided the mining of coal .The first steam engine was invented by James Watt in 1775 in Britain to pump water from mines ,a very important applicantion that made it possible for mines to go deeper .The first rail transportation was for mining ,the first steam locomtive was developed in 1814 by George stephenson in England for a colliery ,and the first electric locomotive was developed in 1883 in Genmany for underground use .Mechanization of operations at the face started before 1900 with development of punching machines and chain-type cutters for undermining the coal seam before blasting ,of coal and rock drills ,electric and compressed air locomotives ,and even some early experiments with continuous mining machines.Longwall mining was used here and there in the US until about 1910 ,particularly in Illionois ,but then became noncompetiteve with roon-and-pillar methods in thicker seama that better lent themselves to mechanization .In the meantime ,longwall continued to be dominant in Europe and asia because of thin coal and depth of cover.During Worle War ,the Germansdeveloped the longwall scraper for continuous loading onto a chain conveyor at the face .This was followed by various types of shearing machines developed in several counties.However ,the most important development was in hydraulic ,selfpropelled roof jacks and chocks that greatly reduced the manpower formerly required to set and reset individual jacks and to build cribs by hand .With these developments ,US coal companies again became interested in the longwall system .Numerous modifications and a general “beefing-up” were found necessary for US conditions but ,after some faliures and misapplications ,longwallminging has became practical in this country, providing mining conditions are right ,as attested by the gradually increasing number of units .Surface mining was the earliest methord of extracting coal .It consisted of recovering coal exposed in stream beds and visible outcrops with zero to a few feet of loose dirt cover. Under deeper vover and erder rock the cheapest methord-in fact the only means of recovery at first-was by underground mining ,so surface developments were insignificant until about 1910 ,although ,here and there ,slip and cart scrapers drawn by mules were used to a very small extent. 采煤发展历程有关人类首次使用煤的确切时间，历史上并没有记载，发现能燃烧的“黑色石头”毫无疑问是个偶然，并且在过去的几千年里，在世界各地有着各种不同的传说。有可能是一群原始人在营地边的石块上点篝火，却惊奇地发现石头竟然着了起来。中国有记载的使用煤的时间要比西方早1100多年，从古巴伦历史我们了解到，索罗门也就是现在我们称之为叙利亚的，的国王熟知用煤；有证据表明威尔斯人在青铜器时代就把煤用在了火葬上；据说古罗马人也懂得用煤，当然还有其他可供参考的文献。尽管知道煤能燃烧，甚至怎么使用它要追溯到几千年前，但是把煤实际系列地运用看起来起始于中实际的英格兰。在北美到处都有证据表明印度安人会使用煤，但是第一个发现煤的被记录成是一队法国殖民者，1679年，他们在伊利诺斯河发现了出露的煤，接着英国殖民者和其他一些法国殖民者也找到了煤，然而，有记载的第一个用煤的是在弗吉尼亚于1702年，一个法国殖民者很庆幸地被批准用煤来打铁。最早的商业化采煤是在1750年，距离弗吉尼亚州费城不远的詹姆士河煤田，当然现在已经被采空荒弃了。这里产的煤除了供应当地使用外，还造船运到阿拉巴马，纽约和波士顿。最初人们用镐和、钎杆把煤从坚硬的矿床上砍下来，然后通过木板推到篮子、箱子、或者手推车里运出矿底，后来用汽车，但仍然需要人工铺板。随着时间的推移，铁带条，铁路相继被应用来载车拉运煤，而这些工作以前是由骡子、马、或者小马来完成的。逐渐，黑火药被用到煤矿炸煤。但是底部掏槽、侧面掏槽还有钻孔打眼仍然需要手工完成。在18世纪末和19世纪许多基本发展都以煤矿开采为目标而进行的。英国人瓦特在1775年发明的蒸汽机是用来抽放矿井水的，蒸汽机的重要发明使开采深处的煤成为可能。第一条铁路也是为了采煤而设计的。英格兰人乔治史帝芬发明的蒸汽机牵引的火车也是为了采煤用的；1814年德国第一辆电牵引的火车被用于地下采煤。1900年以后，随着冲压机，链式截割机的发明，使得不用再炸煤就能开采了，并且电钻，移动式空气压缩机的应用，实现了机械化采煤。直到1910年，长壁采煤法在美国被广泛采用，尤其是在伊利诺斯州，但是跟能在厚煤层开采实现机械化的房柱式采煤发相比就失去了竞争力。同一时期欧洲和亚洲的许多国家因为煤层薄，埋藏深而多采用长壁采煤法。二战期间，德国发明了可以和链式输送机连续作业的耙斗机，随后其他一些