Disasters - Names		Disasters - Names

Date:	19th April 1882
Colliery:	West Stanley
Cause:	Explosion, firedamp, ignition caused by safety lamp
Lives Lost:	13

Another instance of coal-dust explosion given by Messrs. Atkinson [Messrs. W. N. and J. B. Atkinson, "Explosions in Coal Mines."] is the West Stanley Colliery. Here was a coal yielding a considerable amount of gas, worked pillar and-stall. Gunpowder was used, and a shot X, shown on the plan (Fig. 338), is supposed to have ignited some fire-damp, and as a consequence the explosion traversed the whole of the mine, with the exception of two districts. The effects of fire were seen in both intake and return roads. In the intake, the fire travelled back to the downcast shaft; in the return, it did not reach the upcast shaft, but stopped at a place in the return road which was damp. The flame of the explosion, which had passed along the intake air-road to the downcast shaft, turned to the right hand into the south district, but did not pass the shaft into the north district. The downcast shaft was wet, and the immediate vicinity of this shaft was damp. It thus appears that the explosion was stopped in two places by some moisture. If the explosion had been in gas, it would have passed over the moisture; but the moisture was sufficient to lay the dust, and therefore, if dust were the explosive, there was an absence of explosive material in this place, consequently the explosion ceased. According to the evidence, it is improbable that there was such an amount of gas in the workings as could be detected by ordinary examination with an ordinary oil safety-lamp, but it is probable that there might have been a small percentage in the atmosphere, and that this was reinforced by dust stirred up by the explosion, which was originated by the shot igniting, perhaps, some small accumulation of explosive gases. This is a case, not of a pure coal-dust explosion, but of an explosion rendered disastrous by coal-dust.

Source:

Mining - an elementary treatise on the getting of minerals by Arnold Lupton, M.I.C.E., F.G.S., published in 1893

See also: N1882-03

	Clark, J. S.
	Clark, John
	Coulson, Thomas J., Back Overman
	Curry, Thomas Hepple, aged 30, Deputy, Buried: St. Andrew's Churchyard, Stanley
	Douglas, John
	Hunter, Robert, Master Shifter
	Hutchinson, Robert
	Johnson, Thomas
	McCabe, James
	Riley, W. J.
	Turner, Henry
	Turner, William
	Westgarth, John
	All names found
	Those names marked with , have a web page providing individual details of the accident, the page may also include a photograph of the deceased. Click on the symbol next to the name to see the web page.

 

 Return    Return to Top