Mines Research Laboratories, Sheffield
c.1908 the Mining Association of Great Britain (a body of colliery owners) set up a full-scale gallery at Altofts, in Yorkshire, to demonstrate the explosibility of a cloud of coal dust and to test the efficacy of stone dust as a means of preventing coal-dust explosions. The experiments were led by William Edward Garforth.
The success of this first systematic experiment led the Home Office to build a more elaborate station at Eskmeals, on the Cumberland coast, for the experimental study of dust and gas explosions with a view to developing means for preventing such disasters underground.
WWI The work almost stopped but it was revived by the Miners' Welfare Fund Committee
This enabled the Safety in Mines Research Board to build a large-scale experimental station near Buxton and laboratories in Sheffield.
See Also
Sources of Information
- Sheffield Laboratories for Safety in Mines Research, by H. F. Coward, Nature 122, 627-629 20 October 1928