An underground personnel carrier is any heavy duty vehicle designed specifically for the safe transport of personnel and their supplies into underground work areas. The most common
underground
Underground most commonly refers to:
* Subterranea (geography), the regions beneath the surface of the Earth
Underground may also refer to:
Places
* The Underground (Boston), a music club in the Allston neighborhood of Boston
* The Underground ...
applications is for the
mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic ...
of either
precious metal or
coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when ...
.
Types
Narrow vein applications
; 5- and 7- man personnel carrier
Where tight turning in confined spaces is necessary, personnel carriers designed on tractors are common. Heavy duty fenders, bumpers and man baskets (gondolas) are fabricated to mount on the tractor or tractor frames to provide more durability.
;
Front loader personnel carrier
These personnel carriers use a front loader to perform various loader applications. Also a front basket is typically attached to the front loader arms so that they may be lifted. These carriers are typically built to carry 5 or 7 men.
; Towing personnel carriers
Some personnel carriers use a heavy duty hydraulic rear hitch that can two various attachments. Towing PCs can be used in conjunction with a front loader as well.
; Attachments
Other narrow vein personnel carriers are designed for a specific job based on their attachments. These attachments include rear and/or front lift baskets for utility and electrical work, mechanic packages, cable reels, heavy duty canes, ANFO loaders, and shotcrete booms.
Specialty built
These personnel carriers are designed and built from the ground up. They are typically 5 man to 15 man carriers. These carriers may also be designed using multiple attachments for job specific applications.
Low profile
In the coal mining industry low profile personnel carriers are the most commonly used. These carriers may only have a height dimension and carry up to 14 men, and are typically built from the ground up and can be designed with job specific attachments.
Mantrip
A mantrip is a shuttle for transporting
miners down into an
underground mine
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...
at the start of their shift, and out again at the end. Mantrips usually take the form of a
train
In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and transport people or freight. Trains are typically pulled or pushed by locomotives (often ...
, running on a
mine railway
A mine railway (or mine railroad, U.S.), sometimes pit railway, is a railway constructed to carry materials and workers in and out of a mine. Materials transported typically include ore, coal and overburden (also called variously spoils, waste ...
and operating like a
cable car. Mantrips may also be self-powered, for example by a
diesel locomotive. Other types of mantrips do not require a track and take the form of a
pickup truck running on rubber tires. Because many mines have low ceilings, mantrips tend to have a reduced height.
In the United States, the
Mine Safety and Health Administration
The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) () is a large agency of the United States Department of Labor which administers the provisions of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 (Mine Act) to enforce compliance with mandatory safe ...
has published safety regulations governing the operation of mantrips.
[U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration, Washington, D.C. (1988). "Mandatory Safety Standards--Underground Coal Mines; Criteria--Mantrips." ''Code of Federal Regulations,'' ]
References
{{Reflist
External links
* Kentucky Educational Television, Lexington, KY
"Mantrip."''Electronic Field Trip to a Coal Mine.'' Accessed 2010-06-06.
Mining equipment