Fifty Years of Machine Mining Progress 1899-1949

1949. First edition. 113pp., a colour frontispiece portrait and 18 black and white illustrations. Founded in 1900 and based in Motherwell, Anderson Boyes was one of the world’s leading makers of machinery for the mining industry for almost a century. The Company began business with the manufacture of coal cutting machines. These were followed by flame-proof control gear, shake conveyors, gate end loaders and a wide range of coal cutting machines. About 1945, the company became the first manufacturer of effective longwall cutter loaders, which were the first machines capable both of cutting the coal and loading it on to the belt conveyor. The introduction of the armoured face conveyor into UK mines in the late 1940s enabled continuous mining. In 1966 Anderson Boyes merged with Scotland’s other large mining machinery manufacturer, Mavor and Coulson. This book is a history of the Company's first fifty years. The book is bound in the original black half leather boards with gold titling on the spine. The book is in excellent condition and the contents are tight and clean with no inscription. The unclipped dustwrapper has shelf wear with some soiling and the spine is slightly browned. The spine ends are bumped with small nicks. Browning is visible on the reverse of the wrapper where it has covered the leather portion of the spine and corners of the book. The wrapper is in an easily removed clear plastic protective cover.…