A factory worker consults blueprints during the construction of a Meco-Moore cutter loader.

The Meco-Moore was designed to speed up longwall working. M.S. Moore invented it about sixteen years ago, and he spent a long time experimenting and improving it before he was satisfied. A colliery company testing the method increased output by 5,500 tons a week.

The latest model is shown. The two machines that make it, the cutter and loader, are joined together. The Meco-Moore is a big machine, made up of hundreds of small parts. The gear wheels are cut, heat-treated for hours in gas furnaces, and then quenched to give them extra hardness. Given the demands of ripping out coal, even hairbreadth accuracy is not enough.

A complete Meco-Moore is given a trial run prior to being delivered to a pit. The testers examine the way it shears, undercuts, loads and pulls itself along as it works. They are all miners themselves, and have been helping assemble the machine. By the time they come to use it in the pit, they should be thoroughly familiar with it.