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C O N N E C T I N G T O I N D U S T R Y

6 Keeping It Safe Learn the benefits of buyinghose assemblies

8Profile of Courage Ernest Shackleton braved theunknown to discover new lands

24 BritainThree countries in one

34 Final Fact Discovery of the screw

Philip Deidesheimer:Introduced a Safer MiningSystem Page 18

Ground ptheFrom

Dixon: For products and support that’s broad and deep.

Dixon Valve & Coupling Company800 High Street, Chestertown, MD 21620 USA877-963-4966 • 410-778-2000 • Fax: 410-778-4702

When you choose Dixon, you get more than just products. You get:

• Uncompromising quality • Solutions for a whole range of industries • Immediate product availability • Expertise about the right product for the right application • Free in-house product testing capabilities• Applications training programs• On-site hose assembly safety programs• A company that cares about its customers, and it showsNo one else makes a bigger commitment to your smooth-running operation and bottom-

line profits. Ask for Dixon products by name. When it’s got to be right, it’s got to be Dixon.

©2005 Dixon Valve & Coupling Companywww.dixonvalve.com

24 BRITAIN: THREE COUNTRIES IN ONEEngland, Scotland and Wales are filledwith history and stunning landscapes.

18 PHILIP DEIDESHEIMERHe introduced a safer mining system.

6 KEEPING IT SAFE

Making Reliable Hose

Assemblies Requires

Knowledge

8 PROFILE OF COURAGE

Ernest Shackleton Braves

New Frontiers

16 FACTS & FIGURES

Coal Mining Facts

17 BUILDING CHARACTER

There’s No Such Thing as

Business Ethics

32 HEALTH & FITNESS

The Benefits of Vitamin A

34 FINAL FACT

The Turn of the Screw

10 FROM THE GROUND UP How do miners get to the coal?

departments

features

WINTER 2006ASIA/PACIFIC – SUMMER 2006

Long-wall mining in a coal mine

The right connection for stainless sanitary fittings:All across the country.

Dixon Sanitary800 High Street, Chestertown, MD 21620 USA

800-355-1991 • 410-778-2000 • Fax: 410-778-4702

…Just when you need them.Bradford sanitary stainless steel fittings and valves from Dixon meet

your exact requirements for food processing and dairy applications.

Custom design and fabrication services provide solutions to even your

most challenging applications.

With 13 distribution centers all across the country, you’ll be assured

of quick delivery.

Not only that, you get the Dixon quality and service you’ve come to

expect. When it’s got to be right, it’s got to be Dixon.

©2005 Dixon Valve & Coupling Companywww.dixonvalve.com

Visit Bradford at Booth #N2514at the Worldwide Food Expo!

4 BOSS 4 W I N T E R 2 0 0 6

“From the ground up.” In this, our fourth issue

of BOSS magazine, the phrase has to do with

the history of coal mining operations and the

role mining plays in our lives.

In a wider sense, however, the phrase also provides a formula for business.

Start at ground level with the end-user, and build an organization with great

people that meets that customer’s needs. We, at Dixon, have always responded

to our customers’ needs. This past year, the world witnessed several natural

disasters. In the United States, New Orleans was destroyed. As the rebuilding

process began, Dixon added extra shifts to provide products as quickly as

possible to the area.

The most effective way to satisfy customer needs is through open lines of

communication. One of the ways we are communicating with our end-users is

through BOSS. With each issue, we intend to highlight those industries that

use Dixon products and to generate discussion. In the process, we hope we

will get to know each other better.

Each year about this time, the leaders of the Dixon business units from around

the world gather in Chestertown, Maryland, to refine plans for the upcoming

year. It is always a pleasure to participate in these discussions and listen to

the great ideas generated. We have a quality team, and I am proud to work

with them. The foundation for their ideas, however, is the ability to know what

the customers want and to focus our efforts on providing it. We learn about

product improvement and customer service by listening to our customers and

each other.

A final note, I speak for everyone in the Dixon family when I wish you and

yours a prosperous 2006. We look forward to serving you because we are The

Right Connection.

Thank you,

R.L. Goodall

CEO, Dixon Valve & Coupling Company

WINTER 2006ASIA/PACIFIC – SUMMER 2006

PublisherDixon Valve and Coupling Company

EditorRandi Hertzberg

Editorial BoardJoseph Dawson - Vice President

Marketing and Business DevelopmentLouis F. Farina - President, COORichard F. Flaherty - President Sales

and Marketing DivisionRichard L. Goodall - CEODouglas Goodall - Board of DirectorsBob Grace - Dixon Fire

Division ManagerKaren R. Hurless - Advertising ManagerScott Jones - National Sales ManagerMark Vansant - Vice President of

Customer Service

Editorial & DesignAlter Custom Publishing

Art DirectorJason Quick

Directors of Alter Custom PublishingColleen McKennaJonathan Oleisky

Please submit address changes to:Alter Custom PublishingAttn: Sarah Moran1040 Park Avenue, Suite 200Baltimore, MD 21201443-451-0736Fax: 443-451-0777

BOSS is produced quarterly by Dixon Valveand Coupling Company and AlterCommunications. The acceptance of advertis-ing does not constitute endorsement byDixon Valve and Coupling Company of theproducts or services. The publisher reservesthe right to reject any advertisement that isnot in keeping with the standing or policiesof Dixon Valve and Coupling Company.Copyright 2005, all rights reserved.Reproduction of any part of BOSS withoutwritten permission is prohibited.

Dixon Valve and Coupling Company800 High StreetChestertown, Maryland 21620(877) 963-4966Fax: (800) 283-4966www.dixonvalve.com

We AreListening

The right connection for stainless sanitary fittings:All across the country.

Dixon Sanitary800 High Street, Chestertown, MD 21620 USA

800-355-1991 • 410-778-2000 • Fax: 410-778-4702

…Just when you need them.Bradford sanitary stainless steel fittings and valves from Dixon meet

your exact requirements for food processing and dairy applications.

Custom design and fabrication services provide solutions to even your

most challenging applications.

With 13 distribution centers all across the country, you’ll be assured

of quick delivery.

Not only that, you get the Dixon quality and service you’ve come to

expect. When it’s got to be right, it’s got to be Dixon.

©2005 Dixon Valve & Coupling Companywww.dixonvalve.com

Visit Bradford at Booth #N2514at the Worldwide Food Expo!

Dixon SanitaryN25 W23040 Paul Road, Suite CPewaukee, WI 53072 USA800-789-1781 Fax 800-789-4046

6 BOSS 4 W I N T E R 2 0 0 6

One plant made the choice to maketheir own hose assemblies. This plantwas installing new storage tanks andloading stations. Traditionally, thesewere connected via hard piping.However, by choosing to use hose,they would save time as well as laborcosts. Buying hose, couplings andclamps in bulk would also save money.This system would also give the plantthe flexibility of having a new assem-

Making Hose Assemblies RequiresKnowledge and Experience

KEEPING IT SAFE

Don’t:• Allow the individual body sections of the

clamp to touch.• Reuse bolts.• Replace bolts with bolts of any other

strength.• Reuse clamps.

DO AND DON’T

Do:• Select the proper clamp based on inside and out-

side diameter of hose.• Ensure even showing of hose between the clamp

sections.• Tighten bolts to recommended torque.• Know that bolts are designed to bend.• Know that clamps are designed to bend.• Retorque bolts regularly.

L ife is full of choices. Each choice is a compromise. Do we take theexpressway to save 10 minutes of drive time or do we take the

scenic route with the great view of the lake and the countryside? Doyou buy the green car that is loaded and at a great price, or the silvercar with less equipment because you love the color? Do we make ourown hose assemblies at the plant to save some time and money, or dowe have a distributor, with their expertise, make them for us?

W I N T E R 2 0 0 6 4 BOSS 7

bly ready in a few minutes if needed, especially with theirround-the-clock schedule. According to the plant manager,any worker who can hold a wrench and tighten a few boltscan be a certified pipe fitter.

Fast forward six months. Ten assemblies that the plantmade to connect the storage tanks to the loading stationsbegan leaking. The plant manager calls the distributor thathe bought the hose and fittings from to complain about theinferior products they had sold them. He also wanted toknow what they were going to do about fixing this situationand how quickly it would be repaired. The distributor sales-man met with the plant manager and their safety engineer.A Dixon salesman also attended the meeting because thecouplings and clamps were made by Dixon.

During the examination of the leaking assemblies, theDixon salesman discovered that the bolts in each of theclamps were not tightened to the torque specified in theDixon catalog. In fact, the bolts were less than half the rec-ommended torque value. The question was asked, “Whenwas the last time someone here at the plant retightened theclamp bolts?” The plant manager replied that his highly

trained and qualified staff never had to retighten anythingonce it was installed. At this point, the Dixon salesmanexplained “cold flow,” a process of bolt tightening sequence,clamp selection, hose measurement and other items thatensure the proper selecting, installing and maintaining of anindustrial hose assembly. After listening to the cold flowexplanation, the safety engineer asked the distributor sales-man why he was not informed of all of this when theseproducts were purchased. The distributor salesman replied:“You told me that you had certified pipe fitters at your plantand that putting together a hose assembly would be child’splay for them.” The safety engineer began to realize that notknowing all the facts of making industrial hose assembliescould be far costlier than whatever money was saved bydoing it themselves. He also learned to let the “experts” atthe distributor do what they do best; make industrial hoseassemblies.

Choices. We all have to make them. Make yours with“The Right Connection.” If you choose to make your ownhose assemblies, be sure to follow the assembly recommen-dations of the hose and fitting manufacturers.

8 BOSS 4 W I N T E R 2 0 0 6

BY PAUL WARD

“MEN WANTED: FOR HAZARDOUSJOURNEY. SMALL WAGES, BITTER COLD,LONG MONTHS OF COMPLETE DARKNESS,CONSTANT DANGER, SAFE RETURNDOUBTFUL. HONOUR AND RECOGNITIONIN CASE OF SUCCESS.”

- SIR ERNEST SHACKLETON

So runs the fictional advertisement for what became ErnestShackleton’s Imperial Trans-Antarctica expedition of 1914 -1917. The intentional goal was ambitious—audacious, tocross the Antarctic continent from coast to coast via theSouth Pole. Only 10 men had ever stood at the South Pole atthat time, and five of those had died on the return journey.

Shackleton (the “boss” to his men) and a mixed crew ofscientists, officers and sailors left South Georgia Island onDecember 5, 1914. They entered the Antarctic pack ice inthe notoriously ice-scoured Weddell Sea on December 7,1914 aboard the strengthened 300-ton steam- and sail-pow-ered ship Endurance. There were 28 men, seasonedAntarctic veterans, experienced sea-farers, some simply theonly man available to fill a particular post—one was astowaway! Shackleton knew that it was a particularly badice year, but he was surprised to hit the pack ice two daysafter they started the journey. Five weeks later, theEndurance was stuck—frozen in the ice hundreds of milesfrom land for the long, dark Antarctic winter. The iceplayed with the Endurance until some nine months later. It crushed the ship to matchwood. Shackleton’s reactionwas calm. In his soft Irish tones, he informed the men,“Now we go home.”

With the ship gone and the crew’s situation unknown toa world before telecommunications, rescue was not going tocome to them. The Endurance crew had to save themselves.For Shackleton, failure was not an option. Along withFrank Wild, second in command, he formulated a plan ofaction to escape the grip of the Antarctic ice and bring themen to safety. Conditions were against them, and plans hadto be changed several times. Sometimes they had to stayput, as movement over broken and layered ice was so diffi-

cult and slow as to be ineffective; the ice was drifting any-how and taking them in the right direction.

Eventually, the day (April 9, 1916) came when the ice hadbroken sufficiently to launch the three lifeboats the crew hadsalvaged from the Endurance. This was an irreversible decisionas once the boats were in the water, going back to drifting icewas not possible. So followed the worst part of the adventurefor many of the crew, awash in freezing seas and unable to laydown to sleep in soaked clothing. Frostbites were common,sea-water boils affected almost all of them. Shackleton, Wildand another unsung hero, Tom Crean, led by example, stayingat the tiller for upwards of 30 hours at a stretch.

Despite difficulties, the crew reached Elephant Island onApril 12, 1916. This was a temporary respite as the nextwinter was approaching and help had to be summoned.Another boat journey was necessary, across 800 miles of thewildest seas in the world to reach South Georgia Island andits whaling stations. Shackleton chose five men to accompa-ny him for this journey, some were the best to take, andothers were selected so as not to ferment discontent on

Ernest Shackleton’sHeroic Rescue

PROFILE OF COURAGE

W I N T E R 2 0 0 6 4 BOSS 9

Elephant Island. The James Caird, the most sea-worthylifeboat, was improved and readied for the journey. Twoweeks later, the James Caird was at sea again.

This boat journey is widely regarded as oneof the most arduous ever. Against incredibleodds, this group landed on South Georgia twoweeks later. Two of the men were almost spentand were virtual invalids. They were now onthe wrong side of South Georgia, however.They could have set off by sea, 130 miles, butthis was thought too difficult and dangerous.Ten days after arrival, three men, Shackleton,Crean and Frank Worsley, set off on footwearing improvised crampons—brass screwsstuck into their boots—along with a shortlength of rope and a carpenter’s adze (pick),

but no tent or sleeping bags. No one had ever crossedSouth Georgia before.

Another extraordinary journey followed as Shackletonand his two companions, fightingfatigue and terrain, reachedStromness whaling station on May20, 1916. Almost immediately arescue attempt was made, but theship was turned back 60 milesaway by pack ice. It wasn’t untilthe fourth try that the Chileantrawler Yelcho reached ElephantIsland on May 30, 1916.Shackleton, who was standing onthe bow, shouted ashore to Wild,“Are you all well?” “All safe, allwell!” the boss replied, “ThankGod!” All 28 men had survivedover two years in the Antarctic.

Shackleton was the force thatheld it all together.

For more information on Shackleton andAntarctica, visit www.coolantarctica.com.

(left) The Endurance reached the head of the Weddell Sea, but impenetrable barriersof ice prevented further progress. (above) For two days and nights every effort wasmade to cut the ship free, but the temperature continued to fall. (right) Snow dogswatched the icepacks of the Weddell Sea crush the sinking Endurance on November1, 1915. (bottom) The crew continues the journey from Elephant Island.

1916 was the same yearDixon Valve & CouplingCompany started. See thenext issue for more aboutour company.

Map courtesy of Nova/WGBH Educational Foundation. Copyright © 2002. WGBH/Boston.Photos courtesy of The Royal Geographical Society.

10 BOSS 4 W I N T E R 2 0 0 6

Think about the Coal Age, and your mind might conjure

images of Victorian London, awash in a damp, sooty,

deadly fog from a million coal ovens and furnaces. Or

war-time Pittsburgh, trapped in the smoke of its coal-fired steel

plants, forcing streets to be lit at noon.

But the Age of Coal may actually be today. Worldwide, coal

accounts for about 23 percent of total energy consumption and

generates over 38 percent of the world’s electricity, according to

the (U.S.) National Mining Association. The first and third

largest coal producers are not in the West. They are in fast-

developing China and India, respectively.

Around the world there’s a growing reliance on a mineral that

started out as a plant 100 to 400 million years ago. Pressure and

heat transformed the decaying vegetation, forcing out oxygen

and trapping the sun’s energy originally stored in the plants as

part of photosynthesis. The result was a hydrocarbon, which

can be found in seams ranging from a fraction of an inch to

hundreds of feet thick—coal.

Mining coal was always dangerous.Modern technology has transformedmining far beyond picks and shovels.

B Y D AV I D H O L Z E L

Ground ptheFrom

Photo courtesy of Grubb Photography.

W I N T E R 2 0 0 6 4 BOSS 11

12 BOSS 4 W I N T E R 2 0 0 6

Mining for coal can be as basic as using a pick andshovel. But today’s coal mining more closely resem-bles a factory process. Increasingly it relies on com-

puters and automation, and there is a growing focus on workersafety. So how does the modern coal mining process work?

To begin, there is not a single type of coal. Four basickinds of coal are determined by their carbon content. Thehigher the carbon content, the more heat the coal produces.According to the Appalachian Blacksmiths Association(ABA), “The carbon content of coal supplies most of itsheating value, but other factors also influence the amountof energy it contains per unit of weight.”

Anthracite has the highest carbon content—between 86and 98 percent. A pound of this hard coal can producenearly 15,000 BTUs of heat, according to the ABA. BTU(British Thermal Unit) is the amount of heat required tochange the temperature of one pound of water one degreeFahrenheit at sea level.

Bituminous coal “is used primarily to generate electricityand make coke for the steel industry,” according to theABA. It has a carbon content ranging from 45 to 86 per-cent and a heat value of 10,500 to 15,500 BTUs per pound.

Sub-bituminous coal has a 35 to 45 percent carbon con-tent and a heat value between 8,300 and 13,000 BTUs per

W I N T E R 2 0 0 6 4 BOSS 13

pound. Because it has a lower sulfurcontent than other kinds of coal, it iscleaner burning.

Lignite is a “geologically young coalwhich has the lowest carbon content, 25 to 35 percent, anda heat value ranging between 4,000 and 8,300 BTUs perpound,” the ABA says. “Sometimes called brown coal, it ismainly used for electric power generation.”

Mining MethodsCoal is mined both on the surface and underground.

Surface mining: Also called “strip mining,” this methodinvolves removing the rock and earth covering a coal seamor coal bed. The coal is then extracted. When the overlayproves difficult to remove, drilling and blasting areemployed to break up the rocks. This method is called“open pit mining.”

The amount of material removed from surface miningmay total 10 percent coal to 90 percent rock and soil,according to Joseph W. Leonard, a professor of mining engi-neering and author of Anthracite Roots: Generations of CoalMining in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. When that ration

is uneconomical, the alternative is underground mining.“Deep mining removal may range from zero to 50 percentrock and soil,” Leonard says.

Underground mining: Entry to an underground mine maybe through either a horizontal or vertical tunnel. The ore ismined in rooms (stopes), either with mechanical equipmentor with drilling and explosives to break the coal into piecessuitable to haul. Columns of coal help support the rooms.This system of support is called “room and pillar.”

Long-wall mining is an increasingly popular method ofunderground mining because of its high productivity andeconomic benefits.

Long-wall mining involves two steps and two sets ofequipment, according to Don Shillingberg, a consultingengineer who has worked in the U.S. coal mining industryfor 30 years.

First, continuous mining machinery is brought in. This

Long walls of coal, typically 1,000feet wide and one mile long,allow mining to continue withouthaving to move equipment,resulting in higher productionand lower operating costs.

Left: A continuous miner cutting coalAbove: A long-wall miner shearing coal

Photo courtesy of Grubb Photography.

14 BOSS 4 W I N T E R 2 0 0 6

equipment has a large, rotating, drum-shaped cutting headstudded with carbide-tipped teeth, which break up the seamof coal. In a long-wall operation, the continuous miner carvesout the work area where the coal will be mined, as well asspace for a conveyer belt, ventilation and supply entrances.

The long wall itself can be various widths and lengths. Atypical long-wall block of coal could be 1,000 feet wide andone mile long. “The basic idea is to get the highest produc-tion you can,” Shillingburg says. “You want as long a blockof coal as you can so you can keep mining without havingto move the long-wall equipment to another block of coal.This keeps your operating costs lower and increases profit.”

In the second step of the process, the long-wall machin-ery is brought in and put to work. The computerized equip-ment requires three or four workers at a time to operate itaround the clock, Shillingburg says.

A rotating shear sits on a conveyer that runs the lengthof the wall. Long-wall mining doesn’t rely on the room-and-pillar system of support. “The long-wall miner itself has a

hydraulically operated steel canopy [or shield] which holdsup the roof and protects miners working at the face,”according to the American Coal Foundation.

As the process begins, the shear begins to travel thelength of the wall. “The cut coal falls into the conveyer beltand is moved out,” Shillingburg says. “It gets dumped into ahopper and moved to a processing plant via conveyor belts.”

The wider the wall is, the more shields are needed to pro-tect the work area. Arranged side by side, the shields findthemselves a distance from the wall once the shear has cut aswath of coal. The computer now signals the hydraulic legsof the canopies to release pressure. “Each shield then pullsitself up, resets and pushes the conveyer belt closer to thewall,” Shillingburg says. The legs are re-pressurized to sup-port the roof. The shear operates in this manner back andforth across the face of the wall.

The process is repeated until the long wall has beenmined. As the shields advance, the unsupported ceilingbehind them collapses.

Once removed from the mine, the coaltypically moves on a conveyer belt to an on-site preparation plant. There, dirt, rock andother impurities are removed. Trains andbarges are the most economical vehicles tocarry coal to its final destination. Utility

Worldwide, coal accountsfor about 23 percent of totalenergy consumption andgenerates over 38 percentof the world’s electricity.

A tug boat pushes a group of coal barges.

Photo courtesy of Grubb Photography.

plants, among the largest coal consumers, are often builtnear mines to minimize transportation costs.

A Rise in SafetyCoal mining historically has been an unsafe—and oftenfatal—occupation. Mine roof collapses and gas explosionstook many lives. Chronic lung diseases, such as Black Lung,caused by breathing coal dust, shortened the lives of workers.

Advances in technology have reduced those dangers inthe industrialized world. “Today [mining] is ranked amongthe safest industrial places to work. Forty or more years agoit was among the most dangerous,” Leonard says. He pointsto improvements in safety, such as roof bolts, to preventcave-ins. Roof bolts are long steel rods used to bind theexposed roof surface to the rock behind it. Mechanizationhas increased the speed of mining and, in doing so, loweredthe chances of settlement and rock failure, he adds.

The last great coal mine disaster in the United States wasin 1968. Seventy-eight miners were killed and another 21escaped to the surface after an explosion at Consol’s No. 9mine in Farmington, West Virginia. The catastropheprompted a national uproar and new safety legislation.

The following year, 203 coal miners died in the UnitedStates. In 1994, fatalities had dropped to 28.

“Coal mining today would best be described as a factoryprocess,” Leonard says. “Deep mine productivity went froma few tons to 30 to 1,000 tons per man per day.” The widerange is due to a variety of factors at a particular site.

To gauge how far coal mining has come in the developedworld, you just need to look at the news coming from China,the world’s largest coal producer. In 2004, The Washington Postreported: “By the [Chinese] government’s own reckoning,more than 6,700 miners died in accidents last year, about 18per day—and experts say the real figure is probably twicethat.” The fatality rates in China’s mines are as much as 350times those in other parts of the world, according to TheWashington Post article.

Those deaths came in explosions, roof collapses andfloods, USA Today reported. Responding to water seepage isa high priority in mine safety. Water must be pumped out—as much as 18 tons of water per ton of coal mined, Leonardsays—and visible fissures sealed.

Such scenarios were just as routine a generation ago inindustrialized countries. Today, with computers, walkingumbrellas and cutting shears that can travel for miles, coalcan be mined without a pick and shovel in sight.

W I N T E R 2 0 0 6 4 BOSS 15

Environmental Changes Through GasificationGasification has been in commercial use for more

than 50 years as a process technology for the refin-

ing, chemical and power industries. The gasification

of coal may play a key role in reducing countries’

dependence on foreign oil.

The gasification process converts any carbon-

containing material, such as coal, into a synthesis

gas composed primarily of carbon monoxide and

hydrogen, which can be used as a fuel to generate

electricity or steam or used as a basic chemical

building block for a large number of uses in the

petrochemical and refining industries. Gasification

adds value to low- or negative-value feedstocks by

converting them to marketable fuels and products.

When linked with modern combined cycle tur-

bines, gasification is one of the most efficient, envi-

ronmentally effective means of producing electricity

from solid or liquid feedstocks.

Air emissions from an Integrated Gasification

Combined Cycle (IGCC) power plant are far below

U.S. Clean Air Act standards, and sulfur removal effi-

ciencies of more than 99 percent are achievable. As

air emissions standards become more strict, the

superior environmental performance of IGCC will

take on added economic benefits because the tech-

nology can achieve greater emissions reductions at

lower cost than less advanced technologies.

Information provided by the Gasification TechnologiesCouncil, www.gasification.org.

Dixon Valve & Coupling Company offers the following products for the coal mining industry:

• Boss Ground Joint Fittings• Air Hammer Couplings• Air King Universal Fittings• Air Valves

• King Safety Cable• Combination Nipples• Safety Check Valves• “Victaulic” Grooved Fittings

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16 BOSS 4 W I N T E R 2 0 0 6

FACTS & FIGURES

(2004 figures, in metric tons)From the World Coal Institute

Top Coal ProducingCountries

1,956 Mt

933 Mt

373 Mt

285 Mt

238 Mt

210 Mt

129 Mt

100 Mt

83 Mt

62 Mt

China

United States

India

Australia

South Africa

Russia

Indonesia

Poland

Kazakhstan

Ukraine

*a 9.4% increase in production over theprevious year & 65% growth over thepast 25 years.

Metric tonApproximately 2,200 pounds in the English systemof measurements. In the international system ofmeasurements, 1 metric ton = 1,000 kg.

Source: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

1984 1994 2004e

Major Producers of Hard Coal(2004e)

4,629 Mt*

4,231 Mt

2,805 Mt

2004e

2003

1980

Global Hard Coal Consumption

3,066 Mt

17%

18%

22%

38%

3,541 Mt

12%

10%

23%

50%

4,646 Mt

8%

6%

21%

60%

World

Selected Regional Aggregate Estimates

Europe

Former Soviet Union

North America

Asia-Pacific

World Coal Production (in millions of short tons)

Source: U.S. Energy Information Agency

During a workshop for a Fortune 100 company, I made whatI thought was an uncontroversial point that beyond a legalobligation to keep promises and honor contracts, there is anethical duty; it’s a part of being trustworthy. A senior execu-tive objected strenuously.

“Whether the company wants to live up to its commit-ments is a business decision, not an ethical one,” he said. Infact, he said, the company had a responsibility to evaluatewhether it was in its best interests to honor or breach con-tracts, and the decision should be based on a simplecost/benefit analysis. Ethics was not an issue.

Under this theory, whatever works is right. It makes thepursuit of self-interest the proper standard for business judg-

ments. This theory of “business ethics” flourishes becausemany people compartmentalize their lives into personal andbusiness domains, assuming each is governed by differentstandards of ethics. In business, the argument goes, ethicalprinciples like trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fair-ness, caring and good citizenship are simply factors to betaken into account. They’re not moral obligations.

As a result, fundamentally good people, who would neverlie, cheat or break a promise in their personal lives, deludethemselves into thinking that they can properly do so inbusiness. This rationale is fatally flawed.

Ethics is not concerned with descriptions of the waythings are but prescriptions of the way they ought to be.Though we may face different sorts of ethical challenges atwork, the standards do not change when we enter the work-place. There is no such thing as “business ethics” – there isonly ethics.

Reprinted from The Best is Yet to Come, Josephson Institute ofEthics. ©2004 www.josephsoninstitute.com. Permission givenby the Josephson Institute of Ethics.

W I N T E R 2 0 0 6 4 BOSS 17

No Such Thing asBusiness EthicsBY MICHAEL JOSEPHSON

BUILDING CHARACTER

The Right ‘Quick’ Connection

Dixon Quick Coupling332 Atando Avenue, Charlotte, NC 28206 USASales & Technical Assistance: 800-839-8980 • 704-334-9175Fax: 800-839-9022 • 704-334-9002

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ixon

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Dixon’s Quick Coupling Division now offersPerfecting couplings and accessories. You get customized products developed for yourspecific application, backed by Dixon’s solidreputation for quality and service.

For more information, call 800-839-8980or visit www.perfecting.com. When it’s gotto be right, it’s got to be Dixon.

• Pneumatic Couplings

• Hydraulic Couplings

• Straight-Through Couplings

18 BOSS 4 W I N T E R 2 0 0 6

Philip

B Y E L L E N B R A U N S T E I N

MiningRevolutionizing

Deidesheimer:

:

The Comstock Lode in northwestern Nevada was the most important mine in the

world from 1860 to 1880. The huge geological formation yielded silver and gold worth

$400 million in the 1800s (equivalent to $9.4 billion in 2005) and influenced mining

methods into the 20th century.

But the ore was deep and difficult to mine. Blistering heat, flood water and cave-ins

killed or injured miners. When miners broke through rock, underground water

flooded the tunnels, often with deadly consequences. As mines went deeper in the

Comstock, the flood water steamed and scalded the miners, who already suffered

from blistering heat. Many quit. The Comstock would have shut down were it not for

the innovative techniques developed by a handful of engineers.

20 BOSS 4 W I N T E R 2 0 0 6

W I N T E R 2 0 0 6 4 BOSS 21

P hillip Deidesheimer, a German engineer, could becounted among those innovators. The Comstock iswhere Deidesheimer made one of the most valu-able contributions in history to mining safety and

efficiency, historians say. His invention, a revolutionary timber-framing system

known as the square set, allowed Comstock miners to keepsoft walls of fractured rock and clay supported while theyextracted large bodies of ore from deep below the surface.

“All the mines were unsafe. Square-set timbering madethem safer,” said Jack McCoy of Philipsburg, co-author of abook on ghost towns of Granite County,Montana. Philipsburg, the county seat, wasnamed after Philip Deidesheimer, a mining andmill superintendent there from 1866 to 1868.

Deidesheimer was born to Jewish parents inDarmstadt Hess, Germany in 1832. At the age of20, he graduated from the prestigious FreibergSchool of Mining in Germany. He was one of anelite group of European engineers sought by min-ing companies in the American West in the1840s and 1850s.

That was mining’s romantic era, said DanielMeschter, a Philipsburg newspaper columnist,geologist and mining historian, who can enchanta listener with legendary stories of miners from that period.The feverish mining for gold and silver brought on by the1949 California Gold Rush could, though rarely, make a manenormously wealthy overnight, he said.

“It was a time when mining engineers could make a bigcontribution,” he said. “Nowadays, they are civil engineers.The romance has left.”

Deidesheimer sailed to America around Cape Horn, nodoubt in response to this opportunity, Meschter writes inFlint Chips: Tales of Flint Creek Valley. Meschter’s collectionof 177 history columns originally appeared in the PhilipsburgMail from 1985 to 1989.

Arriving in 1851, Deidesheimer spent the next nine yearsin Eldorado County, California, working as an assayer.Assaying is the technical skill of determining how much goldis in a piece of ore. Deidesheimer also supervised the openingof underground gold mines and built and managed stone andsilver amalgamation mills in Montana.

Most important, Deidesheimer worked with other engi-neers to mechanize placer mining of gold and silver veinsthat were exposed by erosion. Placer miners, namely the’49ers, extracted tiny pieces of ore from masses of sand, gritand gravel. They hand sluiced or panned for gold in streams.

Engineers of the day developed sophisticated machinery thatwould process huge quantities of gravel, taking advantage ofthe high specific gravity of gold, Meschter said. Ultimately,floating dredges would sort the material, sending hugeamounts of silt and sand downstream. Laws enacted in the1860s and 1870s attempted to limit the environmental harmcaused by large-scale placer mining.

On July 1, 1859, miners struck a bonanza of silver and goldin northwestern Nevada. Hundreds of gold miners abandonedtheir spent claims and rushed eastward across the SierraNevadas to Silver City, Virginia City and other boomtowns.

Henry Comstock, a miner with a reputationfor swindling, stumbled into the initial discovery.He tricked two Irishmen into getting a cut oftheir claim by saying they were trespassing on hisranch. He became one of the most conspicuousclaim holders, and the ore deposits came to beknown as the Comstock. Mr. Comstock sold outfor too little. He subsequently went insane andcommitted suicide.

Silver miners at the Comstock were havingtrouble holding the ground. No one there hadever seen such wide ore veins in deep mines—upto 60 feet across, said David Davis, a spokesmanfor the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology.

To extract ore from narrow veins, miners supported tunnelswith a basic post and cap method of timbering—a stick alonghere, a stick along there.

For the wide veins of the Comstock, timbers were neitherlong enough nor strong enough to support caverns cleared ofore. The ground pressure felled the pine columns like pick-upsticks. Miners were dying or quitting from the heat and cave-ins. “Not many mines were in the condition the Comstockwas. The surrounding rock would cave in as fast as the minerscould get the ore out,” said Joseph V. Tingly, research geologistemeritus at the Mackay School of Mines in University ofNevada in Reno.

William F. Babcock of the Ophir Company askedDeidesheimer to come to Virginia City in November 1860to look into the problem of timbering wide veins. “Theyhad to have an engineer create something to fill the voidafter creating the void,” said Ronald James, Nevada StateHistoric Preservation Officer and author of a history ofVirginia City and the Comstock Lode.

According to Meschter, “Deidesheimer freely gave hisinvention to the world without applying for the patents thatmight have assured him financial security.”

Meschter writes that Deidesheimer is said to have told a

Photo this and previous page courtesy of the Montana Historical Society.

22 BOSS 4 W I N T E R 2 0 0 6

Square Set Min ing The ore discovered in 1859 at the Comstock Lode was so crum-bly it could easily be excavated by a shovel.

That was the upside of mining the largest silver find in U.S. his-tory. The downside was cave-ins, among other deadly conditions.

Ore deposits, typically narrow, often run a few inches to sev-eral feet wide along a tunnel. That is why they are called veins.No one had ever seen such wide ore veins before theComstock. However, the ore rock could easily be braced withsimple shoring and beams.

But by late 1860, Ophir mine workers had sunk a shaft 180feet deep to mine a vein 45 feet wide. The ore rocks were in

large masses of quartzsurrounded by a wet,clay-rich material thatbecame unstable whenexposed to air.

As the ore wasremoved, the clay beganto swell. The pressurewould bend and break

the most carefully laid timbers. The walls and roofs would col-lapse with amazing speed and crush the miners instantly undertons of rock.

The Comstock mines would have closed were it not for the development of a timber-framing method known as thesquare set.

German engineer Phillip Deidesheimer designed a system ofintricate interlocking cubes that provided more stability thantraditional timbering. He had the cubes assembled with strongmassive timbers, four to six feet wide on a side. The timberframing, set in steps, could wander wherever the miners wantedto excavate and still maintain strength and support. The cubesgave the miners a working surface from which to take out thenext layer of ore.

Deidesheimer told people that a honeycomb inspired thedesign of his square set. He noticed that the cubes wereremarkably light yet provided substantial support.

Often the cubes were refilled and strengthened with wasterock from other diggings after the ore removal was complete.

The square sets allowed the mine shafts in this huge geologi-cal formation to be sunk to great depths, up to 3,000 feet. Squaresets were quickly applied throughout the west and worldwide.

But square sets were expensive and slow to build. Theyrequired lumber, transportation and highly skilled laborers andsupervisors to construct the frames. Huge lumbering operationsstripped the forests around Lake Tahoe.

At the time, there was no alternative.The square set would be the standard for international min-

ing until the turn of the century. By the 1900s, steel replaced theneed for wood, and earth-moving machinery paved the way toopen pit mining. More efficient and safer methods such as rockbolting, steel mesh and steel plates, made the square set tim-bering system passé.

Above photo: Square set timbers, 1897.Illustration: Men working in the Comstock Lode, a silver and goldmine in Virginia City, Nevada, the first industrial city in the west.

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friend, “If all goes well and these square sets protect the livesof the miners, what more could a man ask for?”

Deidesheimer’s concern for safety saved lives at a timewhen some owners valued more his contribution to the bot-tom line, Meschter said.

Deidesheimer became the superintendent of the OphirMine. In a few years, he fell out of favor with manage-ment because he sided with miners in labor disputes,Meschter wrote.

He left for Montana in mid-1866 and accepted a similarposition with the St. Louis and Montana Mining Company.He again displeased management with his favorable treatmentof workers, Meschter wrote. He also presided over a mill inthat area that came to be known as Granite County. A com-munity of 200 miners and families named their townPhilipsburg after the man with a German mouthful of a name.

When Deidesheimer returned to Virginia City in 1868, he

found easy employment with mining companies whose ownersexploited his reputation to boost stock prices. “They wouldhave him on the masthead to approach potential stockinvestors,” James said.

Ultimately, Deidesheimer went broke. He lost heavily in the stock market crash of 1875 and declared personalbankruptcy.

He resurfaced in San Francisco at age 43 and started anewas a surveyor. He completed the engineering survey for aninnovative project that brought water from Lake Tahoe to SanFrancisco.

Well into his 70s, and dealing in real estate, Deidesheimerlost everything in the San Francisco earthquake of 1906.Meschter wrote that he was reported destitute and ailing in1912 in a cheap hotel room. He died on July 21, 1916.

“In the end, Deidesheimer was a lonely and forgotten man,Meschter said. “He received from life less than he deserved.”

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W I N T E R 2 0 0 6 4 BOSS 25

S T O R Y B Y T H E O D O R E F I S C H E R

BRITAIN, A 93,000-SQUARE-MILE ISLAND OFF THE NORTHWEST COAST OF EUROPE,

CONSISTS OF THREE DISTINCTIVE REGIONS THAT USED TO BE SEPARATE COUNTRIES BUT

NOW BELONG TO AN ALLIANCE KNOWN AS THE UNITED KINGDOM. ENGLAND, LAND OF

SHAKESPEARE, DICKENS, CHURCHILL AND THE BEATLES, OCCUPIES OVER HALF THE

ISLAND AND OFFERS THE COSMOPOLITAN APPEAL OF LONDON AND GENTLE LANDSCAPES

LOADED WITH HISTORICAL TREASURES. FAMED FOR WHISKEY AND KILTS, SCOTLAND HAS

PRESERVED WELL ITS MAGICAL CASTLES AND BREATHTAKING—REMEMBER

BRAVEHEART?—VISTAS. STILL FIERCELY INDEPENDENT AND BILINGUAL (WELSH AND

ENGLISH), WALES IS DENSE WITH OLD FORTRESSES BUILT TO FEND OFF THE ENGLISH AND

BRIMMING WITH VIBRANT EXPRESSIONS OF WELSH CULTURE.

BRITAIN:THREE COUNTRIES IN ONE

26 BOSS 4 W I N T E R 2 0 0 6

a sprawling metropolis whose 9 mil-lion people make it the largest city inEurope. Although an influx of newcitizens from around the globe hasturned today’s London into the leastEnglish of England’s cities, all thegreat old sights remain and some greatnew ones have been added.

London’s venerable A-list attrac-tions begin with Buckingham Palace,which has been the monarchy’s cere-monial residence since 1837 but opento visitors only since 1993. Bothnational museum and national church,Westminster Abbey is where monarchscome to be crowned and to be buried.A former residence and prison, the1,000-year-old Tower of London dis-plays the British crown jewels, and theUnited Kingdom enacts laws at theHouses of Parliament, featuring BigBen. Covering over 80 acres, theBritish Museum displays more than 4 million items in 90 galleries. And asdomed cathedrals go, the magnificentSt. Paul’s Cathedral is smaller than

only St. Paul’s in the Vatican.London’s newest must-see attraction isthe London Eye, a 443-foot Ferriswheel—the world’s largest—builtalongside the Thames River to markthe Millennium.

London is equally renowned for itspublic parks and gardens, notably HydePark and Kensington Gardens wheresports teams and soapbox orators gather.And, Kew Gardens is considered theworld’s most comprehensive collectionof botanic specimens.

For more specialized interests,London has the Sherlock HolmesMuseum honoring the fictional detec-tive and a preserved 18th-centuryprison known as The Clink. TheLondon Transport Museum displayseverything from horse-drawn omnibusesto vehicles for subway-tunnel miners,and Vinopolis focuses exclusively onwine.

You can travel around London bytaxi, by subway (or “tube”), by footand, perhaps most enjoyably, on tours

using the classic red double-deckerbuses. Options for daytrips and half-daygetaways include cruises down theThames to Greenwich, to see theobservatory where time begins; jauntsto Windsor, official royal residence forthe last 900 years; and expeditions tothe nearby university towns of Oxfordand Cambridge.

While London restaurants serve vir-tually every cuisine on earth, itsstrongest suits are Cantonese, Indian,Italian and Greek. Over 7,000 pubsserve sandwiches and English-stylemeals, many of them a cut or two abovetypical “pub grub.” The best places toenjoy a classic English afternoon tea—tea plus an assortment of sandwichesand pastries—are the better hotels andfashionable department stores.

For entertainment, the West Endrivals Broadway with some 50 venuesfor musicals and plays. And a recon-struction of Shakespeare’s GlobeTheatre offers guided tours and mati-nee-only performances. Swinging

MOST VISITS TO ENGLAND BEGIN IN LONDON,

Britain’s weather is quite changeable. Britain does not usually

receive long periods of hot or cold weather, or long periods of

prolonged drought or rainfall. Britain’s climate is usually that of

cool summers, steady rainfall and mild winters.

Temperatures in Britain reach an average of 7°C (45°F) in

the winter months between December and March. During

the summer months of June to August, temperatures average

22°C (72°F).

Weather Forecast

W I N T E R 2 0 0 6 4 BOSS 27

(clockwise from top) Tower Bridge,London; The London Eye at night,South Bank; Black cabs and red double-decker buses on a busy London road;England’s football is the country’snational pastime; House of Parliament,Westminister, London.

London still exists with rock, blues, jazzand world music in pubs and bars allover town, and dozens of dance clubsopen from midnight to dawn.

But to savor the real Merry England,you have to get out of London. Onehighly recommended getaway isCotswolds, a 50-mile range of lime-stone hills some 120 miles west ofLondon where stone cottages fill story-book villages, and pastures are full ofgrazing sheep. The Cotswolds’ pre-served villages, are the happy unin-tended consequence of an IndustrialRevolution migration that devastatedthe local wool industry and sent thecapital that might have modernized thearea to cities further north.

You can roam the Cotswolds by car,by bike or by foot–villages are seldommore than three miles apart. Cotswoldshighlights include the market town ofChipping-Camden, home of wealthywool merchants; windswept Stow-on-the-Wold, the Cotswold’s highestpoint; and the spa town ofCheltenham.

SCOTLANDEdinburgh, Scotland’s political and cul-tural capital, is split into two distinctsections. Old Town, to the south, con-sists of convoluted streets and twistingalleys of Edinburgh’s medieval past.Looming over Old Town, astride a vol-canic rock, stands Edinburgh Castle, aroyal residence and impregnable fortsince the 11th century and now reposi-tory of the Scottish crown jewels.Other Old Town sites are situated on ornear the Royal Mile, a succession offour streets—Castlehill, Lawnmarket,High and Canongate—along a ridgeconnecting the castle and the Palace of

All photos courtesy of Britainonview.com.

28 BOSS 4 W I N T E R 2 0 0 6

Holyroodhouse, home to the RoyalCollection of art and the Queen herselfwhen she’s in town. Highlights of theRoyal Mile include the massiveMuseum of Scotland, the Museum ofChildhood (known as the world’s noisi-est museum) and the Scotch WhiskyHeritage Center, where tours beginwith a wee dram.

Attractions in New Town, laid outback in 1776, include a meticulouslyrefurbished Georgian House that typi-fies this orderly neighborhood. TheNational Gallery of Scotland has over20,000 pieces, with an emphasis on theEuropean masters, and the Sir WalterScott Monument honors theEdinburgh-born author (Ivanhoe, RobRoy) dubbed father of the romantichistorical novel.

In terms of live entertainment, thehighlight of the Scots’ year is theEdinburgh Festival, three weeks inAugust when specialized festivals col-lectively produce the world’s largestcelebration of the arts. But Edinburghhas plenty of nighttime entertainmentthe other 49 weeks, with jazz, folk androck music in the pubs, Scottish folkevenings complete with kilts and bag-pipes in hotels and a pair of reasonablyfrightening ghost walking tours.

Glasgow is a larger newer city knownfor its 19th-century industrial might—coal-fueled ironworks, cotton mills andshipbuilding—and upbeat friendly citi-zens. Top stops include the 13th-centuryGlasgow Cathedral, the BurrellCollection of art amassed by local shipowner Sir William Burrell and theMuseum of Transport with its vintagecars, trolley buses, antique bicycles andmodel ships.

If you have a chance, head for theHighlands—it’s hard to miss since thisstunning landscape of mountains, glens

(clockwise from top) Biking at St. Monance;Edinburgh Castle in Lothian, Scotland;Bottle of whisky on sale at the Museum ofScotland; Market street in Edinburgh.

All photos courtesy of Britainonview.com.

and lochs (lakes) enclosed on threesides by rugged coastline occupies thenorthern two thirds of Scotland. UseInverness, the administrative capitaland home of the Scottish KiltmakerVisitor Centre, as point of departurefor Highlands excursions. Check outLoch Ness, the deep, dark home(maybe) of the infamous monsterknown as “Nessie.” Head out to GlenNevis, a glacial valley dotted withshaggy Highland, and scale Ben Nevis,Britain’s highest peak at 4,406 feet.Rail buffs can survey the territory fromthe classic coaches of the WestHighland Railway, a steam train thatportrays the Hogwarts Express in HarryPotter films.

WALESCardiff, a progressive businesslike cityon Wales’ south coast, evolved aroundthe site of an old Roman fort, rankedas the world’s busiest coal-exportingport in 1913 and became the first capi-tal of a semi-autonomous Wales in1955. At the heart of town lies CardiffCastle, a 12th-century, 12-sided stonefortress gussied up with exotic Arab,Gothic and Greek interiors. The near-by National Museum of Wales displaysthe great art of Wales and Continentalmasters, but sports fans might prefer aguided tour of Millennium Stadium, a72,500-seat retractable-roof structurebuilt in 1999 to host the Rugby WorldCup which serves as an icon of Welshnationalism.

The south, however, is the most“English” part of Wales, and the mostcharacteristically Welsh historical, cul-tural and natural attractions are foundin North Wales. Visit CaernarfonCastle, the massive harbor-side fortresswhere Prince Charles, who as heir tothe U.K. throne rates the title Princeof Wales, received his investiture in1969. Visit the soaring SnowdoniaMountains and either hike to the topof Mount Snowdon, Britain’s highestpeak outside Scotland, or ascend via

W I N T E R 2 0 0 6 4 BOSS 29

Peculiarly British Food and Drink

English breakfast

A hearty meal that may include bacon

and a fried egg, mushrooms, sausage,

tomatoes, black pudding and fried bread.

Ploughman’s lunch

A pub dish, usually bread, cheese (or

ham or pâté), pickles and salad.

Bangers and mash

Fried sausages and mashed potato.

Shepherd’s pie

Minced lamb baked with potato crust;

called “cottage pie” when beef

replaces lamb.

Kedgeree

Curry-flavored smoked haddock, hard-

boiled eggs and rice.

Scotch egg

Hard-boiled egg covered with sausage

meat, eaten cold.

Cockles and whelks

Inexpensive shellfish dish sold in

outdoor stalls.

Cornish pasties

Meat and vegetables baked into a

pastry crust.

Haggis

Scottish dish made from sheep’s heart,

lungs and liver chopped with onions, suet

and boiled in its stomach bag.

Toad in the hole

Sausages baked in pancake batter.

Bread and butter pudding

Buttered bread slices baked with dried

fruit, milk and eggs.

Treacle pudding

A steamed sponge pudding topped with

syrup and custard.

Fruit fool

Cooked soft fruit combined with cold

custard or cream.

Draught bitter

Most popular British beer, served at

room temperature.

Trifle

Layers of sponge cake, jelly, fruit, custard

and cream.

Shandy

A 50/50 mixture of beer and ginger beer,

ginger ale or lemonade.

An English breakfast

Avebury

A Stongehenge-like circle of ancient stones

visitors can reach out and touch.

Bath

English resort town with bathhouse in opera-

tion since Roman times plus state-of-the-art

spa facilities.

Blackpool

England’s rollicking Irish Sea version of an

amusement park.

Hadrian’s Wall

A Roman emperor’s ambitious attempt to reg-

ulate trade – not deter invasions – between

Scotland and England.

Harrods

Vast 150-year-old London department store

that stocks the best of everything.

Ironridge Gorge

Severn River Valley hub of heavy industry with

museums on bridge building, iron smelting,

and other Industrial Revolution enterprises.

Isle of Skye

Largest of west Scotland’s Inner Hebrides

Islands, with rugged volcanic landscape and

legendary whisky – from uisge beatha, Gaelic

for “water of life” – distillery.

Liverpool

The Beatles’ working-class hometown offer-

ing “Magical Mystery” tours and entry to

Lennon’s and McCartney’s boyhood homes.

Lost Gardens of Heligan

In Cornwall on England’s southwestern tip,

Europe’s largest restored garden.

Stratford-upon-Avon

Home of Shakespeare and the Royal

Shakespeare Company as well as pleasant

place to visit.

Wye Valley

Scenic Welsh area that once supplied charcoal

for local ironworks and later inspired

Romantic poets.

York

Well-preserved medieval city with largest

Gothic church north of the Alps.

30 BOSS 4 W I N T E R 2 0 0 6

View of the Roman Baths, Bath, Avon

More British Treasures

W I N T E R 2 0 0 6 4 BOSS 31

the Snowdon Mountain Railway. Ridethe funky steam-hauled, narrow-gaugeFfestiniog Railway from PorthmadogHarbour to the slate-mining town ofBlaenau Ffestiniog.

With no major cities, northernWales accommodations consist mostlyof small hotels and British-style B&Bs.Best places to find them are towns of

Conwy, Caernarfon, Betws-y-Coed(pronounced “betoos-ur-coyd”),Llanberis and Llandudno.

BRITISH COAL FUELS INDUSTRY AND TOURISMThe phrase “carrying coal toNewcastle” became a metaphor fordoing something utterly pointlessbecause during the 19th century,Newcastle, in the northeast ofEngland, was the hub of Britain’s thriv-ing coal industry. Coal has long beenBritain’s richest natural resource, serv-ing as the principal fuel of the

Industrial Revolution and still fulfillinga large proportion of United Kingdom’s(U.K.) energy requirements.

While Britons have mined coal sinceRoman times, the coal industry reallybegan in the 16th-century Elizabethanera when forests that had providedheating fuel were depleted to supplytimber for the English navy. In the

19th century, coal and coke from thegreat British coalmines—or collieries—fueled the steam engines and steel millsthat built the Industrial Revolution.

Britain’s mainly bituminous coalreserves are concentrated in thenorthern England counties ofNorthumberland, Durham,Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire;important deposits are also located insouthern Scotland and southernWales. Bituminous coal is a soft coalthat is derived from petroleum andfound in substances such as asphaltand tar. British coal productionpeaked in 1913, when the U.K. pro-duced 287 million tons and employedabout one million workers. In 1947,when the coal industry was national-

ized, it was producing only 197 mil-lion tons. Under private ownershipagain since 1995, Britain now pro-duces less than 30 million tons a year.

While the British coal industry mayhave declined, a growing number ofmining-related attractions in all threeregions of Britain tell the story of coalmining and examine the lives of miners:

National Coal Mining Museum forEngland, Wakefield, England. Exhibitson mining life and equipment plus toursof one of Britain’s oldest working mines.

Scottish Mining Museum,Newtongrange, Scotland. Displays onthe history of Scottish coal and tours ofthe 19th-century Lady Victoria Colliery.

Big Pit: National Mining Museum ofWales, Blaenafon, Wales. Guided toursof a modern colliery, audiovisual pres-entation on mining history, restoredpithead baths and museum exhibits.

BRITAIN—ENGLAND, SCOTLAND ANDWALES—THREE DISTINCTIVE REGIONSFILLED WITH HISTORY AND CULTURE.

Below, A contestant at the BraemarGathering. Right, Cardiff Castle.

All photos courtesy of Britainonview.com.

The next time you feel a cold coming on, treat yourself tosome liver, sweet potatoes or spinach with that glass oforange juice.

All three foods are rich sources of vitamin A, a nutrient,which according to a Pennsylvania State University study,may help make interferon—a natural immune-system boost-er produced by the body—more effective in fighting diseaseslike arthritis and multiple sclerosis and the common cold.

Vitamin A, a family of fat-soluble compounds, is bestknown for its crucial role in promoting vision, particularlynight vision. But vitamin A does more than help you see inthe dark. It has a host of other health benefits, from pro-moting bone growth to fighting acne.

SourcesRetinol—or preformed vitamin A—is one of the mostactive, usable forms of vitamin A and is found in animalproducts including liver, whole milk, eggs, margarine, cheeseand in some fortified foods like cereal.

Provitamin A carotenoids, most notably beta carotene,are dark colored pigments found in plants, which the bodyconverts to vitamin A. Carrots, spinach, kale, sweet pota-toes, cantaloupe, mangoes, apricot and peaches are exam-ples of plant foods that contain beta carotene.

BenefitsEyes Vitamin A plays an essential role in vision by assist-ing in the functioning of the retina and maintaining thehealth of mucous membranes in the eye.

Skin Topical and oral solutions containing synthetic vita-min A (like Retin-A) are used to clear up acne and psori-asis and may be useful in treating other skin conditionslike premature aging and warts. Vitamin A is also used totreat cold sores and flaky scalps.

Immune System Vitamin A has been shownto stimulate white blood cell function

and increase the activity of antibodies.It also is important in the health

of surface linings like those inthe intestinal and respiratory

tracts.

Measles The World Health Organization recommends theuse of vitamin A supplements to children with measles indeveloping countries where vitamin A deficiency is wide-spread. The supplements have been shown to decrease theseverity and complications of the disease.

Bones A balanced intake of vitamin A is needed for normalbone development. Both too low and too high doses havebeen linked to osteoporosis.

Cancer Vitamin A and beta carotene may be associatedwith decreased risk of certain cancers, including breast,colon and cervical cancers.

SupplementsThe U.S. Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for vita-min A for an adult is 700 to 900 micrograms of retinol orthe equivalent beta carotene intake. Three ounces ofcooked beef liver contain 545 percent of the RDA, whileone-half cup of boiled carrots provide 270 percent.

If you obtain the suggested RDA of vitamin A from yourdiet, there is no need to use supplements, according toresearchers. In fact, it’s not a good idea to use vitamin Asupplements unless directed by your doctor, especially if you

HEALTH & FITNESS

Pass the Spinach, PleaseVitamin A is Essential to Good Health

BY KAREN BAXTER

W I N T E R 2 0 0 6 4 BOSS 33

smoke or are pregnant, says Roberta Anding,a registered dietician and spokesperson forthe American Dietetic Association.

Researchers are studying a link betweenhigh doses of vitamin A and osteoporosis.Other possible risks include liver abnormali-ties, central nervous system disorders andeven death.

“Preformed Vitamin A can be toxic at about10 times the recommended daily allowance,”Anding says. “And it can be teratogenic, mean-ing it can cause birth defects.”

Taking a beta-carotene supplement is a saferchoice than a vitamin A supplement, because itdoesn’t build up in the body. (Although too muchcan turn your skin an orange color.) Generallyspeaking though, a person who eats their five dailyservings of fruits and vegetables, and varies theirselections, shouldn’t have to worry about gettingenough of the nutrient.

DeficiencyVitamin A deficiency is rare. However, Andingsays she has seen it in patients who have comefrom developing countries or countries with wide-spread famine.

Approximately 250,000 to 500,000 malnour-ished children in developing countries go blindeach year from vitamin A deficiency, accordingto the National Institutes of Health. Childrenwith vitamin A deficiency are also four timesmore likely to have asthma and are at risk forchronic lung disease, hearing loss, measles, ane-mia, pneumonia and stunted growth.

In adults, vitamin A deficiency may also lead toskin, bone, lung and immunity problems and ane-mia, and in pregnant women, low birth weightand premature birth.

The elderly and people on low-calorie diets,vegetarian diets low in beta carotene, or peoplewith chronic diarrhea or excess alcohol consump-tion are more prone to vitamin A deficiency.

Food PreparationTo ensure you’re getting the most benefits out of

vitamin A and beta carotene-rich foods, take meas-ures to prevent loss of the nutrients during prepara-

tion, cooking or storage. Keep vegetables covered andrefrigerated during storage. When possible, serve fruits

and vegetables raw or steamed to preserve the most nutri-ents. In addition, baking or broiling meats is healthier thanfrying foods.

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FINAL FACT

It’s easy to take the screw for granted.Most people don’t even think aboutscrews until they need to take the coveroff of a toy’s battery compartment oruntil an arm falls off their eyeglasses.

So, it may be surprising that in thewake of Y2K, when asked to write anessay on the most important tool of themillennium for The New YorkTimes, author WitoldRybczynski, professor of urbanstudies at the University ofPennsylvania, chose the screw ashis subject. (Rybczynski went onto write the book One GoodTurn: A Natural History of theScrewdriver and the Screw.)

The origins of the screw canbe traced all the way back to theGreek scientist and mathemati-cian Archimedes, born in thethird century B.C. Archimedesinvented the first planetarium,the lever, the catapult and thecompound pulley system. Healso is credited with the creationof the hydraulic screw pump,which was used to raise waterfrom a low-lying body of waterto irrigation ditches.

Other screw-type machines like theolive press, which used Archimedes’helix design, were used as early as firstcentury A.D. However, it wasn’t untilthe 15th century that wood screwsused as fasteners first appear in histori-cal accounts. Around that time, gunand armor manufacturers began usingthem instead of nails to get a betterseal between seams and joints. It wasalso in the 15th century that Leonardoda Vinci drew a sketch of a screw-making machine.

According to Rybczynski, the firstscrews were made by hand with files.

Because of the labor involved in theircreations, they were expensive andnot used around the house or in largequantities.

That began to change when Englishinstrument maker Jesse Ramsden invent-ed the first screw-cutting lathe in 1770.The household screwdriver appearedaround 1780. Then, in the late 1790s,Englishmen Henry Mudslay and

American David Wilkinson inventedmachinery for the mass production ofthreaded metal screws.

In fact, it was the screw lathe thatallowed for the manufacture of all kindsof parts for everything vital to the indus-trial revolution, including the all impor-tant steam engine.

The screw also had another key rolein industrial history. While today,according to the National Institute ofStandards and Technology, there are

close to 800,000 global standards, therewere none just a century and a half ago.That was, until 1864, when a mannamed William Sellers initiated the firstsuccessful standardization fight in history, over—you guessed it—the screw.Sellers unveiled a new screw design thatwas easy to reproduce because of itsthread, which was cut on 60-degreeangle and had a flat apex.

The next major innovationin screws came in the 1930s,when Henry F. Phillips devel-oped the Phillips screw. Itsunique recessed cross slot wasdesigned specifically for usewith the automated screw-drivers used in auto assemblylines. What do-it-yourselfersmay view as a design flaw—thePhillips’ tendency to “camout,” or slip, was actually adesired feature that preventedthe automated screwdriversfrom over torquing.

In recent years, the squaredrive screw, first patented in1908—before the Phillipsdesign—has regained populari-ty with the advent of powerdrivers with adjustable torque

settings. The square design is said tohave better torque than the Phillipsand does not pop out when used withtorque setting, because the screwdriverdisengages when a preset level of resist-ance is reached.

Today, although easily overlooked,screws are found in everything frommicroscopes and telescopes to computersand action figures. However, in someparts of the world, people still rely onhydraulic screw pumps for basic func-tions like transporting water.

Manufacturers continue to refine thescrew to make it easier to use and moredurable.

The Turn of the Screw: A Brief HistoryBY KAREN BAXTER

A woodcut of Archimedes’ hydraulic screwpump from an edition of Virtruvius's DeArchitectura published by Fra Giocondo(c.1445-c.1525) in Venice in 1511

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