Abstract: A mobile mine-roof support comprises a powered track-laying carriage having a carrier shaft extending longitudinally of the carriage between its tracks, the end portions of the carrier shaft being arranged to support mountings of bracket form for props supporting a roof beam which is stabilized by a lemniscate guide linkage the floorward links of which ar articulated to an attachment part or extension of one of the prop mountings, with stabilization of the laterally-pivotable props being effected by an orienting cylinder supported on the chassis.

Abstract: The support assembly is made up of a floor-standing runner member 1, a hydraulically vertically-adjustable prop 2 mounted on the same, a roof canopy 3 supported by the same and a rockfall shield 4 hinged to the same on the backfill side which is guided to be pivotable in a vertical plane by two direction-control members 5 and 6 articulated to the runner member so as to be spaced apart one behind the other. The front direction-control member 6 is constructed as a hydraulic thrust piston mechanism. Via a control circuit 8 the hydraulic control valve 7 of the direction-control member 6 is connected to measuring devices 9 usable to measure the position of at least two mutually variably spaced apart support assembly reference points. If the reference points deviate from the preset normal position of the support assembly, pressure fluid acts on the front direction-control member 6 via the control circuit 8 until the normal position has been regained.

Abstract: A self-advancing mine roof support has a beam-like abutment adapted to be disposed generally adjacent and parallel to a work face. Three roof support elements are spaced apart along the abutment and are pivoted to the abutment. The abutment may be angled relative to the direction of advance by arranging the three support elements in staggered formation. A beam of the central support element is pivoted to the abutment. The two outer roof support elements are connected to the abutment by a linkage, e.g., guide arms, which allows the abutment to pivot about the beam of the central element without changing the distance between the three elements as measured at right angles to the direction of advance.

Abstract: The invention is concerned with apparatus for maintaining a set "between-centers" distance between the elements of self-advancing mine-roof supporting means for long-wall mining, the support means having at least two elements connected via connecting means so that they can pivot to a limited extent with respect to an abutment which, in use, extends substantially parallel to the long-wall face, the connecting means of at least one element being constructed as a drive means, in which the portions of the abutment connected to the respective connecting means are interconnected so that their length can be varied, and a guide lever is pivoted to the connecting means of at least one element and to an abutment portion connected to an adjacent element so that the two places at which the lever is pivoted and the place at which the connecting means of the first-mentioned element are connected to the abutment lie at the corners of a triangle.

Abstract: A prop-and-shoe assembly of an hydraulic self-advancing mine roof-support unit, comprising an hydraulic prop having a bearing member at or near one end which is pivotally supported on a pivot on the shoe and having a tubular portion which slidingly embraces the bearing member, a chamber within the said tubular prop portion which permits longitudinal displacement of the prop with respect to the shoe by the admission of hydraulic fluid under pressure into the chamber, an abutment adjacent the lower end of the tubular prop portion, and a stop face against which the abutment is pushed by hydraulic fluid supplied to the chamber during operation of the assembly so as to bring the prop into a desired position with respect to the shoe.