Abstract: Breaking apparatus for use with a conveyor and intended to be used in a coal mine comprises a frame generally of inverted U-shape bridging the conveyor and secured to its opposite side walls. A rotary breaking element is drivably carried on an arm assembly mounted on the frame, and a reaction plate on the frame is spaced from an adjacent periphery of the rotary element. In use, coal and rocks on the conveyor pass between the rotary element and reaction plate where they are broken up by the rotary element as it rotates.

Abstract: An auxiliary device for a longwall mining machine incorporating an underframe, by which it is mounted for movement along the conveyor of the mining machine, and it is coupled to the mining machine. The auxiliary device comprises a rotary breaking or crushing element drivably carried by the underframe and the underframe is provided with a reaction means, preferably a plate, spaced away from an adjacent periphery of the rotary element. In use, material on the moving conveyor passes between the rotating breaking or crushing element and the reaction plate where the material is broken up or crushed. In this way, it can be ensured that any large lumps of coal or rock on the conveyor can be broken down to a sufficiently small size so as not to become jammed beneath the main frame of the mining machine straddling the conveyor.