单选题
Professor Meredith Thring, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Queen Mary College, London showed off his latest invention to the Press yesterday. It is a mechanical coal miner which, he claims, could solve Britain''s energy problems within ten years. Not that he thinks the National Coal Board will be at all interested. " I have taken my previous ideas of mechanical mining to previous Chairmen of the Board but each time nothing has happened," he said. "The Board are not thinking enough about the future. My latest idea would put the cost of coal down and produce twice as much with the same labour force. "
Professor Thring finished making his mechanical coal miner only on Sunday night. He showed the wooden model yesterday at Queen Mary College. It is rather like a giant ant, with a headlight, two TV camera "eyes" , and arms the same size and strength as human arms.
This particular coal miner, however, would only be eighteen inches tall, which would enable it to mine much smaller areas of coal than those that can be mined by human beings. It would open up rich areas of coal in the Durham coal fields which have not been workable since the last century.
" I would have thought the unions would be delighted with the mechanical coal miners," said Professor Thring. " We would be employing as many miners as at present, with all their skills, but they would all be working on the surface. "
The human miner would in fact sit at the controls above ground. He would put his hands into "gloves" and work the metal hands of the coal miner as if they were his own. The mechanical miner could go down as deep as 10,000 feet, and would cost ￡10,000.
" It will put the cost of coal down because the cost of the machines is going to be very low in relation to the present cost of supplying fresh air to mines," said Professor Thring. " There need to be no oxygen present, and this would mean there would be no risk of explosions. "
The Professor does his economic sums as follows. Britain needs each year as much energy as 350 million tons of coal would provide; and North Sea oil will only provide the same amount of energy as 150 million tons of coal for fifty years, while the cost of nuclear power is ten times greater than the cost of getting oil.
" We can get ten times as much coal as North Sea oil. We could have 250 million tons a year — double the present amount — for 200 years at least, and solve the energy crisis. The mechanical coal miner could be developed and active within six or seven years. "
Could be, certainly! But Professor Thring knows very well how much luck he will need to succeed, which is why he gave the public display of his latest invention yesterday, to try to get opinion-makers on his side.
单选题
Professor Thring''s mechanical coal miner________.