[HISTORY: Adopted by the City Council of the City of Scranton 9-26-1979
as Ch. 10 of the 1979 Code. Amendments noted where applicable.]
No person engaged in the sale of anthracite coal to consumers shall
sell any coal to consumers within the city, unless the same shall conform
to the standards now existing for shipment of prepared anthracite coal to
tidewater, which standards are as follows:
A.
Egg coal, either wet or dry, shall pass through a mesh
two and three-fourths (23/4) inches square and over a two-and-one-eighth-inch
square mesh. It shall not contain more than five percent (5%) of larger sizes,
nor more than ten percent (10%) of stove coal. No more than two percent (2%)
of slate, rock and refuse shall be allowed, and no more than two percent (2%)
of bone, containing a proportion of fixed carbon ranging between forty percent
(40%) and sixty-five percent (65%) shall be allowed.
B.
Stove coal, either wet or dry, shall pass through a mesh two and one-eighth (21/8) inches square and over a one-and-three-eighths-inch square mesh. It shall not contain more than five percent (5%) of larger sizes, nor more than ten percent (10%) of chestnut. No stove coal shall be sold containing more than four percent (4%) of slate, rock and refuse, and no more than three percent (3%) of bone, as described in Subsection A shall be allowed.
C.
Chestnut coal, when dry, shall pass through a mesh one and three-eighths (13/8) inches square and over a three-fourths-inch square mesh. When wet it shall pass through a mesh one and nine-sixteenths (19/16) inches round and over a fifteen-sixteenths-inch round mesh. It shall not contain more than five percent (5%) of larger sizes, nor more than ten percent (10%) of pea coal, nor more than five percent (5%) of buckwheat No. 1. It shall not contain an average of more than five percent (5%) of bone, as described in Subsection A.
D.
Pea coal, when dry, shall pass through a mesh three-fourths
(3/4) inch square and over a one-half-inch square mesh. When wet it shall
pass through a mesh fifteen-sixteenths (15/16) inch round and over a nine-sixteenths-inch
round mesh. It shall not contain an objectionable amount of larger sizes,
nor more than fifteen percent (15%) of Buckwheat No. 1, nor more than five
percent (5%) of Birdseye, nor more than ten percent (10%) of slate, rock and
refuse and no undue amount of bone.
E.
Buckwheat coal, commonly called "Buckwheat No. 1," shall
pass, when dry, through a mesh one-half-inch square and over a three-eighths-inch
round mesh. When wet it shall pass through a mesh nine-sixteenths-inch round
and over a five-sixteenths-inch round mesh. It shall not contain an objectionable
amount of larger sizes, nor more than fifteen percent (15%) of Birdseye, nor
more than fifteen percent (15%) of slate, rock and refuse and no undue amount
of bone.
F.
Birdseye coal, when dry, shall pass through a three-eighths-inch
round mesh and, when wet, through a five-sixteenths-inch round mesh and over
a three-thirty-seconds-to-one-quarter-inch mesh. It shall not contain an objectionable
amount of larger or smaller sizes of coal, dirt or dust.
It shall be the duty of the Bureau of Weights and Measures of the Department of Public Safety to inspect prepared anthracite coal intended for delivery to consumers within the limits of the city. The inspection may be made as the coal is loaded from the chutes or bins onto the wagons when the coal is in transit on the streets of the city or after or upon delivery. When the inspector shall have found coal intended for delivery to consumer or coal which has been delivered to the consumer to be below the standard fixed in § 198-1, he shall immediately condemn such coal and order such coal to be returned to the dealer. Coal, which, after inspection, shall have been found to conform with the standard as to size and purity, shall be so designated in a certificate which the inspector shall issue in proper form to the person in charge of the delivery of the coal.
Persons in charge of the delivery of prepared anthracite coal, whose
deliveries have been inspected in transit by the Bureau of Weights and Measures,
before unloading such coal, shall present to the consumer the certificate
of inspection issued by the Bureau. Coal which has not been inspected in transit,
and which is delivered to the consumer without the certificate of inspection,
may be accepted by the consumer, subject to inspection by the Bureau. However,
such consumer shall so notify the person in charge of delivery and shall make
immediate demand upon the Bureau to have such coal inspected.
When such delivered coal is inspected and found to conform with the standards fixed in § 198-1, the inspector shall notify the dealer from whom the coal was delivered, by issuing a certificate in proper form, to this effect. When coal so inspected is found not to conform with the standard herein set forth, the Bureau of Weights and Measures shall issue to the consumer, in proper form, a certificate of inspection, showing the total weight of impurities found, based upon the average of impurities in the quantity inspected and the total weight of undersize or oversize coal. A copy of this certificate shall be served by mail or otherwise upon the person responsible for its delivery, together with a demand upon the person from whom the coal was ordered to be delivered, to replace the gross amount of impurities delivered, as shown in the certificate issued, with a like weight of inspected and approved coal.
In the event of the refusal or neglect of such person to replace the
condemned coal with a like quantity of coal that will pass inspection, no
liability shall attach to the purchaser thereof to pay the same, and in case
the purchaser of such coal has paid for the same, and the seller thereof refuses
to replace the same, the purchaser may bring an action at law to recover the
amount paid.
Any person in charge of delivery of coal which has been inspected in transit, and condemned by the Bureau of Weights and Measures, who shall violate the order of the Bureau to return such condemned coal to the seller thereof, or any person who causes to be delivered to consumers anthracite coal below the standards set forth in § 198-1, or any person who orders to be delivered to consumers within the city coal which the Bureau shall have certified to be below the standard, and who shall refuse to replace, upon demand, the gross weight of impurities with a like weight of inspected and approved coal, shall be guilty of a violation of this Article and, upon conviction, shall be punished as provided in § 1-16.
No person shall recklessly, carelessly and to such an extent and in
such a manner mine, remove and carry away the anthracite coal, rock, earth
or other minerals or materials forming the natural support of the surface
of the several streets, avenues, thoroughfares, courts, alleys, places and
public highways of the city, as to threaten, endanger or interfere with the
use thereof by the public or endanger the safety of such streets, avenues,
thoroughfares, courts, alleys, places and public highways.
No person shall dig, mine, remove or carry away the anthracite coal,
rock, earth or other minerals or materials forming the natural support of
the surface beneath the streets, avenues, thoroughfares, courts, alleys, places
and public highways of the city, to such an extent and in such a manner as
to thereby remove the necessary adequate support of the surface against subsidence,
without having first placed, built, erected and constructed sufficient, adequate
and permanent artificial support in place and stead thereof to maintain, uphold
and preserve the stability of the surface of such streets, avenues, thoroughfares,
courts, alleys, places and public highways.
A.
No person shall so mine coal or so conduct the operation
of mining as to endanger the safety, security and lives of the people, resident
or visiting, of the city, by mining out, removing and taking away the coal
or other natural support, both vertical and lateral, necessary to uphold and
maintain any city, county, state and federal buildings, passenger railway
lines and stations, hospitals, church and school buildings, theaters, public
libraries, hotels, factories, manufacturing buildings, museums, Y.M.C.A. and
Y.W.C.A. buildings and halls in which the people are wont to assemble regularly,
or from time to time, in large numbers or underneath any other buildings,
without at the same time providing sufficient, adequate and permanent artificial
support to maintain, bear up and keep firm and stable the surface upon which
such buildings or railway lines rest.
B.
The mining and removing of the coal or natural support
and the substitution of such artificial support, shall be done upon inspection
and with the approval of the Bureau of Mine Inspection and Surface Support.
Whenever it appears upon inspection by the Bureau of Mine Inspection and Surface Support, that the coal or natural support underlying any of the buildings or railway lines referred to in § 198-9 has been already mined out, removed and taken away by any person in such manner and to such an extent as to render the use and occupation of such buildings and lines dangerous, then notice shall be served upon such person requiring him to build, set up and erect suitable proper and sufficient artificial support for the safe and permanent protection of the surface whereon such buildings and railway lines are located. The artificial support shall be constructed under the inspection and with the approval of the Bureau of Mine Inspection and Surface Support.
The powers and duties of the Bureau of Mine Inspection and Surface Support shall include the inspection, examination, the making of maps, records and reports of the underground mine workings, at all points within the city to meet the provisions and requirements of §§ 198-9 and 198-10. The City Solicitor is hereby directed and required to institute such proceedings in law or equity as may be necessary to enforce the provisions of this Article.
