This machine comprises a number of horizontal rotating flight bars working near the floor of the seam and driven through gearing by an electric motor. These bars push into the coal in their extended position and are almost completely concealed inside the loader casing in their retracted position. They push prepared coal up a ramp on to a low, bottom-loaded conveyor belt. The machine is hauled along the face by means of two steel ropes wound on separate drums on the loader; one rope passes up the front of the coal and is held by means of an anchor prop; the other rope is threaded under the cut coal by means of a threader pipe attached to the rear of the coal cutter. Lengths of rope equal to the drum capacity are joined by figure-8 links and are detached and unwound from the drum as the loader proceeds along the face.