A cutter-loader based on the plow principle and designed to cut coal that is too hard for the ordinary plow. Two vertical blades, fitted one at each end of the machine, carry cutting picks that shear the coal from the face by an oscillating motion. The machine is hauled backward and forward along the face by a chain haulage mounted on the tail end of the conveyor. The conveyor and slicer are held up to the coal by pneumatic rams spaced along the goaf side of the conveyor. The sheared coal is forced from the face by the wedge shape of the machine and is loaded on to the armored conveyor by means of 1547 specially shaped ramps. The machine has been designed for seams with a minimum thickness of 4 ft (1.22 m) and has a maximum cutting depth of 14 in (35.56 cm).