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Glossary Of Coal Mining Terminology
This is a partial glossary of coal mining terminology commonly used in the coalfields of the United Kingdom. Some words were in use throughout the coalfields, some are historic and some are local to the different British coalfields. A Adit :An adit is an underground level or tunnel to the surface for access or drainage purposes. Afterdamp :Afterdamp is a mixture of carbon monoxide and chokedamp which replaces atmospheric air after an explosion. Agent :The agent was the senior colliery manager: the term "viewer", "captain" or "steward" also appeared in older regional terminology. Where the mine owner provided the capital and sank the shafts, the agent organised the development of the colliery, determined mining methods, advised the owner on the mine's commercial management and labour policy, and in later years was generally a trained mining engineer. In the management hierarchy the agent was superior to the colliery manager and under-manager, who had day to day operational resp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coalfield
A coalfield is an area of certain uniform characteristics where coal is mined. The criteria for determining the approximate boundary of a coalfield are geographical and cultural, in addition to geological. A coalfield often groups the seams of coal, railroad companies, cultural groups, and watersheds and other geographical considerations. At one time the coalfield designation was an important category in business and industrial discussions. The terminology declined into unimportance as the 20th century progressed, and was probably only referred to by a few small railroads and history buffs by the 1980s. Renewed interest in industrial heritage and coal mining history has brought the old names of the coalfields before a larger audience. Australia New South Wales *Gunnedah Basin coalfields *Hunter Valley coalfields *South Maitland coalfields *Sydney Basin coalfields Queensland *Bowen Basin coalfields *Galilee Basin coalfields *Surat Basin coalfields *Walloon coalfields Victoria ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blackdamp
Blackdamp (also known as stythe or choke damp) is an asphyxiant, reducing the available oxygen content of air to a level incapable of sustaining human or animal life. It is not a single gas but a mixture of unbreathable gases left after oxygen is removed from the air and typically consists of nitrogen, carbon dioxide and water vapour. The term is etymologically and practically related to terms for other underground mine gases such as fire damp, white damp, and stink damp, and afterdamp. Etymology The meaning of "damp" in this term, while most commonly understood to imply humidity, presents evidence of having been separated from that newer, irrelevant meaning at least by the first decade of the 18th century, where the original relevant meaning of "vapor" derives from a Proto-Germanic origin, ''dampaz'', which gave rise to its immediate English predecessor, the Middle Low German ''damp'' (with no record of an Old English intermediary). The proto-Germanic ''dampaz'' gave rise to m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Damp (mining)
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United Kingdom and South Africa, a coal mine and its structures are a colliery, a coal mine is called a 'pit', and the above-ground structures are a 'pit head'. In Australia, "colliery" generally refers to an underground coal mine. Coal mining has had many developments in recent years, from the early days of men tunneling, digging and manually extracting the coal on carts to large open-cut and longwall mines. Mining at this scale requires the use of draglines, trucks, conveyors, hydraulic jacks and shearers. The coal mining industry has a long history of significant negative environmental impacts on local ecosystems, health impacts on local communities and workers, and contributes heavily to th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hurrying
A hurrier, also sometimes called a coal drawer or coal thruster, was a child or woman employed by a collier to transport the coal that they had mined. Women would normally get the children to help them because of the difficulty of carrying the coal. Common particularly in the early 19th century, the hurrier pulled a corf (basket or small wagon) full of coal along roadways as small as in height. They would often work 12-hour shifts, making several runs down to the coal face and back to the surface again.Channel 4. The Worst Jobs in History - Hurrier. Accessed from the Wayback Machine on 13 November 2009.HalifaxToday.co.uk. The Nature Of Work". Accessed 17 February 2007. Some children came from the workhouses and were apprenticed to the colliers. Adults could not easily do the job because of the size of the roadways, which were limited on the grounds of cost and structural integrity. Hurriers were equipped with a "gurl" belt – a leather belt with a swivel chain linked to t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wicker Basket
Wicker is the oldest furniture making method known to history, dating as far back as 5,000 years ago. It was first documented in ancient Egypt using pliable plant material, but in modern times it is made from any pliable, easily woven material. The word ''wicker'' or "wisker" is believed to be of Scandinavian origin: , which means "to fold" in Swedish, and meaning willow. Wicker is traditionally made of material of plant origin, such as willow, rattan, reed, and bamboo, but synthetic fibers are now also used. Wicker is light yet sturdy, making it suitable for items that will be moved often like porch and patio furniture. ''Rushwork'' and wickerwork are terms used in England. A typical braiding pattern is called ''Wiener Geflecht'', Viennese Braiding, as it was invented in 18th century Vienna and later most prominently used with the Thonet coffeehouse chair. History Wicker has been documented as far back as ancient Egypt, made from indigenous "reed and swamp grasses." Middle- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Corf (mining)
A corf (pl. corves) also spelt corve (pl. corves) in mining is a wicker basket or a small human powered (in later times in the case of the larger mines, horse drawn) minecart for carrying or transporting coal, ore, etc. Human powered corfs had generally been phased out by the turn of the 20th century, with horse drawn corfs having been mostly replaced by horse drawn or motorised minecarts mounted on rails by the late 1920s. Also similar is a Tram, originally a box on runners, dragged like a sledge. Origin of term 1350–1400; Middle English from Dutch and German ''Korb'', ultimately borrowed from Latin ''corbis'' basket; cf. ''corbeil''. Survivors The National Coal Mining Museum for England has a hazel basket type Corf from William Pit near Whitehaven. See also * Corf (fishing) *Minecart * Mineral wagon *Mines and Collieries Act 1842 The Mines and Collieries Act 1842 (c. 99), commonly known as the Mines Act 1842, was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hewer
A hewer (german: Hauer or ''Häuer'') is a miner who loosens rock and minerals in a mine. In medieval mining in Europe a ''Hauer'' was the name given to a miner who had passed his test (''Hauerprüfung'') as a hewer. Training In Europe in former times, before he could become a hewer, the miner had to learn to be a "sorter boy" (''Scheidejunge''), identifying ores and separating the ore from the gangue. After that he would continue his training in the pit itself. Here, he had to learn further skills, initially as a putter (''Hundtstößer'' literally "truck pusher"), transporting material around the mine in wagons. Only afterwards could he learn the skills, as an apprentice hewer (''Lehrhäuer''), that he would later need as a hewer. This form of training, the acquisition of knowledge by experience, was practised in mining until the First World War. From the 1920s, the training of hewers was legally regulated as a result of union demands. Because, in the meantime, many skills re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shaft Mining
Shaft mining or shaft sinking is the action of excavating a mine shaft from the top down, where there is initially no access to the bottom. Shaft (civil engineering), Shallow shafts, typically sunk for civil engineering projects, differ greatly in execution method from deep shafts, typically sunk for mining projects. Shaft sinking is one of the most difficult of all mine development methods: restricted space, gravity, groundwater and specialized procedures make the task quite formidable. Shafts may be sunk by conventional drill and blast or mechanised means. Historically, mine shaft sinking has been among the most dangerous of all the mining occupations and the preserve of mining contractors called sinker (mining), sinkers. Today shaft sinking contractors are concentrated in Canada, Germany, China and South Africa. The modern shaft sinking industry is gradually shifting further towards greater mechanisation. Recent innovations in the form of full-face shaft boring (akin to a v ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward Ormerod
Edward Ormerod (2 May 1834 – 26 May 1894) was an English mining engineer. Edward Ormerod (sometimes Ormrod) was born on 2 May 1834 in the village of Church, near Accrington, in Lancashire, England. He worked as a mining engineer at Fletcher, Burrows and Company's Gibfield Colliery Gibfield Colliery was a coal mine owned by Fletcher, Burrows and Company in Atherton, then in the historic county of Lancashire, England. A shaft was sunk at Gibfield to the Trencherbone mine in 1829 by John Fletcher next to the Bolton and Lei ... in Atherton, Greater Manchester, where he devised and tested a safety device. He was supported by chief engineering foreman, James Rothwell from Hindley. He married Betsy Hope in 1856 and had several children. He died on 26 May 1894 and is buried in Atherton Cemetery. A small memorial stone in front of his grave depicts and pays tribute to his invention. Edward Ormerod developed and patented the "Ormerod" safety link or detaching hook, known in m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Outburst (mining)
An outburst is the sudden and violent ejection of coal, gas, and rock from a coal face and surrounding strata in an underground coal mine. When outbursts occur, they can be very serious events, possibly even resulting in fatalities. Effects of outbursts Outbursts may range in severity from being barely noticeable, to causing the destruction of an entire mining panel, and throwing pieces of machinery weighing tens of tonnes several metres. An outburst at Tahmoor Colliery, in New South Wales, Australia, in June 1985 involved the ejection of 350 tonnes of coal and rock and over 3000 cubic metres of gas, resulting in one fatality. Another outburst at the nearby South Bulli Colliery in 1991, resulted in three fatalities, and yet another outburst at Westcliff Colliery in January 1994 involved 300 tonnes of coal and rock and resulted in one fatality. Predisposing factors Several factors predispose certain coal seams to being outburst-prone. These include: * Coal seam gas content ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coal Mine Bump
A coal mine bump (a bump, a mine bump, a mountain bump, or a rock burst) is a seismic jolt occurring within an underground mine due to the explosive collapse of one or more support pillars. In room and pillar mining, tunnels are advanced in a rectangular pattern resembling city streets (tunnels), leaving behind blocks (pillars) of coal. To a miner, a partially completed tunnel resembles a room dug into the coal seam. As mining proceeds, the weight of rock overburden previously supported by coal mined from rooms is redistributed to pillars. If that weight exceeds the strength of a pillar, the pillar can fail by crushing or exploding. An explosive failure is called a “bump.”{{cite news , first=Seth , last=Bornstein, first2= Jennifer , last2=Talhelm , title=Stress Causes Killer Mine Bumps , date=2007-08-17 , publisher=Associated Press , URL =http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/topstories/2007-08-17-2823715890_x.htm?csp=34 , work =USA Today In the eastern United States' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brattice
A brattice is a partition used in mining. It is built between columns of a sub-surface mine to direct air for ventilation. Where the mine is sunk at the base of a single shaft, the shaft is divided into two parts by a wooden or metal brattice. Air is delivered down one side of the shaft and exhausted upwards through the other. Depending on the type of mine and how the operation is run, brattices can be permanent (concrete or wood) or temporary (cloth). Temporary installations are also called curtains. Early collieries sometimes only had one pit which was divided by a brattice. A furnace was kept burning within the pit and the hot air rose up the one side of the brattice (the upcast side) drawing cold air down the other (the downcast side). One such pit was Hartley pit. In 1862 the beam of the pumping engine failed and brought down part of the lining resulting in the pit being blocked. All the men trapped underground died from carbon monoxide poisoning as a consequence of the l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
