A tipple is a structure used at a mine to load the extracted product (e.g., coal, ores) for transport, typically into railroad

hopper car A hopper car (US) or hopper wagon ( UIC) is a type of railroad freight car used to transport loose bulk commodities such as coal, ore, grain, and track ballast. Two main types of hopper car exist: covered hopper cars, which are equipped with a ...

s. In the United States, tipples have been frequently associated with

coal mine 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 ...

s, but they have also been used for

hard rock mining Underground hard-rock mining refers to various underground mining techniques used to excavate "hard" minerals, usually those containing metals, such as ore containing gold, silver, iron, copper, zinc, nickel, tin, and lead. It also involves the ...

Operation

Basic coal tipples simply load coal into railroad cars. Many tipples had simple screening equipment to sort coal pieces by size before loading. Today, a coal mine facility usually includes a

coal preparation plant 300px, A coal "washer" in Eastern Kentucky A modern coal breaker in Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania combines washing, crushing, grading, sorting, stockpiling, and shipping in one facility built into a stockpile of anthracite coal below a mountain top ...

which washes coal of soil and rock, before loading it for transport to market. The term "tipple" may be used interchangeably with coal prep plant. Tipples were initially used with

minecart A minecart or mine cart (also known as a mine trolley or mine hutch) is a type of rolling stock found on a mine railway, used for moving ore and materials procured in the process of traditional mining. Minecarts are seldom used in modern operat ...

s, also called ''tubs'' or ''tram cars'', or ''mine cars'' in the U.S. These were small hopper cars that carried the product on a

mine railway A mine railway (or mine railroad, U.S.), sometimes pit railway, is a railway constructed to carry materials and workers in and out of a mine. Materials transported typically include ore, coal and overburden (also called variously spoils, waste, ...

out of the mine. When a mine car entered the upper level of the tipple, its contents were dumped through a chute leading to a railroad hopper car positioned on a track running beneath the tipple. At some facilities, each car was tipped over manually—thus the name, "tipple". In higher volume facilities, each car was placed in a machine called a rotary dump, which rotated the car to dump the coal or ore. In the early 20th century, mine operators began using

conveyor belt A conveyor belt is the carrying medium of a belt conveyor system (often shortened to belt conveyor). A belt conveyor system is one of many types of conveyor systems. A belt conveyor system consists of two or more pulleys (sometimes referred to ...

s to load coal and ores into railroad cars, eliminating the use of mine cars.Rakes, Paul H. (2012)
"Coal Mine Mechanization."
''The West Virginia Encyclopedia.'' West Virginia Humanities Council, Charleston, WV. At some mines the conveyor loading facility is still referred to as a "tipple". File:Clarksburg Fuel Co Tipple 1908.jpg, A coal tipple in Clarksburg, West Virginia, in 1908 File:Tipple at copper mine. Franklin Mine, Michigan LCCN2017812991.tif, Tipple at a Michigan copper mine in 1941 File:Montour no. 4 mine 1942b.jpg, A rotary dump of the Pittsburgh Coal Co. File:Geography of Ohio - DPLA - aaba7b3295ff6973b6fd1e23e33cde14 (page 83) (cropped2).jpg, Coal tipple in Belmont County, Ohio, 1923

References

{{Reflist Coal mining Underground mining Bulk material handling

Operation

See also

References