32 



MR. E. W. BINNETT ON THE ACTION OF 



colliery, near Manchester. This " winning'' was commenced 

 by Mr. Fitzgerald on the 17th day of July, 1837, and the 

 Duchess of Lancaster seam of coal was reached in 1840, at a 

 depth of 464 yards from the surface. About 150 yards of cast 

 tubbing, varying from one-half to three-quarters of an inch 

 in thickness, was put into the shafts down to the distance of 

 150 yards from the surface; behind this was generally a four 

 and a half inch wall of circular bricks, but near the seams of 

 coal a brick wall of one yard in thickness, both grouted at 

 the back with Ardwick lime and gravel. A portion of the 

 tubbing originally made for a shaft of ten feet in diameter 

 was used iu these of eight feet. At the time of the accident 

 there was in the old workings of the four feet mine, and the 

 shaft communicating with them, a vertical column of water of 

 about 600 feet, and at the place where the tubbing gave way, 

 three segments of the ten feet castings were used with one of 

 the eight feet ; thus forming an imperfect circle. 



The colliery continued working until the first day of 

 August, 1843, when the waters from the old four feet mine 

 workings burst through the tubbing in No. 2 shaft, about 

 140 yards from the surface, and rushed down the remaining 

 344 yards with fearful violence, displacing the air from the 

 lower part of the workings, and ultimately filling the latter 

 and the shafts up to within 40 feet of the surface. The dip 

 of the strata in the mine was about one in three; so when 

 the workings were filled to the bottom of the shafts, the 

 air and gases in the mine were pent up in the "rise" part, 

 and kept there by the pressure of a column of water of 

 1,352 feet. 



The accident took place in the night, and Mr. Ray had 

 time, from some warning, to withdraw all the men out of the 

 pits, so that there was no loss of life. Many waggons full of 

 coal were near the pit bottom at the time of the irruption of 

 the waters, and they remained there until the mine was drained. 

 Some of the cast iron wheels and wrought iron axles of these 



