3GO 



MINE. 



pus. 



Chains. 



Banking 

 coals. 



Mines of the cordage. They have this great advantage also, 

 ^ oal - that they are not only very pliable, which saves the 

 """^Y""" heart of the ropes from being broken, but as they lap 

 coalsu'ffthe u P on themselves, a very simple sheave suits for a rope- 

 barrel. But the greatest advantage is, that by lapping 

 upon themselves, they act as a compensation or balance 

 against the weight of the descending corve and rope, 

 superseding in many instances counterpoise chains, 

 which are used to regulate the descent in deep pits. 

 For this invention the mining interest of Great Bri- 

 tain is indebted to Mr. Curr of Sheffield, before men- 

 tioned, whose inventions and improvements in the 

 mining system are highly important, as must be evident 

 from those already rhentioned. 



The kinds of chains which have been tried are very 

 various ; some are of long links, termed two and three, 

 or three and four, according to the mode of coupling 

 the links together by a bolt. Many very ingenious 

 plans have been devised to make the long links of 

 correct and equal length from centre to centre of the 

 bolt hole ; and though these are applied at many col- 

 lieries, yet the short pudding link chains are those 

 most generally used. They are proved as to strength, 

 and warranted ; have given great satisfaction, and 

 are an immense saving to collieries. These chains are 

 now in general use, and for other purposes besides 

 mining concerns. We have, however, to remark, that 

 the colliers have hitherto declined riding by them in 

 the pits, for this reason, that the fault in a rope is easi- 

 ly seen, but a great fault may exist in a link which can- 

 not be observed. 



Upon the corves being landed or banked at the pit- 

 top, they are either drawn to the bin or pit-heap by 

 horses upon slipes, or by trammers on a tram road, 

 which is now the common practice. When the coals 

 are small, as at Newcastle, the pit head is raised eight 

 or nine feet higher than the common level of the 

 ground, and the heap proceeds from this height out- 

 wards from the pit mouth ; and if the bins increase, 

 the tram roads are laid upon the bin or heap as it ad- 

 vances outward. 



When coals are wrought large, termed great coal, 

 the pit mouth has only a gentle rise from the common 

 level of the coal-hill adjoining, and the coals are built 

 up in walls, piece by piece, the small coal is either 

 thrown into the heart of the walls or bins, or laid apart 

 by themselves, as may best suit the sale of the coals. 



Having thus attempted to describe the various plans 

 which have been adopted for working coal-mines, a 

 most important point in mining remains to be treated 

 of, which is ventilation, or the means which have been 

 adopted for supplying the workmen with atmospheric 

 air, sufficiently pure for the support of animal life, and 

 the flame of the candle or lamp which gives light in 

 the mines. 



The coal-mines of Great Britain were, as before 

 mentioned, wrought on a very limited scale, and with 

 comparatively little system, till after the beginning of 

 the eighteenth century. It was not till the introduc- 

 tion of the steam-engine, for drawing water in the first 

 place, and coals afterwards, that the coal mines began 

 to be wrought on an extensive scale ; even .to this pe- 

 riod the ventilation of mines was conducted in a very 

 rude, uncertain, and irregular manner, and for many 

 years afterwards. The air courses were confined to 

 the dip-head levels, and wall-faces, or rooms where the 

 miners wrought ; the consequence was, that the wastes 

 were frequently full of inflammable air, and became 

 the cause of constant calamities. The only test the 



Ventila- 

 tion. 



miner had, as to the state of air through the works, Mines of 

 was by the appearance produced at the top of the Coal. 

 flame of his candle, which appearance will be after- 

 wards noticed. 



When inflammable air accumulated in the foreheads, 

 the common practice was to fire it regularly ; this was 

 done in many collieries every morning. When this 

 air was in small quantity, the person appointed for the 

 service approached each forehead or room, as near as 

 he judged the air safe; then taking a long pole, he 

 fixed his candle in an oblique position to the end of 

 it, with a bit of clay, and laying himself flat upon his 

 breast along the pavement of the coal, he gradually 

 advanced the candle towards the wall-face and roof of 

 the mine, until the gas fired, and the blast passed over 

 him. When the quantity of gas was very inconsidera- 

 ble, it burnt slowly, with a bight blue lambent flame; 

 when the quantity was more abundant it blazed, the 

 greater part of the flame being blue, but fringed with 

 yellowish white flame. The gas, in this case, burnt off 

 with very little noise ; but when the quantity was 

 considerable, it ignited with an explosive sound, and 

 then passed quickly off without extending its influ- 

 ence to any considerable distance. When the person 

 who performed this service found the gas abundant, 

 he put on wet jackets, to prevent the fire scorching 

 him. This singular operation had, in many instances, 

 to be gone through in the numerous foreheads of the 

 same colliery every morning, previous to the workmen 

 entering the pit. In other collieries, where this gas 

 was so abundant that it not only accumulated in the 

 forehead of every room during the time the miners 

 were absent, but gathered in a connected body, filling 

 a considerable space, greater caution had to be adopt- 

 ed. In this case, the fireman went amongst the in- 

 flammable air in the dark, leaving his candle at a con- 

 siderable distance ; then fixing a prop betwixt the 

 roof and pavement, he passed the end of a long line, 

 through a ring attached to the top of the prop, he re- 

 treated to his candle, with the two nds of the line 

 with him, and having prepared a piece of deal, about 

 fifteen inches long, and eight inches broad, shaped 

 like a weaver's shuttle, he fixed his candle in a hole of 

 the board, or by a bit of clay in an oblique direction; 

 then tying one end of the line to the board, he lay 

 down at the end of a pillar, off the line of the air 

 course, and by drawing the other end of the line gent- 

 ly to him, the candle advanced to the foot of the prop, 

 and if the gas was not so low as the pavement, the 

 candle was drawn up towards the roof, when the whole 

 of the gas instantly ignited with an explosion, and 

 passed along the air course within a few feet of the 

 fireman, and directly towards the upcast shaft. In 

 Staffordshire, where the coal is thirty feet thick, and 

 the excavations immense, this method was, till lately, 

 in general practice. In place of a prop, a kind of 

 mast was erected, fixed at the pavement, as the top of 

 it did not reach the roof; and in place of a line, fine 

 flexile copper wire was employed, which was not de- 

 stroyed by the explosion. In these numerous and 

 very extensive mines, and where the coal was taken 

 down far above the air courses, the collections of in- 

 flammable air were great, and when ignited the explo- 

 sion was frequently violent, and pasted the fireman in 

 his retreat with a thundering noise, and with gnat 

 velocity. This very rude and very dangerous mode 

 of clearing the mines of inflammable air, is yet to be 

 found in practice, and is known by the name of the 

 fire, or firing line. 





