Oaste, a name given to a person who went to Newcastle to buy coal. The coal vendor was called a ‘hoastman’. (N.East).Ochre or Ochrey water, mine water stained orange-red by contamination with hydrated iron oxide.
Odd knobbing, breaking off the coal from the sides in the Thick Coal workings. (S.Staffs.).
Off-gates, gob or goaf-roads in longwall working, usually about 150yds. apart. (N.East).
Off-take or Off-take drift, a raised section of the upcast shaft above the surface to carry off steam and smoke produced by the engines and the ventilation furnace underground; or a drift, driven from the surface, to the point in a pumping shaft where the pump discharges the water. This was usually where a mine had been sunk on a hillside. The drift would be driven from the hillside to the shaft. Also called an ‘off-take level’. (Scot.). –see also Delivery drift.
Off take rods, extra wooden rods at the top and bottom of a winding shaft that guided and steadied a cage during decking.
Oil bass or Oil shale, shale worked for oil.
Old men, a reference to any previous generation of miners. Old workings were known as ‘old men’s workings’.
Old workings, workings in coal made at some former time from the same or some other shaft.
O.M.S. Output per man-shift.
On bord, advancing at right angles to the line of main cleat.
Oncost men, another term for day-wage men. –see also Dataller.
Oncost work, -see Backwork.
One way, particular class of house coal. (S.Staffs.).
On end, advancing in the same direction as the line of main cleat. Also called ‘on end’.
Onsetter, a person in charge of winding operations underground. He is stationed at the shaft bottom and gives signals to the winding engineman also the man who loads the cage at the shaft bottom or at another landing or stopping place within the shaft. Also called the ‘hitcher’, ‘hooker’, ‘knocker’(Lancs, Wales) or ‘hanger-on’; or men who put the full tubs in and take the empty tubs out of the cage at the shaft bottom, or at any other landing.
On the brushes, a place where boots were cleaned by rotating brushes, usually near to the entrance to the pithead baths. Also where grease could be applied to boots.
On the grind, when the roof is working and ready to fall. (Mids.).
Ooster, clinker formed in the mine-hearths where blackband ironstone is calcined. (N.Staffs.).
Opencast, the working of coal at the surface outcrop by quarrying methods; or underground, a cutting in stone, coal, &c., usually in the bottom of a place where a ridge has been passed over, and where it is less expensive to cut down the whole of the ridge to make a uniform roadway or rolleyway than to drive a stone drift through it.
Open end, the coal exposed when the gates at either end of a face are driven in advance.
Open hole, Opencast working.
Opening out of seams, the commencement of longwall working.
Openings, short headings, between two main headings, used for ventilation.
Open off, to begin mining coal from a new mine, or a new district within a mine, off headings that have been driven from the shaft into the seam.
Open out, to drive headings out or commence working in the coal after sinking the shaft.
Open Pit, another name for opencast workings.
Open set, a ‘cundie’; or an unfilled space between two packs. (Scot.).
O-plate, a cast-iron plate with a circular ridge on which the hutches were turned at the junction of roadways. (Scot.).
Orra man, a spare hand, a man who needs to be found work for the shift. (Scot.).
Oscar shovel, a large collier’s shovel. Any man working with one was said to have been presented with an Oscar - the film award. (Mids.). –see also Pit pan.
Ostler, a person responsible for the welfare of the colliery’s horses. Also called a ‘Horse fettler’.
Our rod, as in “you can come on our rod”, meaning our gang, and derives from a gangs’ tools that had holes in them so that they could be threaded on a rod filled with a padlock for security.
Ouster, interbedded slickensided shale and impure sulphurous coal. (N.Staffs.).
Out break coal, an old term for the outcrop of a coal seam.
Outburst, a sudden inrush of water or gas. -see Feeder. In the case of a gas outburst, often, large quantities of fine coal are forced out.
Out-bye, Outbye, the direction from the workings out of the mine towards the shaft/s. The opposite of ‘in-bye’.
Outcrop, the place where rock beds or coal seams appear at the surface. -see also Basset, Basset edge and Crop.
Outcropping, working the coal at outcrop, often illegally.
Outset, the height of the pit head landing above the mouth of the shaft. (N.East); or a brick or stone walling built up within the tubbing in a shaft.
Out stroke, the privilege of breaking through a barrier and working or transporting coal from an adjoining royalty or mine. (N.East).
Outwan, outwards, towards the shaft. (Scot.). –see also Outbye.
Overburden, the strata overlying a coal seam that has to be removed when working the coal by opencast mining.
Overcast, a ventilation air-crossing where the return airway is bridged over the intake airway and sealed to prevent short circuiting of the air flow, sometimes called an ‘over crossing’, ‘overgate’, ‘overpass’ or ‘air bridge’. -see also Air-crossing.
Overcut, to cut by machine at or near roof level in a seam.
Overlap, a reversed fault.
Overlooker or Overman, a mine official, between a deputy and undermanager, usually in charge of production in part of the mine, a shift or two or more deputie’d districts.
Overpass, -see Overcast.
Overrope, an endless haulage but with the rope running above the tubs. (S.Staffs.).
Overs and shorts, the over and under-production of collieries.
Overset, props set at an angle where the axis of the prop is on the gob side of the perpendicular.
Overwind, when the cage is raised too far above its landing level at the surface. A hooking device usually comes into operation to safely secure the cage.
Overworkings, workings in seams above other current workings.
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