A.B. Meco-Moore. The A.B. Meco-Moore was a joint development of Anderson Boyes and the Mining Engineering Companies, hence the name. The first genuine cutter-loader machine developed to perform two operations simultaneously on a longwall face and therefore did away with any need for blasting.A-Force, to hole a board into an adjoining board unintentionally, (N.East).
Abandonment plans, plans required by law to be deposited with the authorities upon the closure of a coalmine, or section of a mine. They must be durable, and show the workings in relation to surface features and record information with respect to orientation, contours, scales, boundaries, faults, etc. The plans must also show the last recorded workings for the safety of any future operations.
Abutment, an area of unworked coal or of consolidated waste bounding a working area and which carries the strata over the workings. Also zones of stress concentration resulting from excavation e.g. along the sides of roadways and in front of the coalface. These are known as side and face abutments respectively.
Acid Mine Water,water which contains free sulphuric acid, mainly due to the weathering of iron pyrites.
Acoustic methanometer.An instrument to measure the concentration of methane in underground firedamp drainage pipes based on the principle that sound travels quicker in methane than in air.
Addlings,earnings or wages.
Adit, a more or less horizontal entrance to a mine usually constructed such that water will run out of it; a walkable outlet from the mine workings to the surface. Sometimes a dipping tunnel following the seam down from its outcrop. Also known as a ‘day-level’, ‘day-eye’ or ‘day-hole’.
Advanced head or Advanced heading, a heading in advance of the coalface often known as a ‘pilot heading’ or ‘advanced gate’.
Advancing Face, – see Face.
Advancing system. A mining system by which the coal seams are worked out towards the boundaries of the colliery and away from the shafts.
Aerophor Breathing Apparatus. The Aerophor was introduced in 1910. The apparatus supplied oxygen from a liquid air source. The liquid air container and regenerator were carried on the back, and the breathing bag was worn on the chest. The overall weight of the apparatus was about 40 lbs.
Afterdamp, a mixture of non-inflammable gasses left after an explosion or fire in a coalmine. It usually has a high carbon monoxide (CO) content and is very low in oxygen. Afterdamp was responsible for more deaths among miners than were actually physically injured due to the explosions. Also known as ‘azote’, (N.East), and ‘whitedamp’.
Agent. In pre-nationalisation days the chief official of a large coalmine or group of mines under the same ownership was known as an Agent.
Air, the current of air circulating through and ventilating a mine.
Air bagging, -see Bagging.
Air box, a square wooden tube used to convey air into the face of a single drift, or shaft in sinking.
Air bridge, -see Air crossing.
Air course, an underground tunnel or passage used solely or mainly for ventilation.
Air coursing, a system of ventilation introduced in about 1760, in which the air current was directed through all the underground roadways of the mine before going to the upcast shaft. The system necessitated the building of stronger stoppings, brick was now being brought into use, and better fitting doors.
Air crossing, a bridge constructed to allow the return airway to pass either under (undercast) or over (overcast) the intake airway. The air crossing must be made airtight to avoid the mixing or short-circuiting of either of the two air-currents. It should also be constructed in such a manner as to by able to withstand the results of an explosion. Also called an ‘air bridge’.
Air doors, -see Doors.
Airdox, an appliance for breaking down coal by the release of high-pressure air at the back of a shothole.
Air-end Way, a narrow roadway driven in the coal seam parallel and close to a winning headway, chiefly for ventilation. The air-end way usually acted as a return and was connected at intervals of 10 yards or so to the headway by cross-cuts.
Air gate, another name for an Air Course.
Air head, a drift of small dimensions used for ventilation. (S.Staffs.).
Air leakage, the short-circuiting of air fro intake to return airways, through doors, stoppings and old workings, without flowing around the face/s.
Air-leg support, a compressed air appliance that consisted of a steel cylinder and an air-operated piston that enabled one man to support and advance a heavy drilling machine during drilling operations.
Air-lock, a casing at the top of an upcast shaft to minimise surface air leakage to the ventilation fan.
Air mover, a portable compressed-air appliance which converts compresed air into a large induced volume of moving air. Useful for emergency ventilation in workings where an auxiliary fan cannot be installed.
Air sampling, the taking of air samples at predetermined points throughout the mine workings for later analysis in the laboratory.
Air shaft or Air pit, a shaft used wholly, or mainly, to ventilate a mine. Old shafts were often used as an additional upcast or downcast air passage.
Air slit, -see Stenton.
Air splitting, refers to ventilation and the practice of splitting the intake air current into a number of individual air circuits, each one ventilating a certain district of the underground workings, and each one of the splits having a separate intake and return.
Air stowing, -see Pneumatic Stowing and Pack.
Airstream helmet, a type of helmet used in modern mining. The helmet has a small fan which pulls air up the back of the helmet through a filter. The air is redirected down the front onto the face of the wearer.
Air-turbo lamp, a lamp coupled to a compressed air supply, usually between 40 & 100 p.s.i., which drives a small turbo-alternator to produce the electricity for the lamp.
Airway, an underground tunnel (or roadway) commencing or terminating at a shaft or outlet to the surface, or any roadway used for the passage of air.
Ajax, high strength, high density, gelatinous permitted explosive which had a good moisture resistance.
Alchymy, a white film, usually carbonate of lime, in joints of coal, ironstone and other minerals.
Alighting station, a platform where men leave a man-riding belt.
Allowance coal, coal provided free to married workmen at the colliery, in some places restricted to underground workers only, or to the collier or coal getter. Also know as ‘Concessionary Coal’.
Amain. Waggons or tubs are said to run amain if they get by accident over an incline bank head without the rope being attached, or through the rope becoming detached or broken, (N.East).
Ammonite, a ‘third class’ explosive which could only be exploded by a special detonator composed of fulminate of mercury. This explosive was comprised 88% ammonium nitrate and 12% nitro-naphthalene and obviated the risks from explosion by heat or sparks or by any ordinary shock.
Anbauhobel, a rapid plough for use on longwall faces, suitable for seams from 2 to 8 feet thick. It travelled along the face at aspeed of 75 f.p.m with a cutting depth of from 1½ to 3 inches.
Anchor, iron bars of various shapes and sizes used to lock the wheels of coal tubs.
Anchor prop, a prop, set at an angle between the roof and floor on the coalface to act as an anchor for the main and tail ropes, when manoeuvring short and longwall cutting machines or to anchor a Sylvester or Monkey Winch during withdrawl of supports.
Anchor station, a device, usually hydraulic, which prevents uncontrolled movement of the delivery or return end units of a conveyor.
Anderton shearer-loader, an adaptation of the Anderton longwall cutter in which the jib of the cutter was replaced by a shearer drum which was capable of cutting a web of variable depth. The machine, introduced in 1952, rode on top of an armoured conveyor and needed a prop-free-front for working. The first shearers cut coal in only one direction. The machine was then flitted back along the face, loading any loose coals by using a plough deflector. Later models were capable of cutting coal in both directions and became bi-directional, and were known as ‘bi-di’s’.
Andra, a heading driven in a diagonal direction with respect to the cleat, neither ‘end’ nor ‘bord’. (Yorks.).
Angle of Draw. The working of a rectangular area of coal results in an inverted, obtuse, pyramid-shaped area of strata affected by subsidence and the angle between the sides of this pyramid and the vertical is defined as the ‘Angle of Draw’.
Ankerite, an iron magnesium carbonate mineral found in some coal cleats.
Anthracite, a high rank bituminous coal, a natural smoke-less fuel, bright or semi-bright and possessing a near conchoidal fracture. It is non-caking and burns with a non-luminous flame, giving off intense heat. Its carbon content may be up to 95% and over, hydrogen under 4% and volatiles under 10%. Also known as ‘Stone’, ‘Kilkenny’ or ‘Crow coal’.
Antitpopal ventilation, ventilation by a current of air travelling in the opposite direction to that of the flow of the coal out of the mine.
Apple Coal, free or soft coal, also called ‘Yolks’ or ‘Yolk Coal’. (Scot.).
Arc Shearer, a coal cutter that cuts at any required angle, but usually horizontally and/or vertically. (S.Staffs.).
Arcwall cutter, an adaption of the chain cutter to bord & pillar working.
Arch girders or Arches, a length of ‘H’ rolled steel joist, bent to a semi-circular shape. Two or more sections would be fitted together by using bolts and fishplates to make up an arched shaped roof support for the roadways in a mine. - see also Rings.
Arles or Earles, a ‘golden handshake’ or bounty paid to miners on joining to work in a mine in times of short supply of labour, binding the miner to that mine, pre 1844, (N.East); or money given to the colliers at the baptism of their children as a token of the children being attached, like their parents, to the coal-work.
Armoured Flexible Conveyor (AFC) or Snaking Conveyor. The A.F.C. was developed in Germany by the Gewerkschaft Eisenhutte Westfalia during W.W.2. A few units were tried out in Britain shortly after the war and by the sixties they were being installed on all the major longwall faces in Britain. Designed to carry a coal cutter, cutter-loader or to guide and hold a plough against the face. The A.F.C. is used on a prop free front and by using horizontal hydraulic rams, attached to powered supports, can be advanced (snaked over) behind the machine as it progresses along the face thereby preparing the face for the machine's immediate return run. The A.F.C. was also used on hand-filled faces. A heavy duty chain-type conveyor, the A.F.C. was nicknamed the ‘Panzer’ short for Panzerforderer by the miners.
Arms, upright props, also called ‘uprights’, (Wales).
Arse flap or Arse loop, a loop attached to the winding rope in which a man sat when carrying out repair work in the shaft. If it was fitted with a board to sit on it was known as an ‘arse flap’. (Yorks); or a large piece of leather worn by the putters as back protection, (N.East).
Ascensional ventilation or Antitropel ventilation, a system for ventilation in a mine in which the intake air is directed to the lowest point in the mine workings then ascends along the faces to the main return. The uphill flow of the air is assisted by it being heated as it travels along the faces and through the mine workings. This system is advantageous in gassy mines as firedamp also tends to flow upwards.
Ash content, the percentage of incombustible material in coal. That portion of a laboratory sample remaining after heating under standard conditions to a constant weight, i.e. until all combustible matter has been burned away.
Astyllen, a small dam built across an adit to restrict the flow of water.
Aspinall clip, a clip used for overhead haulage, sometimes known in Northumberland as a ‘Ham Bone’ clip.
Attle, another word for spoil or waste rock. (S.Wales).
Auger mining, a system of mining that involves the use of a large diameter scroll drill to recover coal near seam outcrops or in open-cut mines where the strip ratio exceeds economic limits.
Auxillary fan, a fan used in conjunction with air ducting to increase the ventilation to a section of the mine, e.g. for the ventilation of development headings.
Awn, a cleavage or cleat in the coal at 45º to the main and butt cleats. The ‘long awn’ and ‘short awn’ are intermediate cleat directions, nearer respectively to the ‘bord’ and ‘end’ directions, i.e. < and > 45º to the main cleat.
Axeltree, an axle made of wood; or the centre shaft of a horse gin.
Azote, -see Afterdamp.
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