Glossary of Terms used in the Coal-Mining-Districts of (First) South Wales:- (Second) Bristol and Somersetshire

Front matter

OF fERMS USED IN THE Goal- Minim -Districts OF (FIRST) (SECOND) BRISTOL AND SOMERSETSHIRE SOUTH WALES BY W.FAIRLEY, MINING ENGIN EER , RS.S. LONDON. J~rinte^ Sc Try W.ÆÆutcAintys, the' Colliery Guardian" office 5 bouverie st .fleet st. 1868. ff nim U th Jtatlt Wato ®fomw. The coal-field of South Wales is one of considerable interest to the geologist, and difficulty to the mining engineer. To the geologist there are many problems yet to solve before he can have a complete and comprehensive view of the de posits and the dislocations intenmpting them; and with regard to the flora of the district, we think it a great pity that illus trative plates of the varied specimens are not now secured before they are buried in the rubbish tips to be lost for ever to the scientific world. No one, perhaps, is better able to take notice of such fossil impressions than the colliery viewer, but the pressing duties of his office entirely prevent him from giving that time to the subject wliich would be necessary for securing a faithful description of it.

Having only been in the principality of Wales a few years, we feel some diffidence in bringing before the public " A Glossary of Terms Used in the Coal Mining Districts of South Wales, " especially when we consider that there are many engineers much more able to undertake a work of this description than we are. Nevertheless, having been actively engaged in the management of collieries, in its several branches, in South Wales during the period referred to, and had opportunities of acquainting ourselves with many of the technicalities of the district, and seeing that there is really a need of disseminating information on colliery matters amongst some of those who have the charge of collieries, we have ven tured to bring forward the following pages as a small instal- B VI ment to the literature of coal-mining in Wales ; but should any of our brethren of the profession, having at hand moro important matter on the subject, feel disposed to bring it out, no one would hail its appearance with greater gladness than the writer.

In the meantime we may plead their reti cence as our excuse for speaking. Many of the terms described are peculiarly technical and provincial, and in explaining them we have used the best English at our command. Others are not provincial, but are common to all coal-mining districts. We have not only explained, in the best way we could, each word as it occurs alphabetically, but we have throwm in, in the proper place, much practical matter, gathered in our experience, in the shape of notes, rules, and memoranda, wliich it has occurred to us might be of utility to those daily and practically engaged in the duties of colliery manage ment. Matters of a doubtful and controversial nature we have avoided. It is very deshable that our overmen and agents of collieries should be men having sufficient education for the posts they severally occupy, and, indeed, it would be all the better did oui' workmen understand something of the various arts and sciences which are brought to bear in colliery engineering.

Part I

— SOUTH WALES DISTRICT. Aberthaw Lime. — A Lime so called from its being made from stone found at Aberthaw, near Bridgend. It is from the has formation, brown, and if used when hot it answers as a cement for keeping back water. It is much used for walling back water in pits, and in other water work. Air-box. — A square wood tube made for conducting ah into single drifts or roads underground. To be of any use they should not be less than a foot square, or lOin. by 14in. Air-course. — A road kept open as a passage for the ah which ventilates the mine. It is always desirable to have such roads of sufficient size, as, when contracted, they materially increase the friction ofthe ah, in fact inversely as the square of the area. Thus, theor etically speaking, the ventilating power must be quadrupled to draw the same ah through thirty feet area as would pass through sixty feet area.

Air-tube. — A tube formed of canvas, used for ventilating working-places which are beyond the air-channel. They are extended by means of hoops placed inside at certain intervals. In the steep measures of the Gower district, where there is some little fire-damp, these air-tubes answer well for clearing the topples, and are much handier than air-boxes, and less expensive than brattice. Allowance Coal. — Coal allowed to the married workmen of a colliery, or to those who are householders ; generally a load every six weeks, for which they pay a reduced price. Anemometer. — An instrument of considerable nicety, wliich records the velocity of the air. The vanes in revolving work the pointers of six indices ; the first records the tens, the second the hundreds, the third the thousands, &c. The velocity of the air as obtained by the instrument, multiplied by the area in feet of the channel in which the instrument is placed, will give the number of cubic feet per minute passing.

The instruments manufactured by Mr. John Davis, of Derby, are much used for measuring ah underground. Anthracite. — Coal containing a large proportion of car bon ; colour, black ; fracture, conchoidal. This coal is much used for malting purposes. The following analyses are of coals considered anthracitic : — Pontyeats, .>„..„,_ rnn, Wainflynona, Graigoga, Green Vein, Gwendraeth. r,me« ooiUstar Colliery. Star Colliery. Star Colliory. Hydrogen 3-ll) t Oxygen . 2'7-lff Nitrogen. 091 ) | 7"4 90 9-20 9"80 Carbon . 91-16 ' 88"7 87"9 81-70 87'10 Sulphur . 0-86 0-5 1- 1-60 1-GO Ash . . 1-12 3-4 2-1 7-50 1-50 Total . 100- 100- 100- 100- 100' Analytically speaking, anthracite contains more carbon than any of the other coals ; and having thus the main ingredient for giving heat, it is plain that it must be a valuable coal for steam.

It is true that, being comparatively devoid of volatile matter, there is a little difficulty of getting out its heat, but the question is one of engineering, and ought to be overcome. Having such a large proportion of carbon, it is the most dur able and least smoke-giving coal. Having the least amount of volatile matter, there is less waste with it than with other coals, and it may safely be put down as the most economical fuel in existence. Instead of engineers going to the expense of erecting coke ovens, and converting bituminous coal into coke, in which process there is much waste, it strikes us that it would be much better to adapt existing furnaces to suit the use of anthracite. Coke is somewhat like anthracite chemically, and containing, as it does, a large portion of carbon — the most powerful melter of hon — it is a suitable flux, but its weight and mechanical structure do not compare favourably with anthracite.

There is a growing belief amongst merchants, shipowners, and engineers that the demand for stone-coal (anthracite) will increase, and of this ourselves we make very little doubt. Why should the Americans use anthracite for steam purposes, and not we ? Anticlinal. — A ridge in the stratification from which the coal and other conformable beds clip in opposite directions. Average Clause. — The clause in a lease giving power to the lessee to make up short workings within a given period. If that period be three years, then the lease is said to contain a three years' average clause. Back of the Slip. — To work on the back of the slip is to have the place driven in the direction so that the slips in the coal shall form an obtuse angle with the floor. Balance Pit. — A shaft so called when the coal is drawn by the weight of water, the modus operandi being as follows : Beneath the platform of the " canlage" or " cage" on which the tram is placed, there is an open-topped vessel, so large that, when rilled with water, it will, together with the empty tram, bring up the full one on the other end of the rope, which passes over a large pulley on the top of the pit.

The vessel beneath the tram is filled from a reservoir or cistern placed near the top of the pit, kept supplied for the purpose. On the cage reaching the bottom of the shaft, the water is let out by a valve in the bottom, and a full tram placed into it ready to be drawm up, when the same operation is performed on the other side of the pit. To the pulley over the shaft a brake is attached to regulate the speed of the transit. This method of getting coal up a shaft is adapted where water is plentiful, pits are shallow, and on the top of a hill, so that the water taken dowm may run out of the hillside by means of an adit, or wmen it is drawn up by means of a water wheel placed near the top of the shaft. Banker, or Banksman. — The man in attendance on the top of the pit who takes the full trams from the " canlage," and puts empties in their places, or does various such like work according to circumstances.

Basin. — A hollow in the strata. See Saddle. Billy Fairplay. — A native of the Principality, born in the neighbourhood of Aberdare ! This is a machine used where the colliers are paid for sending the coal large : it is placed under the screen so as to catch the small coal that comes out of each tram as it is tipped. If the smaU exceed a certain weight, Billy detects it, and it is deducted from the colliers' account. The first erected was by Mr. David Davies, at his Aber cwmboy Colliery. It is now in use at most of the collieries throughout the Aberdare Valley. Binding Coal. — Bituminous coal : a coal, the small of which will bind or coke. House coal. — The following is an analysis, by Professor Herapath, of Bristol, of the Coedcae Ehondda No. 3 seam, considered a first-class house coal, and the small of which makes splendid coke : — Volatile matter, gas, tar, &c 22-60 Carbon . . . • 72-73 Sulphur 1-17 Ash 3-50 Total .... 100- Bituminous Coal. — Binding Coal, which see.

Black-band. — Carbonaceous ironstone. Black-damp. — Carbonic acid. A gas frequently found in coal-mines, wliich has the effect of extinguishing a fight when put into it, and likewise of depriving a being of its existence. Composition, six parts by weight of carbon united with sixteen parts of oxygen. Blasting. — Although this word may be considered a tech nicality, it is of such common occurrence, and is so well understood, that we need not describe (what would be a work of supererogation) its meaning here, nor the process of blasting. As, however, some serious accidents have happened by the practice of blasting in fiery coal-mines, we may take the liberty of making the following remarks : — Where safety-lamps are in use (and we presume they are never used except where fire-damp is prevalent) firing shots in the coal ought not to be practised, as many a serious acci dent has occurred thereby.

It is wrong to suppose — as many colliers do — that because a shot is fired with touch-paper the danger is lessened. If there be any fire-damp present blasting by powder will ignite it. On the second day of May, 1867, an explosion took place at the Cwmpennar Pit (Aberdare district) through the injudicious act of firing a shot, by which the shot firer (Edmund Edwards) and two others, lost their lives. Considering the importance of the matter, we have deemed it advisable to give here, on this accident, the report of the Government inspector (T. E. Wales, Esq.) It is as follows : "The Lower Dyffryn Colliery, in which this explosion occurred, resulting in the death of three persons, and serious injuries to another, is 275 yards deep, and so far as regards the ventilation arrangements, is worked in common with the Upper Cwmipennar Colliery, of about the same depth ; the latter being the up-cast, and the former the down-cast.

In this colliery, the upper four feet, six feet, and nine feet coals are won, and owing to the large and frequently sudden dis charges of inflammable gas which they give off, are worked with locked safety-lamps ; but, unfortunately, in the nine feet vein, where this explosion occurred, shot-firing was per mitted, and to which, unquestionably, the sad accident now under investigation is to be attributed. " On Monday the 6th instant, I made a careful inspection of this district, and found it worked for the most part on what is known as the heading-and-stall, or South Wales principle. I measured the total quantity of air descending the down cast ; also the different currents going into the several districts of the two collieries, both of which are extensive. The total quantity of ah was from 115,000 to 120,000 cubic feet per minute, which, from the tracing, will be seen is split into several divisions, that going into the west two feet level being about 24,000 feet per minute, which was again split ; and the actual quantity going up the No. 5 cross-heading, where the explosion occurred, was from 10,000 to 12,000 feet per minute. 115,000 cubic feet of air per minute is undeniably a large quantity, and the distribution or application of it (which is of great importance) I consider judicious.

" I am of opinion that under a proper system of working, and the general and special rules carried out (No. 60 special rule has evidently been violated), the quantity of air passing into this district would have been sufficient for the proper and efficient ventilation of the same ; but where shot-firing is allowed (which is not only the case in this colliery, but is, I regret to say, the rule where the nine feet coal is being worked in the district), no amount of ventilation will be able c at all times to prevent these explosions. From the evidence which has been given at this inquest, there cannot, I think, be any doubt as to where the explosion originated, and it appears that gas had frequently been known to the overman and fireman to lodge in or near the face of the stall where it (the explosion) occurred, but little or no notice had been taken of the fact by them.

Indeed, it does not appear that either of them had ever spoken to the shot-firer with reference to not firing shots in this particular stall. Doubtless, the firing of a shot so close to an accumulation of gas was an improper act on the part of the shot-firer ; but the fact of his knowing that the overman and fireman knew of this state of things, and had never given him any instructions thereon, doubtless, to some extent at least, would conduce to such negligence on his part. " I do not think the quantity of gas fired had been large, but this only goes to show the great danger of entrusting so im portant a matter to any man, who, either by a lack of judg ment or care, may be the means of causing accidents fearful to contemplate. " Indeed, I do not hesitate to say that, in my opinion, it is an injustice to the man himself who undertakes such a responsibility, as well as dangerous to the lives of those em ployed in the mine, to place such power in his hands.

And, moreover, the clanger attending such work is often unper ceivable, and therefore beyond his control and judgment, so that accidents wliich are due to such are often, I fear, attributed to the man, and especially if he happens to be among the killed, as in this instance. " I am far from thinking that the ovennan and fireman have properly discharged their duties in this matter. In my opinion, they ought not to have allowed the men to work in John Morgan's staU until the gas had been cleared away ; and their conduct in this matter, together with the bad disci pline which prevailed, would make me have considerable difficulty in satisfying myself that they are proper persons to continue m such responsible positions. "With such fearful accidents as are unfortunately of so fre quent occurrence, it is lamentable to see such an indisposition shown by some of the workmen to assist in can-yinout the rules estabbshed for the protection of their owm lives One of the witnesses, Thomas Lucas, who was himself one of the sufferers by this explosion, said he had known the shot firer re-light safety-lamps beyond the lamp station, and that he knew it was a breach of the rules to do so, but he never told any of the officials ; such conduct on his part was most reprehensible.

"With a view to prevent, as far as practicable, the recurrence of such accidents as the one now under investigation, I beg strongly to recommend that the dangerous practice of shot firing be forthwith discontinued wherever the three-feet, six feet, and nine-feet coals are being worked ; that better disci pline be maintained, and especially with reference to re lighting safety-lamps. The lamp stations ought always to be kept on the main level, where a strong current of fresh air is constantly passing, and where proper men — not boys — should be placed to do such work. " Unless the plan of firing shots in working such fiery coals as those, either on the heading and stall, or long-wall principle (which in my opinion is a libel upon mining of the present day), be abandoned, I much fear it will, sooner or later, be productive of some fearful explosions, such as have, unhappily, occurred in different parts of the kingdom during the past year.

" The Coroner, in summing up, said they had got all the evidence that could be had on the subject, aud it was for them to consider what had been the cause of the explosion, and to decide whether it arose from mere accident, or from culpable neglect. If they were of opinion that it was the former, their verdict would be accidental death — if the latter, manslaughter. After reviewing the evidence, and directing their attention to the rules, he left the jury to find their verdict. The jury retired, and on their return gave the following verdict : ' The deceased was killed by an explosion ' of gas. We think the shot-firer, Edmund Edwards, was ' guilty of carelessness in not examining the place before he ' fired the shot, and we strongly recommend that in future no ' firing1 of shots should be allowed in the nine-feet vein.' " Blower. — A sudden outburst of gas in a mine.

Bore-hole. — A hole made with a drill. Holes are made for various purposes, such as blasting coal or rock ; tapping water ; ascertaining the particulars of the various beds of strata, or in searching for coal or other minerals ; and various are the methods adopted for this last purpose. Boring by machinery has been brought to considerable perfection by Messrs. Mather and Platt, and by Messrs. Kind and Son, of Paris. Boring for tapping water from old workings is a pro cess that requires great care and attention. In approaching old workings, supposed to contain a body of wrater, straight and flank-holes ought to be kept in advance of the working face. The requisite length of such holes depends on two things, namely, the nature of the coal, and the strata above and be neath it, and the head or pressure of water to be relieved.

We are indebted to Mr. Greenwell for the following rule on the subject : — In a moderately hard seam, the front holes may be bored out of the face of the drifts six, seven, eight, nine, or ten, &c, yards in advance for five, ten, fifteen, twenty, or twenty five, &c, fathoms of pressure, the holes being bored forward two yards for every two yards taken out of the face. This will always insure four, five, six, seven, or eight yards barrier against the water. The quantity of water which such bore holes will run per minute may be ascertained from the following formula : — Where p = the pressure of water in feet. d = the diameter of the bore-hole in feet. I = the length of the bore-hole in feet. v = the velocity at the point of issue, in feet per minute. Then v = 2,837*5, -y/^ and 6250 X *7,854 d' gallons of water per minute.

When bore-holes are put dowm in search of a vein, and to ascertain the dip of the measures, it is necessary that three in number be bored. To ascertain the direction and dip of the strata by these three holes, survey and lay them dowm on paper, on a scale of say two chains to an inch, each in their respective positions ; take the depth of each hole to the vein, connect the points representing the three holes by fines, which will form a triangle, find by proportion along the line connecting the deepest and shallowest holes a point on a level with the third hole, then the direction from this point to the third hole will be the strike of the measures, and a fine at right angles to it will be the dip — how much can easily be ascertained by cal culation. Borier. — Brill, which see. Brass. — Iron pyrites found embedded in coal.

Bridge-rail. — An hon rail the section of which is in the form of a bridge ; they are made almost all sizes, from about 121b. to the yard up to 1001b., according to circumstances. Broad-gauge. — The railway, the width of which is 7ft. between the rails, being one-half wider than the narrow gauge. Such is the main fine of the South Wales Railway, Ely VaUey, Llynvi Valley, &c. OriginaUy the Carmarthen and Cardigan, and Vale of Neath lines were broad-gauge ; both now are mixed gauges. Broken. — That part of a mine where the coal is aU worked away. Bucket. — A wood or iron tub used for sending the rubbish out of a sinking pit, or removing it from one place to another. — The top clack of a lifting set. Bull Engine. — A pumping-engine so called after the in ventor. The engine is placed directly over the pit, and the pumping rods connected with the piston rod, so that the bob or beam is dispensed with.

This class of engine has been erected at many mines in Cornwall, but (according to Mr. Warington Smyth) does not appear to compete with others ; there is one now working at Mynydd-bach-y-glo, near Swansea. The following particulars of a " Direct Pumping Engine, " working at Burradon Colliery, Northumberland, may be of some interest to our readers : — The two cylinders, wliich are five feet diameter, with six feet two inches stroke, stand partly over the shaft to plumb the centre of pumps : the engine works four sets of lifting pumps with one continuous spear, and lifts the water 150 fathoms : — Size of Pumps. 15in. diameter. 14in. diameter. 12in. diameter. 12oin. diameter. Size of Spears. llin. X lOin. lOin. X 8in. 6in. X 5£in. 5iin. square. 1st set. 2nd set. 3rd set. 4th set. The pumps stand close to the shaft side, and no more room is taken up than is necessary for the buntons, which carry the sets.

Distance from bottom of working barrel — that is, the double stuffing-box — and the top of next set fourteen feet. The cisterns are formed in the shaft side -with mason-work, cemented water-tight. The spears are connected to the cross head in the centre of the two cylinders ; at one end of the cross-head is attached the plug rod, which works the boiler pump and two valves — steamvalve aud exhaustvalve. The engine only gets the steam on the low side of the piston, open port ou the top side ; 211b. pressure on the boiler, works six teen strokes per minute if required. No costly engine-house is required, merely something to shelter the engine from the weather. The cost of the pillar on wliich the two cylinders stand is under £100 ; the buckets are packed like a common piston — that is, metal rings outside, and soft packing inside.

The leather falls are changed independently of the bucket in two halves with two bolts and a cross-bar. Cage. — Carriage, wliich see. Cannel. — A coal containing a good proportion of gas. " It is black or brownish, dull in lustre, breaks with a flat conchoidal fracture, is not made up, like ordinary coal, of thin laminæ, does not soil the fingers, often contains teeth and scales of fishes, and, according to some of our best micro scopists, is readily distinguishable from coal by the general absence of vegetable structure. "— (Warington W. Smyth.) It is found in layers in the coal-measures. Carriage. — A framework, usually of iron, by which the produce of the mine is pulled up the shaft in tubs or trams. Annexed we give sketch of plan for keeping trams in the carriage. Cart. — A sled, the sides and ends of which are usually made of wicker-work, used for hauling coal or rubbish under ground.

Sometimes used in topples, &c, where the vein is thin, and wmere there is not room for the larger trams to run, without shooting down the top or taking up the bottom. Cart-rods. — The sticks with which the wicker-work of the cart is made. Catches. — The levers placed at the top of a pit on which J^la^e-J /°///-*V Or ron KEEP I NG TRAM IN CAG E Saz2& J/n^A = j \Fhœ/^. the cages rest whilst loading and unloading. Sometimes called fans, or fangs. Choke-damp. — After-damp. A gas prevalent in a mine immediately after an explosion of fire-damp, the breathing of which is fatal to human fife. It is said to be composed of eight parts of nitrogen, one of carbonic acid, and two of wratery vapour. Two young men at the Cethin explosion were saved from the deadly effects of this gas by placing a wet rag over their mouths.

Clack. — The lower valve of a lifting set of pumps. Clack-door. — The door in the pumps at which the clack is changed and put right. Clack-piece. — The pipe in which the clack is placed. Clanny-lamp. — See Safety-lamp. Cliff. — Argillaceous shale. Cliff-quar. — Argillaceous shale of a very compact and hard nature, but which will not stand the vicissitudes of the weather after being brought to the surface. Clip-pulley. — An arrangement of clips in the groove of a round rope pulley, to prevent the surging of the rope. By the use of this pulley at the top of engine-planes one rope instead of two will do the same amount of work. There is, we believe, where this pulley is applicable, fully one-half saved in ropes by its use. At Mynydd-bach-y-Glo Colliery, near Swansea, one of them is working satisfactorily at the top of a long engine plane, the inclination of which is one in two.

Coal. — This is a substance difficult of definition. Probably it may be said to be mineralised vegetable matter of a black or brownish colour, capable of being used for the production of heat, " and not soluble — like the bitumens — in ether, oil of turpentine, or benzole." Coal-field .—A district abounding in carbonaceous de posits. Coal-cutting Machine. — Wre had an opportunity in 1866 of witnessing Levick's coal-cutting machine operating upon a vein of coal at Blaina. It was worked by compressed air. Here the machine wras a decided success, but we question whether, in the shape we then saw it, it can be applied to every district. Cog. — A square pillar built up with blocks of timber for supporting the roof in long-work. Coke. — Baked coal, or coal with the volatile matter driven out of it by fire.

It is used where intense heat is required for chemical purposes, for smelting hon ore, &c. Coke is only to be made from coal of a bituminous character. Coke-ovens. — Erections for converting small coal into coke ; when of the ordinary size the cost is generally about £40 each. Crab. — A winch. Crop. — The place where a vein of coal rises to the surface. Cropping. — Cropping the colliers is to fine them, or deduct some weight from the tram which they have sent, either for not filling a tram sufficiently when they are paid by the tram, or for not sending the coal clean, or for sending it too small. " Billy Fairplay," wliich see, being entirely free of all feeling or prejudice, may be said to be a cropper par excellence. Crossing. — A bridge, made air-tight, carrying one road over another, by which one cunent of air passes over another without admixture. — Likewise the rails so joined or cast that one tramroad or railroad shall cross another at an angle.

Culm. — The small of anthracite coal. It is much used for lime-burning. Many of the Carmarthenshire people mix up the dead-small with clay, and make balls, which they use as household fuel. When once the balls get ignited they make an excellent fire — perfectly smokeless ; we have known the mouth of the chimney, at the back of the grate, whitewashed, notwithstanding that the fire was burning every day. Curb. — Flat segments, cut to suit the curve of the pit. Wood curbs are generally laid down, after a place has been prepared for them, when it is necessary to build up a casing of masonry to secure the sides of the shafts, as a foundation to start from. The joints ought to be true, and the whole curb ought to be perfectly level and wedged behind until quite tight. Cutter or Coal-cutter. — A hewer of coal.