A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

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A.
Addit:-Entrance to a mine, usually a drift which sloped from the surface down to a coal seam.
Advanced Head :-A roadway heading which is in front of the coal face line.
Advance Face:-A face where the coal is extracted as the face and roadways advance, advancing away from the main roads. Opposite to retreat mining.
AFC:- An armoured flexible conveyor, used to transport coal off a face. Coal cutting machines were often mounted above the AFC. Hydraulic chocks were attached to the AFC. They could then be advanced using a ram. Also known as the panzer. Steel pans linked together with chains and bars
Afterdamp A mixture after an explosion, colourless, deadly, just one of the many hazards one encounters venturing underground.
Airbagging:-A flexible trunking used to conduct air from an auxiliary fan to where it was needed at the head of a driveage.
Airborne Dust Sampler:- Taking samples of Airborne dust by thermal precipitator and/or P.R.U. Pumps.
Air doors:- means of passing from intake to return
Air Split:- A division of airflow into two or more separate air ways.

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B.
Backfill:– Mine waste or rock used to support the roof after coal removal.
Backing. A piece of timber laid across a drive near the roof, each end fitted into hitches cut in the rock, with slabs or laths placed between it and the roof.
Back ripping:- Road repairs when the gates were crushed, (parts of the top and sides were removed and either new rings were to be installed or the old rings were lifted). Maintenance where the floor had lifted and roadway height was restricted.
Back-Overman:- A man who has the immediate inspection of the workings and workmen during the back-shift. He superintends the management of the pit from the time the overman leaves until four o'clock in the evening, when the pit is said to "loose" or stop work. In other words he is the foreman of the pit during the "back shift," or afternoon shift, in the absence of the overman.
Backskin - A piece of thick leather worn by some putters as a protection to their backs.
Baff week:- Or pay-Saturday. When miners' were paid on a two weeks basis the baff week was the second week.
Bailiff:- Foreman or overman
Bait - the quick refreshment taken while working in the pits.
Band - a layer of slate or stotie interstratified in the seam of coal.
Bandsman:- Laborer (loader) working with a band of men.
Bank - the top of the pit.
Banksman:-Person in charge of loading or unloading the cage at the surface. He draws the full tubs from the cages at the surface and replaces them with empty ones; he also puts the full tubs to the weighing machine and onto the skreens upon which he teems the coals. It is also his duty to keep an account of the quantity of coals and stones drawn each day.
Barrowman:- (Also known as Putter) A man who puts the tubs of coals from the working places to the cranes, flats, or stations, they were then taken by horses or machinery along the main or rolley-ways to the shaft. Before the application of tramways underground, coals used to be conveyed underground on sledges, and afterwards on barrows, whence the name.
Basket women - Hook on the tubs and are generally selected from widows of colliers or those who may have met with an accident.
Baulk - An interruption of the seams of coal.
Beethoven:-A shot-firing device which fired 1 to 100 shots.
Bell Wires:-Two wires which covered the length of a haulage system, when they were held together it made a bell ring, the haulage driver new by the number of rings which direction he had to go ( inbye or outbye).
Bellmen:- Men who worked on the conveyor belts or rope haulage signalling system.
Belt:- A conveyor belt (an endless moving belt) used to transport minerals, sometimes used to transport men and materials.
Belt Extension:- Adding lengths of structure to a conveyor belt to make it longer as the coal face advances.
Belt Idler:- A cylindrical roller which is mounted on a frame which supports and guides a conveyor belt.
Belt take-up:- A pulley and roller mechanism that is used to apply tension to the conveyor belt.
Beltman:- A person who maintains the belt.
Belt road:- down which the coal travelled.
Bevin Boys:- During World War 2 Ernest Bevin introduced his scheme for the call-up of young men to the mines as a result of an acute shortage of experienced colliers.
Bit:-a piece attached to the end of a borer or drill rod, to drill holes.
Black Damp:- Term generally applied to carbon dioxide.
Blower:- a sudden discharge of inflammable gas from some chasm or fissure in the coal or stone.
Board or bord - principal working-places, from four to five yards wide, holding one and sometimes two hewers.
Booster fan:-An underground ventilation fan used to increase the ventilation of a district or a seam.
Bond - the annual agreement of specifying the conditions upon which the parties are hired.
Bore hole:- A hole bored for blasting. A vertical or horizontal hole bored for the purpose of ascertaining the character of the strata, or for tapping old workings filled with water, or for drawing off methane gas.
Borer:- A drilling machine.
Gas Emission Borer:- Boring holes for the purpose of releasing gas from strata.
Bottomer:-A miner employed to attend to the bottom of the shaft.
Brakemen:- A person employed to work the steam-engine, or winding engine used in raising the coal from the mine.
Brasses:- - layers of pyrites occurring in the coalseam
Brattice:- A sheeting used to deflect air into particular areas to improve ventilation and dilute flammable or noxious gases.
Breaker:- Circuit breaker in electrical circuits.
Break line:- The line that roughly follows the rear edges of coal pillars that are being mined. Where the roof is expected to break.
Broken place:- Easy work place with soft or loose coal.
Brusher:- A person employed to cut or blast the roof or floor of a roadway to give more height OR a person who gets the mineral down by blasting in the working face after it has been "holed"
Butties:- these were contractors who drove the roadways in the mine. They agreed to a certain sum of money out of which wages and materials had to come.
Buttocker:- A miner who gets coal off at a "long-wall" face
Bye workman:- Underground labourer
By or bye:- used in such phrases as 'far in by,' i.e. far into the pit.

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C.
Cage ( or chair ):- A structure/container used to carry men and materials up and down the mine shaft.
Caivil:- lot drawing or a lottery to decided the working-place of each individual.
Calling-course:- the round of the 'caller' or man appointed to rouse the workpeople. At Killingworth, for example, from one o'clock a.m. to half-past one the caller calls the men to go to hew at two o'clock. From three o'clock a.m. to half-past three he calls the boys to begin work at four o'clock.
Canvas door:- Canvas or sacking hung across the roadway to divert the airflow and control ventilation.
Cap Lamp:- A rechargeable, battery operated, light worn on a miner's safety helmet.
Cappers:- Little square shaped pieces of wood, used either at the base or top of a prop.
Carbide:- A binary compond of carbon, especially calcium carbide, which is used in making acetylene gas.
Carbon dioxide:- A true gas formed by the oxidation of carbon, occurring in exhaled air, in the products of decomposition of some types of explosives, and in the products of combustion of all carbonaceous matter.
Carbon monoxide:- Carbon Monoxide (CO). Probably the most dangerous of the polluting gases of a mine atmosphere, it is formed by the incomplete combustion of carbon and occurs whenever carbonaceous, or bituminous substances burn.
Coal Carman:- was a coal carter or dealer. He had a wagon and horse. He went to the mine, collected about a ton of coal and delivered it to houses, factories etc. He would often cover very large distances and might take a few days to deliver all his coal before reeturning to the mine for another load.
Cartridge:- A charge of powder contained in a case.
Caved in:- Ground where the roof has fallen, or the sides which have collapsed.
Caving:- Method of mining which allows the waste area, behind the advancing, face to collapse.
Chain Conveyor:- A conveyor which transports material along solid pans by the scraping action of flight bars (bars connected to the chain ).
Chalker-on - a boy who keeps an account of the work and who is usually also a craneman.
Chargeman:- Person in charge
Chargeman tunneller:- Foreman in charge of men driving a tunnel
Charter master:- Contractor for working a pit or part of a pit
Check:-Brass tab with the miners number on it. These were given to the Banksman on coming out of the pit.
Check Weigher:- The weigher employed by the workmen.
Chock:- Wooden block of wood, roughly 2 ft. long and 6 inches square. Used to support the roof of the coal face when stacked also steel chocks(which could be released by knocking a pin ) they were advanced as the face advanced, also walking face chocks (on mechanised faces which were attached to the steel face chain conveyor AFC and advanced with an hydraulic ram).
Chummings (chum'uns ):- Empty tubs.
Clay:- Fireclay underneath the seam.
Cleaning up:-Filling coal or stone from where it has fallen.
Clearer:- Unskilled labourer who clears away the rubbish etc.
Coal bearers - Women or children who are employed to carry coals on their belts on un-railed roads up and down steep braes, with burdens varying from .75cwt to 3cwt.
Coal cleaning:- A process which separates the coal from unwanted stone material, by utilizing the differences in their specific gravities. The unwanted material is generally heavier than coal and sinks. The separation of coal from heavier material, was done in a medium of S.G 1.4 or above. The Baum box system used water but in this case the separation was assisted with air pulsations, causing a jigging motion, so separating the heavier material from the lighter material. Walter Fowler. (Ex Plant Manager Haunchwood, Snibston and Baddesley Collieries. South Midlands Area)
Coal Cutterman:- Operating and/or flitting coal-cutting machine.
Coal Cutter Mover:- Moving, spinning or turning cutting machine.
Coal Dust
Coal Preparation Plant:- The place on the surface of the mine where coal is cleaned and prepared for sale.
Coalface working:- Movement of the coal due to strata pressure. Sometimes known as weighting, or weight coming on.
Coalface Training Instructor:- Workman appointed under the National Coal Board Scheme of Training for Coalface Work to supervise and instruct more than one trainee at the face.
Collier:- Getting and filling coal onto conveyor or into trains; getting and filling coal. setting necessary supports, on either machine cut or hand-got faces; hewing coal by hand-got methods; engaged on stall work and responsible for taking forward rippings, etc., carrying out any operation in connection with a mechanised heading or longwall face; hewing coal with pneumatic picks; driving a close place or opening out on pick work in coal; developing headings in coal preparatory to opening out stalls; filling coal into trams in hand-filled and drawn system; filling coal on face.
Colliery :- Coal mine.
Colliery Electrician:- Competent electrician qualified by experience or training and/or apprenticeship, engaged at a colliery on the installation, examination, testing, maintenance and repair of the colliery's electrical apparatus.
Colliery Electro-Mechanic:- Competent electrician and competent fitter qualified by experience or training and/or apprenticeship, engaged at a colliery on the combined duties of installation, examination, testing, maintenance and repair of the colliery's electrical and mechanical apparatus.
Colliery Fitter:- Competent fitter qualified by experience or training and/or apprenticeship, engaged at a colliery on the installation, examination, testing, maintenance and repair of the colliery's mechanical apparatus.
Compressor Attendant:- In charge of inbye portable compressor at the face.
Continuous miner:- A machine that constantly extracts coal while it loads it.
Contraband:- Anything that could not be taken down a mine incase it sparked off an explosion eg cigars, cigarettes, any pipe or other contrivance for smoking. Any match or mechanical lighter.
Conveyor Plough Attendant:- Cleaning out spillage ploughed off the return belt where open type structures are used; cleaning out the tension-end of face bolt and putting the coal back onto the belt.
Corf:- a wicker-work basket for drawing the coal and containing from 4 to 7 cwt. It is made of strong hazel-rods from half to one inch in diameter.
Corporal:- Man in charge of a certain district under the deputy.
Corvers:- those who made the corves, strong osier baskets in which the coals were conveyed from the hewers to the bank.
The corves were made and kept in repair by contractors, named Corvers, who were paid by the score of coals drawn, according to the circumstances of the colliery as to depth, wetness, upcast, downcast,etc., sixpence to one shilling per score, or from 1d. to 2d. per ton.
Coupler:- A boy who coupled or connected, by means of coupling chains, the tubs of coal in order to form a set or train.
Cracket - A miner used a cracket to rest his head and/or shoulders on when working lying down. They were made from spare bits of wood found lying around, such as bits of pit props.
Cradle:-Used on machines as part of a ring setting device, the arch part of a girder is placed in the cradle and a machine lifts it into position.
Cranemen:- A lad 16 or 18 years of age, earning from 1s. 6d. to 3s. a-day (in 1841) whose business it was to hoist the corves of coals on to the rolleys with the crane. On the introduction of tubs and flats, younger lads of 15 or 16 years of age were used, they were named flat-lads. The crane-man or flat-lad proportions the work, or "places the work," he told the barrow-men where to go for coals, and the quantity he has to take from each place.
Crawley:- A short chain conveyor connecting face conveyor with road belt conveyor.
Creeper:- powered chain drive laid between rails, with blocks to engage axles of mine cars- usually used to advance cars at loader or in pit bottom.
Crusher:-. A machine for reducing the size of stone (rock), or coal.
Crut:- An underground incline.
Crutter:- A man who drives cruts or stone drifts.
Curving:- cutting into the whole coal, as the preparatory course to blasting or wedging it down.

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D.
Damp:- from the German word damph meaning gas.
Dan:- A low sided or flat topped wagon (or mine car), used for supplies.
Dataler:- Underground workman paid by the day.
Davy lamp:- An early type of safety lamp with wire guaze enclosing the flame. Named after Sir Humphrey Davy who invented it in 1816. The gauze had an instant cooling effect on any flame which could possibly escape from inside the lamp and ignite any methane in the mine. Almost simultaneously a similar lamp was designed by George Stevenson.
Day wageman:- One paid by the day, not by contract.
Dinting:- Excavating into the strata.
Drag:- A short length of girder hooked on to back of dans or tubs when going up inclines, to prevent runaways.
Detonator:-A small cylindrical tube with 2 wires attached, used for igniting or detonating the explosive in a bore hole.
Deputy:- Official in charge of underground safety, in charge of a certain area of the pit, once sometimes referred to as chargehand.
He goes to work two hours before the hewers. Each deputy, during the absence of the back-overman, is responsible for the management of the district of the pit over which he is appointed. Their work also includes that of supporting the roof with props or wood, removing props from old workings, changing the air currents when necessary, and clearing away any sudden eruption of gas or fall of stone that might impede the work of the hewer, or in delegating these duties to others.
Deputy's Stick - The deputy’s stick is a walking aid when he is travelling to inspect his district. It is also a measuring instrument to see that roof supports are set to the regulation distance. (Before powered supports) Another use is, as an aid to test for gas in a high road-way and to measure the day's progress, being a yard in length,
Development Work:- Work to expand the mine reserves rather than the extraction of coal. An example of development work is the driving of roadways.
Dilute Gas:- Lower the concentration of any hazardous gas by the addition of fresh air.
Dip:- Place where the seam drops down.The angle of a coal seam relative to the horizontal.
Dirt:- A layer of stone, in, above, or below, a coal seam.
Districts:- Different areas underground. No.3 North District all districts were known by numbers and compass points.
Downcast Shaft:- Shaft which carries fresh air from the surface down to the mine workings.
Drift:-Sometimes referred to as a footrill A sloping roadway used to access lower or higher areas. An 'ADDIT' mine where there was no shaft. Miners would walk into the mine.
Drill:- a tool about 20 inches long, used in blasting, to prepare a place in the coal or stone for the charge of powder.
Driver:- The person in charge of a pit pony. Also known as Rolley, Horse or Waggon Driver
Driver on Branches:- a person who drives and manages a horse on the branches of the railway, from near the top of the pit to a station where steam-power, &c., is employed to convey the coals.
Dobbie props - were hydraulic and made by Dobsons. Widely used with special bars before the advent of chocks.
Dook headman:- Man engaged at the top of an incline roadway.
Dook runner:- A miner who sends waggons up an inclined roadway and travels with them.
Doors:- doors in the pits used to direct the ventilation.
Downcast shaft - for men and materials and fresh air.
Dowty:­ A hand operated hydraulic prop.
Drawer:- A waggoner or person who pushes underground tubs.
Drifter:- Miner employed in driving in rock other than coal.
Drivers:- A boy employed to drive the horses on the main road underground. He was usually 14 or 15 years of age.
Dyke:- considerable natural interruption of the bed of coal, whereby it is either thrown down or up. It is sometimes locally denominated a 'trouble.'

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E.
Electrician's Help:- Semi-skilled electrical worker engaged on minor repairs and maintenance of electrical equipment and appliances under the supervision of a fully qualified Electrician.
Engine tenter:- Engine man
Extraction:- The process of mining and removal of coal or stone(rock) from a mine.

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F.
Face:-The place where coal is being dug out.
Face Haulage Man:- Haulage by pony or mechanical means at the face.
Fall:- A mass of roof, rock or coal, which has fallen in any part of a mine.
Fanman:- In charge of ventilating fan at the face.
Fault:- A slip or strata displacement. Break in the continuity of a coal seam
Feeder :- A machine that feeds coal onto a conveyor belt evenly. OR a flow of water.
Firedamp:- A mixture of methane gas and air. The most dangerous mixture is between 5% and 15% when an explosion is possible.
Fissure:- An extensive crack, break, or fracture in the rocks.
Flameproof Equipment:- Equipment which must withstand, without distortion or damage, with a large safety factor the most violent internal explosion possible with a methane/air mixture.
Flatman:- a term similar to or in place of Craneman; the difference being that, where tubs are used for the conveyance of coals, no cranes are necessary because they do not need to be hoisted on to the rolleys, as in the ease of corves they are merely linked together at the flat or level by the flatmen.
Floor Heave:- The floor of a mine lifting as a result of high ground stresses.
Foal:- See Putter
Foot blocks:- Square blocks of thick wood used to spread the load of the base of an arch.
Fork or hambone:- A clip used to attach tubs to the endless rope. Knocking off the fork releases the set of full tubs on a landing outbye.
Fossil fuel:- Any naturally occurring fuel of an organic nature, such as coal, crude oil and natural gas.
Foulness - inflammable air.
Foul coal - impure, from an admixture of slate etc.
Furnaceman:- who attend to the ventilating furnace.

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G.
Gaffer:- Person incharge, usually manager.
Gallery:- A horizontal or a nearly horizontal underground roadway.
Galloway Driver:- was the man who drove the pit ponies, a special small breed known as Galloways, because of where they were bred in Scotland.   They are now believed to be extinct.
Gates:- Roadways leading to a face.
Main Gate:- The intake airway which was the conveyor belt road down which the coal travelled
Gate end box:- An electric panel used to control and distribute power to face machinery.
Gang rider:- Person riding upon, and in charge of a train of underground waggons
Gear:-Once referred to the harness used by horses or ponies to pull tubs.
General Worker:- Performing work of a general character other than highly skilled work.
Gin-Drivers:- boys who were employed to drive the horses in the gin or engine used in raising coals from pits of moderate depth.
Gin - a horse powered machine used in raising coal from pits or shafts of moderate depth.
Gin-rope:- a rope for letting engine-weights down the engine-pit for charging buckets, etc. The Jack-gin belongs to the engine shaft.
Girders:- Straight or arched steel roof supports.
Goaf:- (Gob or Thurst) those parts of the mine where all the coal has been extracted and where the roof has fallen in.
Gob:- Waste. The area behind the face chocks where the coal had been removed.
Goggles and Nose-Clips:-
Gravimetric:- A machine for sampling the amount of airborne dust.
Greaser:- A boy who greased the tub axles at bank. A machine which automatically greases the axles as they pass over it.
Gullet - a fissure in the strata, generally containing either water or inflammable air.
Gummer:- Cleaning out cuttings, cleaning up gummings, cleaning up holings. and inserting gibs or nogs.

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H.
Hack:- a heavy kind of pick for breaking stone.
Halfbar also Split-bar:- Basically a long prop split down the middle, used with props as roof supports.
Half-marrow. Young Putter or foal
Hambones:-A device used to attach and pull tubs.
Hammers:- blows, as 'he paid me my hammers,' i.e. beat me.
Hand putter:- A miner who pushed mine waggons.
Hanger-On:- 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 or stopping place. They are usually paid by the score or ton, their average wages amounting (1849) to about 4s. per day of twelve hours.
Hardground man:- Miner employed in driving in rock other than coal.
Headings:-Roadways which are being developed, moving forward to open up new faces.
Headsman:- A lad not strong enough to put alone, but able to do so with the assistance of a little boy, who performs helped by pulling the tub using a couple of ropes or traces called soams. The little boy was called a foal. He sometimes assisted the headsman by pushing the tub beside him. When the boys were of the same age or strength they were equally paid and called half-marrows.
Headstocks:- The framework holding the winding wheel over the shaft.
Headways:- a pair of narrow drifts, 2 yards wide, driven into the whole coal and constituting an intake and outlet for the air.
Helper-Up:- A lad employed to assist the barrow-man or putter out of a dip or incline.
Hewer:- Coal face worker who works coals, cuts and loosens the coal with a pick, referred to as ragging in some pits.
Hitch:- a considerable interruption of the bed of coal.
Hitcher:- Miner putting waggons into the cage, later the Chief attendant at the pit bottom.
Hod boy:- He conveyed coal to mine waggons in the working place.
Holed:- Breaking through into another working, holed through.
Holing:- a general term for a narrow passage between two headways, or two board. The term appears to be sometimes used as synonymous with driving.
Hooker On:- Attaching or detaching tubs to or from haulage rope at the face by lashing chains, clips, shackles, etc.
Horse fettler:- Ostler
Horse-keeper:- attends to the horses in the pit.
Hydraulic:- Of or pertaining to fluids in motion.
Hydraulic Chock:- Used on faces to control the strata and to push the AFC over (using a ram) after the coal is extracted.The ram is then used to pull the chock forward using the AFC. as an anchor.
Hydraulic Hose:- A common hose used to work rams and chocks etc.
Hydrogen Sulphide:- A gas popularly known as stinkdamp from its characteristic repulsive odour of rotten eggs.
Hydroproof:- A blasting powder for use under water- i.e. in the flooded bottom of a dipping head end.
Hydrox Filler:- Removing the firing head, cleaning shells after firing and re-charging the shells under the supervision of the Shotfirer and/or Deputy and keeping records.
Hygrometer:- An instrument for measuring relative humidity.

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I.
Inbye:- Away from the pit shaft, (underground).
Incline man:- Person attending to work on an inclined plane.
Inspector:- Person (Her Majesty's Inspector) appointed by the Government to ensure good working practices are followed and regulations relating to mining operations are being observed. . Also workmens inspectors ( men appointed by the workers to ensure the same ).
Inspector (1850s.) :- A man employed at the surface to attend to the cleaning and skreening of the coals. His wages were usually 3s. per day, or 18s. per week, with his house and firing free.
An underground inspector was required to attend to the working of the coals, and to see that proper pains were taken to make them large and good. He was also required to attend to the straight driving or holing and used compass marks for the purpose.
The back over-man, performed the above duties if the colliery did not have a lot of fire-damp, and his time was not engaged in attending to the safety of the mine. The wages of an inspector were 21s. or 22s. per week, with house and firing free.(1850s)
Intake:- A roadway taking fresh air inbye.

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J.
Jack-roll:- a hand-windlass.
Jigger:- Miner who attended the brake of a self-acting incline or jig.
Judd and Jenkin:- The block of coal cut by the hewer at the face ready to be got fdown.

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K.
Keeker:- an inspector of the hewers, wailers etc.
Keeps:- the apparatus at the top of the shaft for retaining the cage till the loaded tub is exchanged for the empty one.
Kibble:- Bucket used when sinking a new shaft.
Kist:- Wooden chest used by the Deputy to store tools, also a meeting place.

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L.
Laid-out:- tubs of coals forfeited by the hewer as having an excess of stones or slates.
Lamp Keeper:- who has charge of the Davies
Lashing Chains:-Chains used on a moving endless rope haulage.
Leg: ­ The lower part of steel arch road support- a pair of legs and a crown form a "ring" (on 3 section rings or arch girders).
Limmers - the shaft-like projections of the rolley on which the drivers sit.
Liquefaction: – The process of converting coal into a synthetic fuel, similar in nature to crude oil and/or refined products, such as petrol.
Lockers:- A short wood or steel device which was inserted into the tub wheel, this locked the wheel and friction between the wheel and the tub track caused the tub and any others coupled to it, to come to a standstill.
Loco road - is always in the main intake.
Longwall Power Loader Operator, and Assistant:- Men who on the production shift move along the face with the power loading machine. Their jobs include operating the controls of the machine, setting or withdrawing supports or trimming the face or breaking up coal. They also advance the conveyor or rubbing rail and set supports immediately behind the conveyor or rubbing rail.
Loose Place:- Place where coal is easily worked.
Lowe - a pit-candle; of which there are 45 to the pound. Generally, a flame or light.
Lowerer:- Miner who lowered waggons down an inclined plane.

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M.
Main fan:- A mechanical ventilator installed at the surface; operates by either exhausting or blowing to induce airflow throughout the mine.
Main Gate:- The intake airway which was the conveyor belt road down which the coal travelled, see also mother gate.
Main Gate Face Entry:- Access point to the face from the main roadway, Mother Gate.
Main intake and main return:- airways supplying air to the workings
Maintenance Man Mechanical Appliances:- Engaged on minor repairs and maintenance of mechanical appliances.
Manhole:- Refuge hole between legs or rings, dimensions should be 3ft.by 4ft. by 6ft. and they should be whitewashed and numbered. Distance apart depended on the type of roadway and gradients, usually 10 yards or 20 yards. They provided a safe place in case of runaway tubs etc.
Manometer:- An instrument which measures the pressure difference between roadways.
Marrow:- A partner or Mate.
Master-Shifter:- The person in charge of the shifters.
Master-Wasteman:- The person who has charge of the wastemen.
Meco self contained breathing apparatus:- one using liquid air, 'Aerophor' and one using compressed oxygen contained in cylinders, 'Meco'. In the "Meco,' apparatus the oxygen feed is fixed at 2.3 litres per minute. The small apparatus cylinders are charged with 300 litres at a pressure of 120 atmospheres.
Metal man:- Person who takes the roof down to give more height.
Metal stone:- clay-stone and shale
Methane:- A potentially explosive, lighter than air gas.
Methane Monitor:- An instrument that is used to measure the amount of methane present in the mine atmosphere.
Methane Drainage:- A system used to extract gas from the coal and remove it from the mine. Shirebrook colliery utilized the gas to produce hot water for the pit head baths.
Mine gases:- Mine Gases. During the normal working of coal seams it is necessary to pass through the workings a sufficient quantity of air to keep the atmosphere properly conditioned for breathing, because of the fact that firedamp is slowly exuded by the coal and surrounding strata, and carbon dioxide gas is formed by oxidation of the coal and timber and by the breathing of men and animals. The latter processes remove oxygen from the mine atmosphere and thereby tend to bring the percentage below the normal 21%.
Misfire:- The complete or partial failure of a blasting charge.
Mistres: - a small wooden hand-box open on one side only, holding the candle
Morphia:- A pain killing injection given after certain serious accidents. Could only be given by selected trained first aid men who were certified competent for this purpose
Mother Gate:- Main roadway ( usually an air intake roadway ).

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N.
Natural Ventilation:- Ventilation which is provided without the assistance of fans or furnaces.
Net:- used for letting down and drawing up horses.
Nick (nick her up ):- Undercut the seam.
Nicking:- vertical cuttings in the coal preparatory to blasting etc.
Nitrogen:- A gas occurring to the extent of 79% in the atmosphere.
Nuts:- coals passing through the screen-bars from which the dust is removed.

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O.
Off The Road:- A tub or tram, or any vehicle which comes off the rails.
Oncostman:- Workman not paid by the day.
Onsetter:- Person in charge of loading and unloading the cage underground, at the bottom of the shaft, Underground equivalent to Banksman. Where tubs are used he usually had boy of from 12 to 15 years of age, to help him. The boy was paid from 1s. 3d. to 2s. a-day in 1841.
Ostler:- a stableman
Outbye:- Going towards the pit shaft (underground ).
Outburst:- A violent displacement of coal caused by excessive gas and earth pressure.
Outcrop:- Coal seam that is near the surface.
Outstroke:- a privilege permitting coals to be brought from one property and drawn to the surface at another
Overcast:- An airway built over the top of another airway. Required to separate intake and return airways in some areas. Where one road passes over another.
Overman:- (Also known as Overlooker) The third in rank of the officers of the mine. He is the underground foreman subordinate to the manager.
Overlooker:- (Also known as Overman) Underground foreman subordinate to the manager.
Oxygen:- Oxygen is a colourless, tasteless, and odourless gas, it is slightly heavier than air.
Oxygen:- Liquid Oxygen

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P.
Pack:- Roof support made of stone. Large stones at the front, built up like a dry stone wall.
Packer:- Person who builds "packs"
Paddy:- The vehicles ( either rope driven or diesel ) that carry men along the roadways.
Pan:- Part of a panzer / crawley / stage loader through which the chain was guided, many pans were coupled together to make up the required length.
Panel:- Basically a coal face where the face team work.
Panzer:-A Chain conveyor, Armoured flexible conveyor , AFC.
Parting:- A rail junction ("points" in railway parlance) or splitting of two roadways.
Peat:– Partially decayed vegetable matter found in swamps and bogs, one of the earliest stages of coal formation. Used as fuel or for horticulture.
Peck:- the coal peck contains 4.5 gallons and 8 pecks make 1 bole, and 24 boles 1 chaidron.
Penobel:- Blasting gelignite or "powder" (PE- permitted explosive, Nobel)
Pick:- A hand tool, used by hewers, for loosening coal etc., also machine picks, attached to a drum or chain to cut coal or stone.
Pick-carrier:- carries the hewer's picks from the top of the corf upon which they are placed to the shop to be repaired.
Pikeman:- Workman using a pick.
Pillar:- Pillar of coal left to support the roof.
Pinch:- A portion of snuff.
Pinch Bar:- A long round, thin steel bar ( approximately 5ft.) used for lifting or prising items or materials.
Pipeman:- Maintaining and extending pipe ranges at the face; dismantling and erecting in new position compressed air and/or water pipes at the face.
Pit:- Colliery or mine
Pit top:- Surface
Planks:- Usually a prop cut down the middle, lengthwise from top to bottom ( 6ft. planks mainly ). used as a roof support.
Pneumoconiosis:- A chronic disease of the lungs arising from breathing in coal dust.
Points:- A junction in the tub track where tubs could be switched from one track to another.
Pony putter:- Driver of a pony drawing a mine waggon.
Post:- sand stone
Power Loader Man:-Directly engaged during coal getting operations on a coal face operated by a power loading machine (other than a remotely operated longwall face
Power Stower:- Building packs at coal face by means of power stowing equipment.
Pre-shift inspection:- The deputy tests for gas, and examines a district to make sure it is safe before workmen arrive.
Props:- Wooden supports holding up the roof.
Pumper - Male or female child who descends into the deepest part of the mine to pump rising water to the level of the engine pump in order to keep the men's rooms of work dry.  They frequently work up to their waists in water or in such cramped situations as to be nearly covered.  The work is severe and continuous; they are relieved every 6 hours and rest for twelve.
Proto:- Breathing Apparatus
Putter/s:- The putters used to be divided into trams, headsmen, foals, and half-marrows. These were all women, boys or youths. Their employment consisted of pushing or dragging the coal from the workings to the passages in which horses could be employed. Weight varies from 3cwt to 10cwt.

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Q.

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R.
Ramble:- loose stone lying above the top of the coal.
Rammel:- is a term for rubbish or waste.
Rap:- Bell signal to an machinery operator ( winding engineman, haulage driver etc. ) 3 raps to the winder meant men were about to travel the shaft.
Rapper:- a signal hammer at the top of the pit communicating with the bottom.
Regulator & Regulator Doors:- Constructions which controls the air flow in a roadway, it balances the quantity of air reaching faces etc. and prevents the ventilation from short circuiting.
Reek:- Smoke
Resin:- A chemical material that is inserted into drill holes, it quickly sets very hard, it is used for roof bolting and anchoring head drives etc.
Respirable Dust:- Coal dust particles, 1 to 5 microns are the most harmful.
Retreat Face:- The roadways are developed to the boundary then the coal is extracted from the inbye end and retreats outbye. Retreating back towards the main roads.
Return:- Roadway along which the air travels from the face and out of the mine.
Return Airway:- A roadway along which air returns from the working face(s).
Return Air:- Air or ventilation that has passed through the workings.
Rib:- The side walls of the roadway.
Ride:- Ascend or descend the shaft in the cage, or travel to and from work on manriding cars.
Ridder:- Person who rakes or rids coal down a steep working.
Rider:- Attendant on an inclined plane.
Rings:- Steel arches supporting the roof.
Rippers:-Men who remove the rock above the coal seam and set rings (arches) as the face advances.
Ripping Lip:- As the face was lower than the roadway, the extra height was called the rip. Obviously one at each end of the face. Shots were fired to bring rip down.
Modern day ripping is done by machine.
Back ripping was maintenance where the floor had lifted and roadway height was restricted.
Rits - vertical cuttings in the shaft for receiving boxes to convey the water from the rings.
Riving and Chewing:- Tearing and pulling.
Road:- Main thorouoghfare connecting shaft to the faces.
Roadways:- Snickets - cross cuts, slant gates, material turn outs, bob holes, were all minor connecting roadways.
Rockman:- Slate getter - a skilled workman who excavates or "gets" the blocks of rock, which are split and dressed into slates.
Rolley:- the waggons for transporting the tub or corves of coals from the crane to the shaft. They usually hold each two or three tubs, and are 7 feet 6 inches long.
Rolley-Way Man:- A man whose business it was to attend to the rolley-way and keep it in order. It was also his duty to see that no time was lost in getting the full waggons to the shaft and the empty ones in-bye again.
Rolley-ways:- the-prineipal horse-roads extending into distant parts of the mine and made sufficiently high for an ordinary horse, by cutting away the roof or floor if necessary. Some of these rolley-ways are two miles long they are kept in repair by the rolley-way man.
Rongs:- circular excavations in the shaft in which is collected the water trickling down the sides.
Roof Bolt:- A steel rod used to support the roof, along with wire meshing, by securing it in a hole drilled into the roof.
Roof Bolter:- Responsible for boring holes and inserting and adjusting special bolts to bind the strata. (See above)
Roof bolting was a system where a 10 feet long hole was drilled into the roof using a Wombat machine. Epoxy resin capsules were then inserted into the hole, followed by a ten foot threaded rod the roof bolt, and the whole lot was spun mixing the resin. When the resin went off the roof was supported, in theory. Fine with good strata, it was just lethal here.
Roof Support:- Anything used to support roof. Examples of roof supports are roof bolts, arches, powered supports, wood chocks, timber or hydraulic props.
Ropemen:-Men who repair and maintain rope haulages.
Round:- Round coals are large coals.
Runner:- Pusher of mine waggons.
Runner in:- Person who put waggons into the cage at the bottom of the pit.

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S.
Saddles:- cast-iron fittings confining the tram and tub on the rolley.
Safety lamp:- See Davy lamp
Sandstone:- A sedimentary rock consisting of quartz sand and iron oxide or calcium carbonate.
Schaffler:- A small shot firer, made in Austria
Screens:- Where coal was separated from stone etc. and cleaned.
Screeners:- those who took the small coal from beneath a screen of iron, over which the coals, as they came from the hewers, were poured into the waggons or carts. They removed stones, slates, brasses, etc.
Screen or Traps:- for screening coals, consist of bars of iron.
Screen-trapper:- an attendant at the screens.
Search:- Refers to searching men for contraband items.
Second Means of Egress:- The alternative roadways from the working areas of the mine which would be used if an emergency arose.
Self Rescuer:- A stainless steel canister, about the size of a small tea caddy, carried on the belt at all times. When the red lever on top was pulled, you could pull out a small respirator with a mouth piece, noseclip and webbing straps to hold it in place. It contained an air cooler, smoke and dust filters, and most importantly, a substance called Hopcalite, which converts carbon MONOXIDE into carbon DIOXIDE (that extra atom of oxygen makes all the difference!). They're supposed to last for an hour.....it also contained a bypass valve- Miners were told that if they had to be sick they were to do it into the mouthpiece and not remove the self rescuer
Set out:- tubs or corves of coals are set out from deficient weight or measure.
Setting timber:- Erecting supports to control the roof, traditionally timber props, later steel and hydraulic props.( See image under Planks).
Shackler:- Person who couples waggons.
Shaft:- Vertical hole which connects the surface with the underground workings. Fresh air enters the mine by the Down Shaft, circulated the workings and came out via the up Shaft.
Shaftman:- Shaft sinker.
Shearer:-Machine used to cut coal on a longwall face.
Shift:- The part of any day worked. for example, Days, Afternoons or Nights.
Shifters:- men who repaired the horse-ways and other passages in the mine, and kept them free from obstructions.
Shotfirer:- Person in charge of explosives.
Shotstick Shot-firing pole.:- Thin wooden pole used to ram the explosives and clay into the drill holes. Later known as a shot-firing stick or a rammer.
Shunter:- Person sorting and moving wagons on the surface.
Shuttle Car:- An electrically driven machine used to transfer the coal from a continuous miner to the conveyor belt.
Slack:- Very small pieces coal.
Sliding spears:- extend from top to bottom of the shaft for guiding the cages.
Slip:- A fault. Place where the coal seam slips, the rest of the seam is displaced.
Slusher Operator:- Operating mechanical slusher for loading dirt or ripping; scouring drifting gobs or coal heading.
Small Leader:- A lad employed to put small coals to a stowboard.
Smalls (small coal):- Pieces of coal, gravel size or smaller.
Smart-money:- money paid to workpeople who are off work due to a colliery accident.
Smasher:- Person employed in breaking up waste rock.
Snap:- Sandwiches etc. usually carried in a special 'snap' tin.
Snap/clip:- A clamp used to connect tubs to endless haulage rope
Snicket / Snicket Gate. A short connection road.
Sounding:- Knocking the roof to see whether it is strong and safe to work under. See also jowl.
Speding Flint Wheel :- A flint and steel mill to illuminate places where candles could not be burned. The flint was so arranged as to catch the steel wheel that kept up a continual flight of sparks as long as the wheel was kept turned. It was strapped to the users shoulders, and usually operated by a boy.
Splint:- coarse grey coal, adapted for steam-engines
Stage loader:- A short chain conveyor which transfers the coal from the panzer (AFC) to the conveyor belt.
Staith:- Place where coal is loaded at the river side often by a spout or by a machine for lowering the waggons.
Stallage boards:- A platform suspended in front of rip to support men when drilling shot holes and setting arches.
Stallman:- Sub-contractor in charge of a "stall" or working place.
Standage - a place set apart for holding accumulations of water in the pit until pumped out by the engine.
Staple shaft:- An underground shaft connecting 2 or more levels of mine but not reaching surface
Star Clip:-A device used to attach tubs or trams to an endless haulage system.
Steel Supports Straightener:- Straightening steel props and bars with straightening machine at the face.
Stemming:- Used to plug a drill hole after charges had been set, plugs of moulded sand- "Coreplugs"- were used, clay was also used.
Stentings:- narrow passages driven at right angles to the winning headways, at distances of 20 to 40 yards, for the purpose of ventilation.
Stink damp:- Or Hydrogen Sulphide, is a gas with a characteristic repulsive odour of rotten eggs.
Stonedust :- Crushed limestone (calcium carbonate). The ignition of naturally occurring methane gas is serious enough, but if this propagated a coal dust explosion then the consequences could be devastating throughout the mine. To help reduce the risk of this happening stone dust was introduced, the idea being that it would provide a concentration of suspended dust particles in the path of the flame of an explosion, it was hoped that this would reduce temperatures and arrest an explosion.
Stone Dusting:- Operation of spreading stone dust.
Stoneman:- Worker who deals with stone or rock, ( not coal).
Stopping:- A brick or breeze block or plaster wall which seals off old roadways and redirects the ventilation air flow.
Stythe:- Choke-damp. When the emission of carbonic gas is very strong and the ventilation inefficient, the whole space is frequently filled with 'stythe,' causing the extinction of the candles, and finally life itself.
Subsidence:- The sinking, or collapse, of the rock and soil layers due to the extraction of a coal. Surface features and buildings may be affected.
Sump:-The bottom of a shaft, or any other place in a mine, that is used as a collecting point for drainage water.
Supervising Workman:- Workman appointed under the National Coal Board Scheme of Training for Coalface Work to supervise and instruct one trainee at the face.
Supplies:-Anything, such as rings, timber, stone dust, lagging boards, chock wood, props, etc.
Supply Gate:-The majority of the face supplies are transported via this roadway. Also known as the return or tail gate.
Supports Checker:- Checking supplies of supports to face; checking supplies and recovery of supports; checking bars and coal props on a face to avoid loss.
Supports Recovery Checker:- Checking and directing the recovery of supports.
Swally:- A depression in the roadway. In a wet roadway water collects here, known as swilley in some pits.
Switch:- Rail junction or points.
Switches:-A bank of electrical panels.
Switch Keeper:- person who attends the switches or passing places on the underground railways.
Switch, Valve, Pump and Telephone Operator:- Employed in connection with power loading in all the following activities; operating set of switches for face conveyors, loaders and other underground machinery; controlling water pressure valves; topping-up hydraulic fluid in booster pumps, as necessary; receiving, transmitting and taking action on the telephone or Tannoy system messages; communicating with both surface and power loading teams.

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T.
Tadger:-A large electric drill used for drilling shotholes and holes for roof bolts etc.
Tail Gate:- The return airway down which the supplies were brought in. Also known as the return or the supply gate.
Taker off:- Person who unhooked waggons at self-acting inclines.
Tandem:- Refers to place where one belt conveyor loads onto another belt conveyor.
Tentale:- the tennage rent upon coals drawn
Tenter: - This term appears mainly in the north of England or in Scotland. In this context a Tenter is someone who is in charge of machinery, usually in a factory. The word is closely related to the word "tend" so he is someone who "tends, or looks after" the engine.
Thill:- the floor of the mine.
Thurst:- see Goaf
Timberer:- Setting or changing supports on face; timbering in front of or behind coal cutter.
Timber Cutter:- Preparing timber for cog making; cutting props the length required on conveyor face.
Timber drawer:- Person whose work is to remove timber props.
Tins:- corrugated iron sheets used for lining/covering roadway behind arches.
Tip:- Waste material piled up on the surface.
Tirfor:-A hand operated device used for dragging equipment in to position.
Tokens:- Small metal disks, with identification numbers relating to a workman.
Token hanger:- a boy of from 9 to 12 years old, who was paid 1s. or 1s. 2d per day for arranging the tokens attached to each corf to inform the hewer of its contents.
Tracker:- Preparing tracks for coal cutting machine; preparing face for coal cutting operations; cleaning up the cutter tracks in front of coal cutter.
Trailing Cable:- A heavily insulated electrical cable used to bring power to an electrically operated machine.
Tram:- A sort of flat tub or carriage, about 3 feet 10 inches long, on which the putters, who are thence sometimes called trams, put their coals.
Trammer:- Pushes tubs by hand from collier to pass-bye.
Transfer Point:- A point in the conveyor belt transportation system where coal or stone is transferred from one belt conveyor to another.
Trappers:- young boys employed to open and shut the doors, which kept the ventilation in the workings regular.
Trimmer:- a person who spreads the coals in the waggons or carriages in which the coals are conveyed along a railway from the top of the pit to the staith.
Tubs:- Small wagons used in the mine.
Two Systems of Rescue Brigades:-

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U.
Undercut:- To cut below the coal face by a mining machine, a coal cutter, see pom pom.
Underlooker:- a man employed to supervise the underground workings of a mine. He was responsible directly to the manager or the owner.
Undermanager:- A person having responsibilities defined by law. An undermanager is usually the person in charge of underground mining operations, often a coal seam and is next in authority to a manager or deputy manager.
Upcast Shaft:- Shaft through which air returns to the surface after ventilating the mine workings, for coal winding and returned air.

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V.
Ventilation The supply of fresh air to all parts of the mine workings, and the removal of return air from the mine.
Viewer:- The manager of a colliery; one who has the charge of all underground, and generally of all surface, arrangements.

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W.
Wailers:-boys employed to pick out slate, pyrites, and other foul admixtures from the coal.
Waggonway corporal:- Man in charge of waggonway under the deputy
Warwick girder:- counterbalanced girder hinged to roof of roadway on incline, with lower end pointing uphill- intended to stop runaways.
Wasteman:- Generally old men, who are employed in building pillars for the support of the roof in the waste, and in keeping the airways open and in good order. The shifter is his assistant.
Water Infusion Man:- Responsible for apparatus and infusion of water at face.
Water Leader:- boys who remove water from the horse-ways and other places and assist the deputies. In 1841 their wages varied from 1s. 3d. to 2s. a day.
Water Gauge:- Instrument that measures differential pressures in inches of water.
Way:- Underground rails.
Way Cleaner:- who cleans the rails of the mine from time to time, removing obstructions of coal-dust, etc. using two pieces of rope or hay. These boys were usually aged 11 to 15 years and earned from ls. 3d. to 2s. 6d. a day in 1841.
Wedge:- Wooden wedges to loosen the coal instead of blasting.
Wheelman:- Responsible for boring holes in floor, moving forward wheels, inserting and adjusting bolts, and securing wheels in new position at each end of a plough face.
White Damp Carbon monoxide gas / air mixture.
Winder:- Person in charge of opperating the winding wheel. The engine which raised or lowered the cage in the shaft.
Windroad boy:- Boy who works in wind roads.
A Winsey or Winse is a horizontal wheel round the diameter of which is a rope which went over a pulley and down the shaft. The wheel was driven by a horse and the purpose was to raise and lower men and materials down the shaft.
Wood Leader:- who carry props to parts of the mine where they are needed.

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