Dadd, to dash out a small fire of gas, or a small accumulation of gas with a jacket, (N.East).Daitler. - see Dataller.
Damp, any noxious gas met with in mines.
Dampsheet, a piece of brattice cloth fixed across a roadway to divert the air current. (S.Staffs.).
Dams, ‘stoppings’ constructed to prevent air entering and gas escaping from old workings. A more solid and thicker type of dam was built to hold back accumulated water.
Dan, a small waggon used for hauling dirt. - see also Horned danny; or a small shallow box mounted on a sled for drawing coal out of the workings; or a tub or barrel used to convey water out of the workings to be tipped in the sump or wound up the shaft. (Mids.); or a small flatbed tub, waggon or tram used for supplies.
Dan tin, a sheet metal box used to convey coal where there were no rails. Also called a ‘Duck tin’.
Dander, ash or clinker. (Scot.).
Dandered coal, coal burned and generally mixed with ‘trap’. (Scot.).
Dandies, impure coal forming the top and bottom layers of the Parkgate Seam, (Yorks.).
Dandy, a wagon used on the surface for carting pit dirt and rubble to the tip. (Radstock, Som.).
Danny, a flat truck used for hauling materials. - see also Bogie and Horned danny; or a small truck, running on railsalong the face, hauled by a hand rope to transport the coal from the stall to the gate end.
Dant, small coals, wet slack. (Lancs.); or soft, sooty coal. (N.East). –see also Smut.
Danty, a soft structurless variety of coal devoid of cleats and having the appearance of having been crushed. (N.East).
Darg, fixed amount of coal to be worked for a fixed price. Equivalent to the ‘hewing’ or ‘score price’ of the Newcastle area. (N.East) (Scot.). - see also Stint, or the amount of coal a collier sent out of the pit in one day. (Scot.).
Dashing air, mixing air and gas together until by being completely incorporated the mixture ceases to be inflammable, (N.East).
Dass, a slice or cut taken out of a pillar in ‘stooping’. (Scot.).
Dataller, O.E.D., day-taler, day + reckoning. Men employed on a day-rate of pay or fixed rate per shift as distinct from a contract worker, a ‘byeworker’. Sometimes spelt ‘daitler’.
Daugh, the soft fireclay floor found below, above, or in the coal seam. (Scot.); or a holing fireclay (Lancs.).
Daugher, a pick designed for holing in a narrow ‘daugh’ band. It was usually longer and thinner than a normal pick. (Scot.).
Davy lamp, a safety lamp designed, by Sir Humphry Davy in 1818, for use in gassy conditions, incorporating a wire gauze around the flame.
Day drift, -see Day hole.
Day-eye, the entrance to a drift mine or adit, or the speck of daylight seen on looking back towards the entrance of a drift
mine or adit. Day hole, a drift mine or adit, especially one driven into a hillside. Also called a ‘Tail end’ in Yorks. Also known as a ‘day drift’ or a ‘grove’.
Day level, - see ‘Day hole’.
Daylight mine, a drift mine. (Scot.).
Dead, a term meaning not ventilated, (N.East).
Dead coal, coal that is difficult to break down from the face.
Dead ground, where a coal seam thins out or becomes unworkable; or the seam hits a fault. The area beyond, until the seam becomes workable again, is also known as ‘dead ground’. - see also Barren ground.
Deads, waste material, such as shale, produced in the process of working the coal.
Dead work, any kind of miner’s work other than actual coal getting and transport; or work done by a contractor or collier not provided for in his yardage or tonnage contract rates. Also called ‘bye work’.
Dead working, workings without adequate ventilation.
Dearn, a wooden sough or drain used to de-water a mine. (War).
Deck, one or more level platforms on a cage to accommodate men, materials or vehicles.
Decking, the operation of loading and unloading the tubs or mine cars from the cage at the top or bottom of the shaft. When the tubs or mine cars are loaded or unloaded at the same time from different decks, this is known as ‘simultaneous decking’. When loading is carried out by eans of mechanical equipment it is known as ‘power-operated decking’.
Deeds, colliery waste tipped on the spoil tip. (N.East).
Deepside, the lower side or dip side of the face.
Delf-low, the spoil-heap of a mine or shaft. (N.Staffs.).
Delivery drift, when water is pumped up a shaft it was not usually lifted higher than was necessary ; it was delivered into a drift or adit driven from low ground into the shaft. This is called a delivery or off-take drift.
Delph, a quarry or mine.
Delph rags, pit rags or pit clothes, the dirty clothes used by the miner for working underground.
Delver, a miner or quarrier. (Yorks.).
Depth of cut, the distance that the holing made by a coal cutter jib extends into the seam from the face. With power loading this is called the ‘web’.
Deputy, Fireman or Examiner, an underground official in charge of a face or district, or of special work, and usually having certain statutory duties to perform in connection with safety. Sometimes referred to as a ‘Chargehand’. Originally they were men who set timber for the safety of the workmen also put in brattice and brattice stoppings. They also draw the props in the workings from places where they were no longer required for further use.
Deputy’s district, that part of a mine specified by the manager to be in the charge of a Deputy.
Derrick, a temporary three-legged head-frame or headgear for a shaft; or a ‘Warwick’ anchor prop or anchor girder, a safety girder, a bar or prop to stop a runaway on inclined haulage roads. - see also Bull props.
Detaching hooks, devices for preventing the cage from falling when severed from the winding rope through overwinding.
Developers, the team who drive the headings, (tunnels), to open out a new coalface or working area in the mine i.e. development.
Development, work done in a mine to obtain access, by means of driving roadways, to the coal or to open out new working areas of coal reserves.
Development plan, a plan showing the proposed development of the mine workings, kept for operational purposes.
Devil, a forked shaped iron bar that is fixed to the last tub or tram being hauled up an incline. Should the haulage rope break the ‘devil’ would dig into the floor and prevent the tubs from running away. (Lancs.), also called a ‘drag’. –see also bar-hook and bull.
Dial, an early name of the surveyor’s principal surveying tool, hence the term ‘dialers’ for surveyors.
Dialer, mine surveyor or surveyor’s assistant; also called a ‘Latcher’. (S.Staffs.).
Dialling, mine surveying, also known as ‘latching’.
Dib hole, the lowest part of a pit shaft below the scaffold on which the cage rests. It forms a lodge to hold the water draining out of the mine. - see also Sump. (Lancs.).
Dilly, a counter-balance mounted on a tram used for hauling empties up an incline; or a balance haulage incline. (N.East).
Dilsh, a thin seam of inferior culm. (S.Wales).
Dinky prop, a small hydraulic prop, also known as a ‘Bottle prop’.
Dint or Dinting, to take up the floor that has heaved in order to gain headroom; or to mine the fire-clay after the coal has been removed. – see Baiting, Beating, Beating-up or Blocking-up.
Dintheader, a machine designed to carry out dinting, usually consisting of a wide cutting boom carrying a series of cutting chains, or a continuous deck of hinged plates, incorporating multiple pick holders.
Dip, an inclined roadway; or to incline downhill; or the direction or magnitude of the true or steepest inclination of the strata relative to the horizontal.
Dip face, a coalface advancing downhill.
Dip level, the lowest drift or roadway that follows the strike of the strata. (Scot.).
Dip Stick, a stick to aid the miner when walking out up a steep roadway or dip.
Dipper, a fault that throws down the coal in front of the drift approaching it, a downthrow fault. The same fault approached from the other side would be a ‘riser’. (N.East).
Dip side, the side dipping downhill away from the point of reference; or the lowest side of a ‘room’ or ‘wall’. Also called the ‘laigh side’. (Scot.).
Dip side, workings lying to the dip of a specific point in a seam.
Direct, a haulage system hauling up and lowering down an incline. (S.Staffs.).
Dirt, stone or shale. Anything solid other than coal and wood, or any part of the coal measures material with an ash content exceeding 45% ash. Also called ‘debris’, ‘muck’, ‘redd’, ‘refuse’, ‘rubbish’, ‘spoil’ or ‘steriles’.
Dirt band or Dirt parting, a layer of foreign material in the coal seam, often soft shaley material.
Dirty coal or Inferior coal, coal with many dirt partings or a high ash content, likely to be sub-economic; or part of a coal seam with an ash content of between 15% and 45% ash.
Dirt flinger, a ‘gummer’ that throws cuttings into the goaf. Also called a ‘gum flinger’ or ‘gum stower’.
Dirt ruck or Dirt tip, a spoil or waste heap on the surface. (N.Staffs.). Also called a ‘pit heap’, ‘tip’, or a ‘bing’ in Scotland.
Dirty locker, the locker in the pit head baths where a miner stores his working clothes between shifts. - see also Clean locker.
Disc, a device used on a machine to cut the coal.
Dish, the section on an underground haulage road where the sets of empties stood before being hauled inbye. (N.East).
Distraction or Distortion, the deviation of a coal seam from its natural level. (Yorks.).
District, one of the parts into which the mine is divided for the purpose of supervision or ventilation, an underground section of the mine.
Ditched top, a seam where the tops stick to the roof and have to be brought down with a pick. A collier could claim extra pay for this work. - see also Sticky coal.
Dooby wagon, a wagon for carting dirt to the colliery tip. (Yorks.).
Doddy, the period of time which has to be worked to be able to claim a quarter of a shift overtime. (Leics.).
Dog, a tool for gripping pipes; or a spring hook attached to the end of the winding rope. Before the advent of the cage, the creels would be clipped directly onto the dog for winding up the shaft. (Scot.); or an iron bar spiked at the ends; or the length of timber across the bottom of the air doors. (N.East); or an iron bar fitted to the last tub being drawn up an inclined road. Should the rope break the dog would dig into the floor and through the tub off the rail. (Lancs.).- see also Devil and Cow. A alternate term also used for ‘keps’.
Dog, to load and unload hutches from the cage. The term originates from the days when the ‘doggie’ attached the loaded creels to the winding rope using a dog. (Scot.).
Dog and chain, An iron bar with a chain attached used for withdrawing props. - see also Ringer and chain.
Dog balls, roughly spheroidal nodules of ironstone, commonly found in the lower horizons of seatearths. (Yorks.).
Dog belt, a leather belt worn around the waist with a chain which passed between the legs for drawing tubs from the workings to the haulage road. (Mids.).
Doggers, irregularly-shaped nodules or concretions, and sometimes a term used for inferior ironstone. (Scot.).
Doggin, a large specially shaped type of nail used for attaching rails to sleepers. (S.Staffs.).
Doggy or Doggie. Originally the term was used for the man who hung the corves or creels of coal on the winding rope using a dog clip. Later, in the Midlands, it was a term used for the man who managed all the underground work of a colliery for the butty, or a chargeman responsible for a team of men on a longwall face. (Lancs.).
Dogs, another name for ‘keps’.
Doll dirt, the soft material found underlying the coal. It was sometimes used for stemming. (Lancs.). - see Dolls.
Dolls, pieces of stemming usually made from brick clay and moulded by hand to the same size and shape as a cartridge of explosive.
Donkey, a clog sole with the heel removed or a piece of wood with a small metal plate tacked to the bottom. Used by miners as a kind of ski to slide down the tub rail when going down an incline. The men became very adept in their use and could often travel at great speed while squatting down and balancing on one leg. (Lancs.).
Dook, a mine or roadway driven to the dip side. Usually the main road going to the dip. (Scot.). - see also Steeps and Crut.
Doors. Landings, the entrance to the workings from the shaft. The first landing going down the shaft was the ‘high-door’. The next, the, ‘middle-landing’ in the shaft was the ‘mid-door’ and the lowest or the bottom of the shaft was the ‘low door’ or ‘laigh doors’. (Scot.). –see also Inset. Also wooden or steel doors erected across the roadways to separate the ventilation circuits, also called ‘Air doors’.
Doors.Door minder, usually a boy who opens and closes ventilation doors in a haulage road.
Doors.Door stoop, the pillar of coal left unworked around the base of a shaft to support the shaft and the buildings on the surface. (Scot.). - see also Shaft pillar.
Doors.Dosco, -see Road Headers.
Doors.Double bond, when two cages were in use in a shaft as opposed to the ‘single bond’ when a shaft had only one cage.
Doors.Double buttocking, -see Buttocking.
Doors.Double stall, a semi longwall system, similar top ‘single stall’, in which a haulage road is carried on each side of the face, which is normally wider at around 15-30 yards, and on reaching the predetermined boundary, the ribs are retreated as a single face, half the width of the rib being worked from each haulage road.
Doors,Double shift working or Double shifting, coal getting on two shifts per day; or a ‘double un’, working two shifts back to back. (S.Staffs.).
Doors.Double stall, a modification of the pillar and stall method of working coal, applied extensively in S. Wales for working shallow inclined seams.
Double timbering, -see Street timbering.
Double unit face, a longwall face with three gates, one in the centre, the ‘mothergate’, and two tailgates. – see also Single unit.
Doubles, a medium size of coal, around 1 -2 inches in dimensions.
Doup-out, in ‘stoop and room’ working, where a miner connected his drift into another one. (Scot.).
Dour holing, under-cutting with difficulty in hard coal or stone. (Scot.). Downcast (shaft), the shaft down which the clean air descends to ventilate the underground workings. - see also ‘Air pit’ and ‘Upcast shaft’.
Downer, a rest taken during the shift usually for a meal. (Som.).
Down-throw fault, a fault in the strata which causes the coal seam to be cut off and be carried to a lower level. - see Faults. Also known as ‘down fall’ and ‘down leap’.
Dowty or Dowty prop, the first British made hand operated hydraulic prop developed by Dowty Mining Equipment in 1946. By 1956 there were 400,000 hydraulic props and 200,000 yielding props in use. These were of tubular steel construction designed to be erected single handed and set by a pumping action using a pump handle. They were generally set to yield at about 15-20 tons bearing pressure.
Drag, a brake, a device attached to the rear vehicle of a train of tubs on an inclined system to arrest or derail the train in the event of a runaway; also called a ‘snibble’ or a , ‘spragg’. (Scot.).
Dragon, a barrel used to raise water from a ‘gin-pit’. (S.Staffs.).
Drags-man, a man employed as a putter or pusher in the working places. (N.East).
Drain, -see Water gate.
Draught, the quantity of coal raised to the bank in any given time, e.g. one day’s production. (S.Staffs.).
Draw, to wind, the act of hoisting or winding; or to haul; or the break in the strata from the coalface to the surface. The angle between this break and the vertical; or to remove props which are no longer required.
Draw the Jud, means to take out or withdraw the timber supports.
Drawing, the knocking away of spraggs beneath the coal after holing; or to raise coal up the pit shaft or out of a drift; or the withdrawing of props, bars and chocks out of the waste or goaf for re-use and to allow the roof to fall, also called ‘drawing off’.
Drawing-off,-see Drawing.
Dreel, a hand operated or power driven machine for boring shotholes. (Scot.).
Dregs, -see ‘Lockers’.
Dress, to trim loose material from the face.
Dresser, a large pick used for preparing large coal for loading into skips. (Derbys.), (S.Staffs.), or breaking down oversized pieces of coal or rock. Also known as a ‘loading pick or ‘Poll tomahawk’. One side of the head is in the form of a hammer, the other a curved pick.
Dressing, that portion of a coal seam prepared by holing and cutting for detachment from its position in situ.
Drift, a roadway driven into solid ground from the surface to a coal seam, or a roadway in solid ground, but not in coal, e.g. across the strata from one seam to another where the seams are on a steep incline; or a head driven on the strike of the coal seam. (N.East); or an inclined roadway driven through solid coal. The driving of the roadway was known as ‘drifting’.
Drift and pillar, a system of working the coal similar to the ‘bankwork’ system of Yorkshire. (N.Staffs.).
Drifter, person employed in driving underground roadways (tunnels) in stone. Also called a ‘stoneman’.
Drifting back, the operation of working away the pillars towards the shaft in rearing seams. (N.Staffs.).
Drift mine, a mine to which access is obtained by a drift driven from the surface.
Drivage, a roadway or tunnel.
Drive, to make a roadway underground, also described as ‘to rid’; or the driving mechanism that propels the conveyor belt.
Drop cages, small cages operating between decking levels in multi decking.
Drop fault, -see ‘downthrow fault’.
Drop post or Drop Warwick, another name for a ‘Warwick’.
Drop shaft, Drop staple or Drop pit, a shaft underground between two seams that does not come to the surface. The shafts were used to lower coal to the level of the base of the winding shaft. This allowed all the coal produced in the mine to be wound up the shaft from a single loading point, also known as a ‘blind pit’, - see also Cut and Staple, Blind Pit, Jacky Pit. Usually a shaft with a single cage and balance weight.
Dross coal, small coal, also a term often used to distinguish ordinary coal from cannel coal in compound seams. (Scot.); or useless coal. (Lancs.).
Drub or Drug, a kind of seatearth; or sometimes a carbonaceous or bituminous shale. (Yorks.); or dirt.
Druggon, a square wrought-iron or wooden box, used for taking clean water into the mine for the horses, or for watering down dust before shot firing, sometimes hung beneath the cage. (S.Staffs.).
Drum, the drum of a winding engine upon which the winding rope is coiled or wound, often conical scroll or spiral shaped; or the barrel or ‘roll’ at the top of a self-acting incline around which the rope passes; or a brick, iron or wooden cylinder used for sinking through beds of sand or soft ground. (Lancs.).
Drum head, a short heading at the top of a self-acting incline made to house the ‘drum’. (N.East).
Duck-bill props, a miners’ name for the ‘Bathgate’ prop, an adjustable steel prop with duckbill shaped wedges, which locked it when it was set. Also generally known as ‘key-props’. To the men, they were known as ‘finger trappers’ or ‘thumb busters’.
Duck tin, -see Dan tin.
Dudley, a large capacity, circular water bottle used underground.
Duds, underground clothes.
Duff, very small size of coal, fine coal, also called ‘pease’, generally less than ? inch.
Dukey, an inclined haulage road worked by an engine. (S.Wales).
Dumb drift, a drift for return air to avoid the furnace or by-pass an insetwhere cages or skips are loaded and reach the Upcast Shaft.
Dumb fault, -see Washout.
Dummocky, where the roof stratum of a road is tender but not ‘heavy’ or ‘weighted’. (N.Staffs.).
Dummy, a flat four-wheeled bogey loaded with pig iron weights, used as a counter-balance on a self-acting incline. (N.Staffs.).
Dummy gate, a road that is formed but not maintained or used behind a longwall face (which can sometimes provide material for building packs). Also called a ‘Dummy road’.
Dumpy level, underground surveying instrument.
Duns, carbonaceous dirt partings. (Yorks.).
Dundy, inferior coal or coal affected by ‘trap-rock’. (Scot.).
Durham, -see Pit pan.
Dyke, see Fault and Slip Dyke.
Dysodil, -see Lignite.
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