Andy,
In Cornwall 'man engine' was the term used for a man engine. Until the
introduction of boxes for the specific use of carrying men up and down
shafts (with the exception of 'gigs', used in inclined shafts as at
Botallack), 'cage' was the term used for a winding drum. Man engines were
never common place though, only 7 were ever built in Cornwall and in 1884,
although they were coming out of use, they would have been the only
mechanical means specifically built for miners (Tony Brooks may correct me
here). Miners occasionally made use of kibbles (metal buckets used for
bringing ore out of mines, but this would have been an illegal use) but the
most common means of access and egress was by ladders. It seems likely that
Henry Dennis was using the term because of its association. The last man
engine in use in Cornwall was, of course, that at Levant Mine (St
Just-in-Penwith) which failed in 1919 killing 31 men. I don't have any
records of accidents to other man engines but I have 10 or 11 others to this
machine, from men falling off it, the shaft collapsing on to it to similar
failures to the one of 1919 but without loss of life.
Pete Joseph
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