Mike
Thanks for the reply. In using the term "Cornish pitwork" I refer to a lift
of plunger pole pumps with a bucket or lift pump at the bottom. As far as
I know (and I may well be wrong) this arrangement originated in Cornwall:
The first use of a plunger lift in Cornwall would seem to have been at Ale &
Cakes in 1796. Ref: Mining Journal Nov 5, 1859, p.775.
Also
"About 1806, however, Captain Joel Lean, the manager of Crenver and Oatfield
Mines, substitited a plunger in place of the bucket - pump with a view
merely to lessening the wear and tear on the pumps..... This alteration was
found so advantageous that it was ultimately brought into general use, the
whole of the pumps in the shaft being made of the plunger description,
except for the bottom one, which for various reasons is still a lifting
pump." Ref: Hamilton Jenkin A.K (1927), The Cornish Miner.
As to the use of the "Cornish"prefix:
"The Cornish pump, now obsolete, which was......" Ref: Higham S.(1951), An
Introduction to metalliferous mining, Charles Griffen & Co. p.234.
Rick
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Gill" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, April 04, 2003 1:12 PM
Subject: Pumping
> Rick,
>
> According to William Pryce (pages151f), a 48 foot diameter wheel at Cooks
> Kitchen Mine was pumping from 80 fathoms under the adit (using four lifts
of
> 9 inch pumps). He claims that if there had been enough water, it would
draw
> from 40 fathoms deeper. That was around 1778.
>
> I would question your ascription of the tag 'Cornish' to the pitwork.
What
> was particularly Cornish about it?
>
> Mike Gill
|