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In message <3EC5E37D.8816.2429FE@localhost>, David Kitching <[log in to unmask]> writes >Whilst reading a recently discovered report on the operation of the Poynton >Collieries, Cheshire, in 1826 I found myself wondering about control of >the winding >of coal. > >The report states: > >"The pits are generally sunk in pairs at from 50 to 150 yards as under >- a Winding >Engine placed between them draws the coals from both. Two rope drums >wrot by spur >wheels, work 2 ropes on each pit. The one pit is sunk generally plum >rise from the >other. > >The deep pit is called the Lower Pit the rise pit the Bye Pit." > >In such cases as those described how might the communication be >effected between the >banksmen and hookers-on and the engineman who would necessarily be at >some distance >from the shaft? Was this system of one winding engine winding on two >ropes each from >two shafts common practice? > Can I refer you to a couple of articles in PDMHS Bulletins. The first is "The Mines Inspectors and the Accidents at Glasshouse Common Ironstone Mine, 1865, and Baddesley Colliery, 1882" by Barry Job in Bull PDMHS11:5 pp233 - 237. In this Barry describes a steam-winder at Glasshouse Common, near Chesterfield, which had two drums (one of which sheared away from the other). This engine was placed in the midst of 16 shafts and 1 inclined plane. In 1867 the winder was being used to wind 15 shafts. After many legal arguments, it was suggested that the number of winding shafts be reduced to 10 or 12. The other article is by myself and is "Observations on "Ironstone Mining in Derbyshire"" in Mining History 13:5 pp89 -90. In this I describe several multi-shaft winders around Chesterfield. There is a reasonably detailed account of a fatal accident at the Abbey Dale Ironstone Mines in 1861, where one engine wound from 8 pits simultaneously, 4 up and 4 down, with no signals at all from the bottom of the shaft. There is also an article by Mike Gill on multi-shaft winding by waterwheel on Grassington Moor in British Mining No. 25 pp45-50. I'm sure that winding from two shafts with one winder was reasonably common. >Winding two shafts from the same engine via two drums would introduce >considerable >complication and seems to me to be that this system was an accident waiting to >happen. That said, there are no records of winding accidents at these >pits at this >time that I have been able to find. I would welcome any comments. > >Is the use of the term "Bye Pit" to describe the shaft to the rise >common in the >industry? Why Bye? > I don't know the answer to that. -- David Williams Visit www.pdmhs.com for information on the Peak District Mines Historical Society