Understanding the terminology which miners' use can sometimes be difficult. The songs on this web site include many "Geordie" words which can prove even more difficult for many people. I hope these definitions help in some small way.
Here is just a small sample of mining and Geordie words.

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.

A.
Adit:-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 inbye. 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. so they could be advanced by using a ram.
Airbagging: -A flexible trunking used to conduct air from an auxiliary fan to where it was needed at the head of a driveage
Air Split:- A division of airflow into two or more separate air ways.
Air Way:- Underground roadway or tunnel along which air passes.
Anemometer:- An instrument for measuring the velocity of air in a mine roadway.
Anthracite:- Highest rank of coal of the it has a high carbon content and a low volatile matter. It has a bright black lustre.
Arch Girder:-Also referred to as rings, used to support roadways.
Auger: - A large rotary drill used on a face machine. A screw device penetrates, and breaks the coal. The coal is then loaded and transported via the AFC.
Auxiliary fan:- A fan used in conjunction with air ducting to increase the ventilation to a section of the mine, eg. a development heading or a face heading. Auxiliary fan either sucked the air out (which was replaced by fresher air), or blew air in.


Index.




B.
Backfill:– Mine waste or rock used to support the roof after coal removal.
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 ).
Baff week:- At one time the miners' were paid on a two weeks basis. The baff week was the second week.
Bait:- A snack (usually sandwiches) , called snap in some collieries.
Bank:- The pit surface area.
Banksman:-The banksman was in charge of the surface shaft side at the colliery. He controlled the access of men to the cage (or chair). He or his assistant collected the tallies ( brass checks) from the men as they entered the cage. When he was satisfied all was in order he would ring for the cage to be lowered into the mine shaft. 3 rings indicated to the winder that men were on the cage. At other times materials would be sent into the pit via the cage. Coal would also be sent out of the pit (from underground) by the onsetter who was in charge of operations at the pit bottom. The onsetter was the underground equivalent of the banksman.
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 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. It is an area often used to repair the joints on the belt conveyor.
Beltman:- A person who maintains the belt.
Biles:- Boils.
Bield:- Shelter.
Bit:-a piece attached to the end of a borer or drill rod, to drill holes.
Bituminous Coal:- Coal intermediate in rank between sub-bituminuos and semi-anthracite and including coking coals.
Black Damp:- Term generally applied to carbon dioxide.
Blast:- Fire shots with explosive in a bore hole.
Bolt Torque:- The torque applied to a roof bolt when it is being installed to achieve a required tension.
Booster fan: -An underground ventilation fan used to increase the ventilation of a district or a seam.
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.
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.
Breasting:- Pushing tubs etc. as oppossed to pulling them.
Brockwell:- A low seam in the North East of England.
Broken place:- Easy work place with soft or loose coal.
Bullets:- Sweets.
Bunkers:- Areas of loose coal after shotfiring.... Later a place where coal was stored (temporarily ).
Byuts:- Boots.

Index.




C.
Cage ( or chair ):- A structure of iron upon which men and materials are placed, to be raised or lowered in the mine shaft.
Callants:- Braggards, or young men in their prime, faculties and fashion.
Canopy: - A protective covering, for example, face chock canopy.
Canch:- Stone removed above the coal seam to make height in the tunnels or roadways, A bottom canch removed stone below the seam, sometimes known as dinting in some pits.
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.
Cartridge:- A charge of powder contained in a case.
Cavills:- A lottery system to decide a work area.
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 ).
Chock:- Wooden block of wood, roughly 2 ft. long and 6 inches square. Used to support the roof of the coal face when stacked as shown here.
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).
Chow or Chew:-A piece of chewing tobacco
Chummings (chum'uns ):- Empty tubs.
Clarty:- Muddy.
Claes:- Clothes.
Clay:- Fireclay underneath the seam.
Cleaning up:-Filling coal or stone from where it has fallen, also cleaning spillage up.
Closer:- A short link rail.
Clouts:- Clothes.
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 in water where as coal is lighter and floats in water.
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.
Colliery :- Coal mine.
Continuous miner: - A machine that constantly extracts coal while it loads it.
Contraband:- Cigars, cigarettes, any pipe or other contrivance for smoking. Any match or mechanical lighter.
Cracket:- A small triangular stool for supporting the coal hewers shoulder , which added leverage when using the pick.
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.
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.

Index.




D.
Dan:- A low sided or flat topped wagon (or mine car), used for supplies.
Drag: - A short length of girder hooked on to back of dans or tubs when going up inclines, to prevent runaways.
Dregs:-See lockers. Detonator or Det:-A small cylindrical tube with 2 wires attached, used for igniting the explosive powder in a bore hole.
Deputy:- Official in charge of a certain area of the pit, once sometimes referred to as chargehand.
Development Work:- Work to expand the mine reserves rather than the extraction of coal. An example of development work is the driving of roadways.
Detonator:- Device used for detonating explosives.
Dilute Gas:- Lower the concentration of any hazardous gas by the addition of fresh air.
Dinting:- Remove parts of the floor which lifts due to floor heave.
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.
Disc:-A device used on a machine to cut coal etc.
Divn't:- Don't.
Downcast Shaft:- Shaft which carries fresh air from the surface down to the mine workings.
Drift:-A sloping roadway used to access lower or higher areas.
Drill:- An instrument used for boring holes. A borer.
Drive:- The driving mechanism which propels the conveyor belt.
Dowty: ­ A hand operated hydraulic prop
Ducks:- Faggotts.
Duds:- Underground clothes. Sometimes referred as a derisory term for posh clothes.
Dues:- A reward especially at Xmas given to the putter by the filler.

Index.



E.
Eimco: -A small electrically powered tracked loader - used to fill dirt from a rip or heading.
Extraction:- The process of mining and removal of coal or stone(rock) from a mine.


Index.




F.

Face:-Usually referring to the coal face in long wall mining.
Face Entry:- Place where men access the coal face.
Fall: - A mass of roof, rock or coal, which has fallen in any part of a mine.
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, for example a short chain conveyor. >
Fend:- Reach.
Filling:- Filling tubs.
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.
Flaid:- Frightened.
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.
Flat:- District of the mine, a work area.
Flat-Plate:- A flat piece of steel plate on which tubs were turned to take them in another direction. ( when no curved rail track was in place ).
Flee:- Fly.
Flight/Flight Bars:- The bars that scrape material along a chain conveyor.
Floor: - Any underground working area upon which a person walks or upon which haulage equipment travels; simply the bottom or underlying surface of an underground excavation.
Floor Heave:- The floor of a mine lifting as a result of high ground stresses.
Foot blocks: - Square blocks of thick wood used to spread the load of the base of an arch
Forenenst:- Opposite.
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.
14th. West:- Name of a district, all districts were known by numbers and compass points.
Fower:- Four.
Friable: - Easy to break, or crumbling naturally. Descriptive of certain rocks and minerals.


Index.




G.

Gaffer:- The boss underground, Manager, Undermanager, Overman, Deputy.
Gallery: - A horizontal or a nearly horizontal underground roadway.
Gallowa:- Horse or pit pony.
Gannins:- Coal workings at the end of tunnels.
Gannin Board:- A main roadway.
Gannin Hyem:- Going home.
Gate end box:- An electric panel used to control and distribute power to face machinery.
Gear:-Once referred to the harness used by horses or ponies to pull tubs.
Getten:- Got.
Girders:- Straight or arched steel roof supports.
Gin:- If.
Goaf:- The area left to collapse after the extraction of coal. Same as gob.
Gob:-The area behind the face chocks where the coal had been removed. also, to gob something meant to throw it away.
Gravimetric:- A machine for sampling the amount of airborne dust.
Greet:- Cry.

Index.




H.

Halfbar also Split-bar:- Basically a long prop split down the middle, used with props or dowties as roof supports,
Hambones:-A device used to attach and pull tubs.
Haulage:- The transportation of men, materials or ore from one point to another generally in a near horizontally direction. Vertical transportation is generally called hoisting. Headings:-Roadways which are being developed.
Heap:- The pithead.
Hearth styen:- Hearth stone.
Hewer:- Coal face worker who loosens coal with a pick, referred to as ragging in some pits.
Hitch:- A dislocation of the coal seam.
Holed:- Breaking through into another working, holed through.
Horseheads:-Two steel girders suspended from previously set girders on hangers, they are pushed forward and covered in to provide temporary protection until permanent supports are set.
Hoss the scrubbin full uns:- Linking a putters full tubs to a pony.
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.
Hydroproof: - A blasting powder for use under water - i.e. in the flooded bottom of a dipping head end.
Hygrometer:- An instrument for measuring relative humidity.
Hyel:- Whole or solid coal, a harder place to work.

Index.




I.

Inbye:- Away from the pit shaft, (underground).
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 ).
Intake:- A roadway taking fresh air inbye.


Index.




J.

Jowl:- Checking the roof to see if its safe by tapping it.
Judd:- A measure of coal. or a work place.

Index.




K.

Keep the sump away:- In a wet seam, leaving plenty of room away from the working area, for drainage.
Kelly sweeps back-ower turns:- Term related to moving tubs.
Kelter:- Money.
Ken:- Know.
Kenned:- To know.
Kibble:-Bucket used when sinking a new shaft.

Kist:- Wooden chest used by the Deputy to store tools, also a meeting place.
Knaa:- Know.
Kyevil:- A specific work place.
Kyevilin' Day:- Changing the place of work, usually by lottery or an order, on a certain day.

Index.




L.

Lagging boards:-Wood boards used over and around arch girders etc.,
Lashing Chains:-Chains used on a moving endless rope haulage.
Lav'rock:- A skylark.
Lee:- Lie.
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).
Lids:- Similar to cappers.
Limmers:- Yoke-like piece of equipment which is fastened to the horse/ponies harness and then attached to a tub.The limmers are similar to cart shafts except that they are not permanently attached to the tubs.
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. Also, containers in the pit head baths where the miners clothes were stored.
Loco:-A diesel or battery operated locomotive.
Longwall Coal Face:- A face where the coal extracted on a long face.
Loose Place:- Place where coal is easily won.
Lowe:- Llight.
Lowse:- End of the shift, knock-off time.

Index.




M.

Main fan: - A mechanical ventilator installed at the surface; operates by either exhausting or blowing to induce airflow throughout the mine.
Main Gate:- Main roadway, see also mother gate.
Main Gate Face Entry:- Access point to the face from the main roadway (Mother Gate ).
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.
Marrer:- Work mate.
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.
Misfire:- The complete or partial failure of a blasting charge.
Morphia:-A pain killing injection given after certain serious accidents.
Mother Gate:- Main roadway ( usually an air intake roadway ).

Index.




N.

Natural Ventilation:- Ventilation which is provided without the assistance of fans or furnaces.
Neb:- Beak.
Nick (nick her up ):- Undercut the seam.
Nowt:- Nothing.

Index.




O.

Oddun:- Odd one. (tub).
Off The Road:- A tub or tram, or any vehicle which comes off the rails.
Onsetter:- Underground equivalent to Banksman... See banksman.
On the Brushes.:-Men would say "see you on the brushes" , this was a place where boots were cleaned by rotating brushes. Also, where grease could be applied to boots.
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.
Overcast:- An airway built over the top of another airway. Required to separate intake and return airways in some areas.
Ower:- Over.

Index.




P.

Pack:- Roof support made of stone. Large stones at the front, built up like a dry stone wall.

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 plant matter found in swamps and bogs, one of the earliest stages of coal formation.
Penobel:- Blasting gelignite or "powder" (PE - permitted explosive, Nobel)
Picks:- A hand tool for loosening coal etc., also machine picks, attached to a drum or chain to cut coal or stone.
Pillar:- Area of coal left to support the roof.
Pinch:- A portion of snuff.
Pinch Bar:- A long ( approximately 5ft.) round, thin steel bar used for lifting or prising items or materials.
Pinners:-Small wedge shaped pieces of wood.
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.
Pom pom:- The nickname for the Siskel coal-cutter, one of the earliest coal- cutting machines.
Pout:- A rod to retrieve chock knobs (nogs).
Pre-shift inspection:- The deputy tests for gas, and examines a district to make sure it is safe before workmen arrive.
Pull Lifts:- A device used to lift various items.
Putter/s:- Their job was to take the empty tubs into the coal fillers' and pull out the full tubs. or men who moved tubs, usually with a pony/horse (transporting timber or other supplies)

Index.




R.

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.
Reckoning:- Calculate the wages due.
Redding:- Word meaning clearing, shifting and tidying up.
Reet:- Right.
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.
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.
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 ride a belt conveyor, or travel to and from work on manriding cars.
Rippers:-Men who remove the rock above the coal seam and set rings (arches) as the face advances.
Riving and Chewing:- Tearing and pulling.
Roof:- The strata above a working place or underground roadway.
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 Support:- Anything used to support roof. Examples of roof supports are roof bolts, arches, powered supports, wood chocks, timber or hydraulic props.
Roondy ( roondy coal ):- Humps of coal 4 inches to 8 inches across.
Ropemen:-Men who repair and maintain rope haulages.


Index.




S.

Safety lamp:- A lamp with steel wire gauze covering every opening from the inside to the outside so as to prevent the passage of flame should explosive gas be encountered.The most popular safety lamp in modern British coal mines is the Garforth lamp which is used along with an aspirator bulb which injects a gas sample into the lamp.
Sandstone:- A sedimentary rock consisting of quartz sand and iron oxide or calcium carbonate.
Scotch:-Piece of wood or anything similar placed under a wheel to stop a tub moving.
Schaffler: - A small Austrian-made shot firer
Screens:- Place where coal was separated from stone etc.
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 - we were told that if we had to be sick we were to do it into the mouthpiece and not remove the self rescuer
Setting timber:- Erecting supports to control the roof, traditionally timber props, later steel and hydraulic props.( See image under Planks).
Shaft:- An opening,usually vertical, which connects the surface with the underground workings
. Shearer:-Machine used to cut coal on a longwall face.

Shift:- The part of any day worked. for example, Days, Afternoons or Nights.
Shoon:- Shoes.
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.
Shuttle Car:- An electrically driven machine used to transfer the coal from a continuous miner to the conveyor belt.
Skelp:- To spilt or break off.
Skeul:- School.
Slack:- Very small pieces coal.
Slip:- A fault. Place where the coal seam slips, the rest of the seam is displaced.
Smalls (small coal):- Pieces of coal, gravel size or smaller.
Sna'ball Draw:- Lottery in a working mans' club.( balls with numbers on ).
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.
Spuggies Sparrows.
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.

Stallage boards:- A platform suspended in front of rip to support men when drilling shot holes and setting arches
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.
Stemming:- Used to plug a drill hole after charges had been set, plugs of moulded sand - "Coreplugs" - were used, clay was also used.
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).
Stonemen:- Rippers,caunch (stone) workers.
Stopping:- A brick or breeze block or plaster wall which seals off old roadways and redirects the ventilation air flow.
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.
Sup:- Drink.
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.
Swally:- A depression in the roadway. In a wet roadway water collects here, known as swilley in some pits.
Swilley:-See swally. Switch:- Rail junction or points.
Switches:-A bank of electrical panels.


Index.




T.

Tadger:-A large electric drill used for drilling shotholes and holes for roof bolts etc.
Tail Gate:- Also known as the return or the supply gate.
Tandem:-Refers to place where one belt conveyor loads onto another belt conveyor.
Tins:- corrugated iron sheets used for lining/covering roadway behind arches.
Tippler:- The place where the mine cars were tipped and emptied of coal, or the device which tipped the mine cars.
Tirfor:-A hand operated device used for dragging equipment in to position.
Tiv:- To.
Tokens:- Small metal disks, with identification numbers relating to a workman.
Trailing Cable:- A heavily insulated electrical cable used to bring power to an electrically operated machine, such as a Dosco road header. The cable trials along the ground from a power point.
Tram:- A sort of flat tub.( no upper section ).
Transfer Point:- A point in the conveyor belt transportation system where coal or stone is transferred from one belt conveyor to another.
Trot:- An endless rope. Also a system of double haulage way (running side by side) called the rolleyway which takes the full tubs of coal to the shaft and the empty tubs inbye.
Tundish:- A Midlands term for a funnel.


Index.






U.

Undercut:- To cut below the coal face by a mining machine ( a coal cutter, see pom pom ).
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.


Index.




V.

Velocity:- The rate of airflow.
Ventilation:- The supply of fresh air to all parts of the mine workings, and the removal of return air from the mine.


Index.




W.

Warwick girder:- counterbalanced girder hinged to roof of roadway on incline, with lower end pointing uphill - intended to stop runaways.
Water Gauge:- Instrument that measures differential pressures in inches of water.
Way:- Underground rails.

Web:- The depth of coal cut by the coal shearer drum each time the shearer traverses the face.
Wedge:- Wooden wedges to loosen the coal instead of blasting.
White Damp:- Carbon monoxide gas / air mixture.
Winder:- The engine which raised or lowered the cage in the shaft.

Index.




Y.

Yards:- Measurement of coal face to calculate payments.

Index.




Z.

Zincs:- Corrugated ring cover sheets.

Index.