| |
| |
Early Methods of Lead Mining, pt.2
Mining lead further underground required a better means of hauling it out to the surface. Lead from shallow workings
was wound up vertically in a bucket or basket called a kibble by means of a hand-turned 'jack-roll' windlass. From
the 18th century, lead from deeper shafts was wound up by the 'whimsey', a wooden contraption through which the rope
from the shaft was wound onto a drum turned by a pony which kept walking round it. This was sometimes called a 'gin'
from the word engine. On horizontal levels, ore could be pushed along in tubs. Later workings were larger in scale,
and ponies could be used to pull larger tubs, usually mounted on wooden or iron rails. Some mines such as Grove Rake
even had underground stables.
Early lead-miners extracted the ore by using hand picks, and by a hammer-and-wedge technique. From the late-18th
century, gunpowder was used to blast the rock, but this was hazardous. A hand drill, or borer, of small diameter,
often called a jumper, was used first to make small holes penetrating into the rock. A small quantity of gunpowder
was placed at the end of the cavity, and a long iron needle, or pricker, was then inserted to create a narrow
shothole so that a fuse could be applied to the gunpowder.
Learn more about
|
|
|
 |
