THE COMMENTATOR GLOSSARY OF
ANTHRACITE MINING TERMS

K- L - M - N

K

KERF:
The undercut of a coal face.

KOEHLER:
A modern flame safety lamp.

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L

LABORER:
1. A man hired by a contract miner. 2. An unskilled company man.

LAGGING:
Small timbers placed behind props and above collars to support loose rock or coal.

LAMP HOUSE:
Location on the surface where safety lamps are serviced.

LAMPMAN:
One who services mine lamps

LAMP STATION:
A location inside the mine where lamps are serviced.

LANDING:
The place in a shaft where the cage is loaded or unloaded.

LEGS:
The uprights of a set of mine timbers.

LEVEL:
1. A horizontal passage or dirft in a mine. 2. The place in a shaft where the cage is loaded or unloaded.

LIFT:
1. The vertical height travelled by a cage in a shaft. 2. The distance between levels. 3. The gangways from which coal is raised on a slope or plane, or in a shaft.

LOADED TRACK:
A track used for loaded mine cars.

LONGWALL:
A system of mining in which all the minable coal is recovered in one operation.

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M

MACHINE:
Any coal-cutting device.

MAIN ROAD:
Main haulage road underground.

MAGAZINE:
A storage place for explosives on the surface.

MAIN ROPE:
1. A rope used to pull out loaded cars in rope-haulage system. 2. Rope used to pull the loaded scoop in drag-line types of mechanical mining.

MANWAY:
A passageway used solely by men in travelling to and from their working place.

MARSH GAS:
A term for methane.

MEASURES:
The strata, including beds of coal and adjacent rock deposits.

METHANE:
The explosive gas most commonly found in a mine.

METHANE DETECTOR:
Any device, including safety lamps, that can determine the presence or percentage of menthane.

MINER:
1. Anyone who works in a mine. 2. The man responsible for loosening the coal for loading and for safety of the working place.

MINE RUN:
Product of the mine before being cleaned and sized.

MINING:
The business of working a mine.

MISFIRE:
The failure of a blasting charge to explode when expected.

MONKEY AIRWAY:
A ventilation passage driven in a low vein, no rock being taken.

MONKEY VEINS:
The lower coal beds which must be worked in a crawling or stooped position.

MOTOR:
Miner's term for a haulage locomotive underground.

MOTOR RUNNER:
A man who operates the haulage motor, sometimes called a motorman.

MOUTH:
A mine opening emerging at the surface.

MUD CAP:
An explosive fired in direct contact with the surface of the rock after being covered with a quantity of wet mud.

MUDSILL:
the lowest sill or bottom crosspiece of a timber set used when hard bottom is not available.

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N

NAKED LIGHT:
An open-flame mine lamp.

NATURAL VENTILATION:
Ventilation not induced by artificial means.

NEEDLE:
A long, slender, copper-tipped rod used to form an opening in the stemming of a hole to the explosive charge, for firing by means of a squib.

NIPPER:
A boy. Formerly applied to boys used to open and close doors in a mine.

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