Subscribe to my you tube channel for 200+ more coal mine tributes and counting. 14 Die.No.1 shaft where the accident occurred,was sunk by a steam crane to a depth of 80ft when the operations encountered a problem with water. Sinking was then stopped.Headgear pillars,winding engines and winding houses were erected.Steam supplied from 4 Lancashire boilers.When the plant and machinery was done,sinking resumed on 5/6/1912.At the end of 1912, the btm of the New Red Sandstone Measures was reached at 145yds depth.All the water met with was dealt with by means of pumps and a suction barrel,and was tubbed off by 8 lengths of tubing,by these means the max quantity of water dealt with at any one time did not exceed 1,600 gall/min.The length of tubbing in the pit up to this depth was 116yds 2ft9 inch.It was thought that water would be encountered in this strata and for the first 12yds it was found to be dry.A feeder of water delivering 260 to 300 galls/min was then found which was dealt with by a suction barrel.After sinking a few more yds to 162yds, a crib was put in the limestone and a length of tubbing of between 20 + 21yds was being put in.All except 2 of the 2 rings at the top had been placed in position when the accident occurred.A scaffold was suspended about 18yds from the btm of the shaft and 3 ft above the water by means of 6 chains and 2 ropes and was raised and lowered by strong capstan engine.The ropes were used as guides for the water barrel and hoppits.There was an opening about 6ft 4inch square in the centre of the scaffold through which the suction water barrel passed from the drawing of dirt or water.The scaffold had been raised to where the segments of the tubbing were being placed in position about 18yds above the btm of the shaft and water was being raised through the opening in the scaffold 18 men were on the scaffold,some moving segments and some cutting the side of the shaft back to make room for the tubbing.The shift had been at work for 5 hours, and up to that time nothing unusual had happened and the manager and master sinker had been down the shaft 30mins before.The winding gear of a colliery was operated by an engineman, from a chair set in front of control leavers.Around a week before the accident, a violent gale and rain storm had loosened the slates of the winding house roof. This had allowed the rain water to seep in under the tiles and run down onto the horizontal beams supporting the roof.Rain was also coming in through the ventilation in the centre of the roof.This produced a constant drip of water directly onto the head of the engineman seated at the controls.Annoyed by this constant distraction,John Hollingsworth,had taken it upon himself to erect a temporary shelter over the chair.The canopy was constructed by nailing a piece of wood either side of the chair which projected forward above the head of the occupant.Over the 2 laths was placed a piece of brattice cloth.The roof was repaired and the cloth was removed.On the day of the accident another violent storm had caused the roof once again to leak and produce a constant drip of water onto the head of the engine man,Sydney Brown. Brown placed a heavy horse rug(9 lb.)over the laths,but this quickly began to sag under its own weight and that of the pooling water. In an attempt to remedy this, Brown laid a heavy plank of wood across the laths under the blanket.Shortly before the accident,Brown had complained of a problem with the electric lighting in the winding house.Whilst winding the water barrel, he was engaged in a conversation with one of the banksmen, about this matter.As the barrel began to approach the top of the shaft and Brown was about to begin breaking, disaster struck.Under the weight of the blanket and accumulated water, the nails holding the laths loosened causing them to tip forward.The rug dropped down over Brown’s head and the plank under it slid out and dropped down between the leavers controlling steam brake and throttle.Brown managed to extricate himself from the blanket and together with the banksman, managed to free the piece of wood from between the leaves.Although Brown shut-off the steam and apply the brake thus preventing an overwind, such was the momentum of the barrel that it continued upwards under its own volition.The barrel struck the beams carrying the bell of the detaching hook and it fell back with such force that the spring hook was pulled open.The barrel now fell back down the shaft striking one of the cross beams of the head gear nearest the winding engine house and was deflected to the other side where it struck the door of the top landing.Then rebounded back across the shaft,striking the opposite door of the btm landing.From here it fell 156yds. to the scaffolding below.Rufford Colliery began production later in Oct 1913, when the tophard seam had been reach at a depth of 554yds.In Rainworth the Company built housing for 400 miners families.
24 июл 2020
