A Dictionary of Occupational Terms Based on the Classification of Occupations used in the Census of Population, 1921.
ORDER III.—MINING AND QUARRYING OCCUPATIONS
Sub-order 1.—In Coal and Shale Mines
042.—Hewers and Getters
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- apprentice
; assistant collier
- assists collier in getting coal or shale, filling tubs of coal or shale and pushing them to haulage road; fetches picks and tools; in shale mines, drills holes under direction of faceman; obsolescent .
- assistant collier
- see apprentice.
- back end man
- cleans cuttings from back of coal cutting machine, so as to enable him to set props to roof and sprags or chocks to overhanging coal.
- back stripper
; scaffy
- detaches with pick and crowbar, breaks up and removes machine-cut coal left at end of fore-shift (morning-shift).
- bargain man (hewer)
- see contractor hewer.
- bater
; bottom cutter
- undercuts with pick coal to be taken down in following shift.
- bencher
- a hewer (q.v.) who drives upper bench in thick working.
- blower-down
; breaker, coal breaker, pike-man
- gets coal down by means of pikes and blasting, after it has been undercut by machine.
- bond miner
- see buttyman.
- bottom cutter
- see bater ; cf. bottom cutter (014).
- braking coal cutter
- see coal cutting machine driver.
- breaker, coal breaker
- see blower-down.
- buttman
- see buttyman.
- buttocker
- gets down angle coal or buttock with pick under direction of hewer.
- butty
- (i) worker at same face but on opposite shift, i.e., night-shift man is the "butty" cf. corresponding day-shift man;
- (ii) in S. Wales is partner on same shift;
- (iii) in some districts see buttyman.
- butty collier
- see buttyman.
- buttyman
; buttman,butty, butty collier, bond miner
- a contractor hewer (q.v.) who takes stall or working place on contract, and pays men under him day wage.
- cleaner
- gummer, raker, raker-out, scraper, scuffer, scuffler, scuppler; rakes small coal or stone by means of long-handled flat shovel, called gumming spade or lungan, oat of groove cut by coal cutting machine, and loads into tubs or throws back into goaf.
- coal cutter attendant, coal cutter driver, coal cutter man
- see coal cutting machine driver.
- coal cutting machine boy
; machine cutter's assistant
- assists coal cutting machine man underground; scrapes out drillings or cuttings; work similar to that of cleaner (q.v.).
- coal cutting machine driver, coal cutting machine man
; braking coal cutter, coal cutter, coal cutter attendant, coal cutter driver, coal cutter man, cutter, cutter machine man, holing machine driver, ironman worker, machine cutter, machine- man, machinist (coal miner), mechanical coal cutter man
- operates, or assists in operating, coal cutting machine driven by compressed air or electricity; clears obstructions with pick and shovel and lays rails to enable machine to travel along working face; sets timber supports not more than 6 ft. apart against coal face which has been undercut; changes cutters on cutting wheel by hand.
- coal miner
; collier
- general term for any worker employed underground in coal mines, more especially hewer.
- coal miner's labourer
- assistant to coal miner (q.v.).; employed at time rates of wages, and engaged in filling or loading or in various odd jobs.
- coal trimmer
- trims coal away from path of coal cutting machine.
- collier
- see coal miner.
- collier contractor, contractor collier
- see contractor hewer.
- collier driftman
- (N. Staffs) a hewer or contractor hewer (q.v.) who cuts drifts in cross measures of coal; cf. collier drift- man (047).
- collier header
- see stretman.
- collier oddman
- a miner who has no fixed working place, but is sent by manager or deputy for work in any place where vacancies are caused by absentees, etc.; sometimes a coal miner's labourer (q.v.).
- collier's assistant
; collier's boy, collier's helper, mate
- general term for men or boys assisting colliers, including fillers, loaders, hod boys, wagoners (043), tool carriers (047) (q.v.).
- collier's boy, collier's helper
- see collier's assistant.
- contractor hewer
; bargain man, collier contractor, contractor collier, stallman
- undertakes hewing at fixed rate of so much a ton; may employ other men under him, whom he pays himself.
- cutter, coal cutter, cutter machine man, machine cutter
- see coal cutting machine driver.
- danner
- see filler.
- dayman (getting, filling or loading)
- as for day labourer (047).
- deading man, dead work man
- excavates with pick and shovels into tubs other material than coal where necessary; on such material or dead work the mine owners make no profit; in some districts done by repairer (044) (q.v.).
- dram filler
- see filler; cf. dram filler (049).
- faceman
- in coal mines, see hewer; in shale mines, a hewer (q.v.) in charge of whole working face.
- filler
; danner, dram filler, heaver, loader, loaderer, tram filler, truck filler, truck loader, tub filler, wagon filler
- shovels coal into trams or tubs or upon conveyor at coal face; often also draws or pushes trams to haulage road, see filler and drawer.
- filler and drawer, filler and trammer
; miner's drawer
- fills trams or tubs at face and pushes them to haulage road.
- getter, coal getter
- see hewer.
- gummer
- see cleaner.
- hagger
- see hewer.
- hatchen driver
- see stretman.
- header, coal header, heading driver
- see stretman.
- heaver
- see filler.
- hewer
; coal getter, faceman, getter, hagger, winner
- hews coal or shale by hand with pick and breaks it down with pike: ore breaks it out ready for filling into tubs after it has been undercut by machine and dropped or blasted down : also sets timber to support roof and undercut parts of face.
- hewer and putter
- see hewing putter.
- hewer chargeman, ohargeman hewer
- is working foreman in charge of hewers.
- hewer's labourer
- a coal miner's labourer (q.v.) helping hewer (q.v.).
- hewing putter
; hewer and putter, putter and hewer
- combines occupations of hewer (q.v.) and of putter (043) or drawer (043) (q.v.), in one of the following ways :— (a) a hewer who puts his own coal, i.e., loads it into tubs and pushes tubs to flat, siding or haulage road; (b) a hewer (q.v.) who may fill vacancy among the putters or drawers if one of these is absent; (c) a putter or drawer who may ordinarily work as putter or drawer, but be allowed to hew if there is not enough work for all the drawers present; in accordance with Coal Mines Act, must have two years experience at or about coal face.
- holer, collier holer
- (i) see kirver;
- (ii) undercuts coal, to be taken down in following shifts; cf. bater.
- holing machine driver
- see coal cutting machine driver.
- ironman worker
- see coal cutting machine driver.
- jib holeman
; sumper
- a coal cutter man (q.v.) who cuts, with a hand pick, a recess or stable for jib at end of coal cutting machine so that cutters on chain round jib may work.
- kirver
; collier holer, holer, picks man
- makes horizontal cutting into seam by hand with pick, preparatory to breaking down whole height of coal (done by coal cutting machines at many collieries).
- loader, loaderer
- see filler.
- loader and driver
- loads tubs and then moves them by horse traction to haulage road.
- loader oddman
; spare-hand loader
- loads coal into tubs in any place to which he may be sent, not being regular hand; helps generally in loading coal or dirt.
- machine cutter's assistant
- see coal cutting machine boy.
- machineman, machinist
- see coal cutting machine driver.
- market man
- a collier oddman (q.v.) who waits in "market" at pit bottom in case regular worker is absent, mate, see collier's assistant; sometimes used in sense of butty (q.v.).
- mechanical coal cutter man
- see coal cutting machine driver.
- miner
- general term for any worker in mine, more particularly in sense of hewer (q.v.).
- miner's drawer
- see filler and drawer.
- picksman
- (i) see kirver;
- (ii) more generally a hewer (q.v.) who gets coal by hand pick in contradistinction to machine cutting.
- pikeman
- S. Staffs term; see blower down.
- pom-pom man
; puncher (S. Wales)
- a coal cutting machineman (q.v.) operating a compressed air percussive coal cutting machine by means of levers.
- pug lifter
- rips up with picks coal left adhering to floor owing to coal cutting disc, bar or jib rising off floor.
- puncher
- (S. Wales term ) see pom-pom man.
- putter and hewer
- see hewing putter.
- raker, raker-out
- see cleaner.
- scaffy
- see back stripper.
- scraper (at cutting machine)
- see cleaner.
- scufter, scuffler, scuppler
- see cleaner.
- scutcher
- scutches (picks off in small pieces with hand pick) any points, noses or elbows of coal left on machine-cut face after coal has been cut to allow machine to pass without obstruction.
- spare-hand loader
- see loader oddman.
- stallman
- see contractor hewer.
- stooper
- Scottish term; a hewer (q.v.) working one pillars of coal or shale left after face has been worked on stall and pillar system.
- stretman, collier stretman
; coal header, collier header, hatchen driver, header, heading driver
- drives narrow (strait or stret) roads in coal, in pillar and stall system of working, to open new work, to cut off old roadways or for ventilating purposes; rips roof for height and sets timbers for roof supports.
- stripper
- a hewer (q.v.) who breaks up coal broken down from machine-cut face and throws to filler (q.v.); may also set timbers to support roof.
- sumper
- see jib holeman.
- thin miner
- a hewer (q.v.) who works in thin seams of coal.
- thirler, thurler
- a hewer (q.v.) who makes a narrow place, holing or thirl in the solid coal between pair of winning roads for purpose of ventilation, using pick and shovel.
- tram filler, truck filler, truck loader, tub filler, wagon filler
- see filler.
- winner
- see hewer.
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From:
A Dictionary of Occupational Terms Based on the Classification of Occupations used in the Census of Population, 1921,
Ministry of Labour, 1927. Digitised by Peter Christian, August, 2016. This text is in the Public Domain. 