DOOT: 072.—Stone Miners, Quarriers

A Dictionary of Occupational Terms Based on the Classification of Occupations used in the Census of Population, 1921.

Sub-order 3.—In Other Mines and Quarries

072.—Stone Miners, Quarriers

banker

see brakesman.

banker hand

(i) see scabbier;

(ii) dresses stone to put a finish on blocks, after they have been roughly shaped by scabbier.

bank rider ; bogie man, bogie rider, journey rider, rope runner, runner, run rider, sett rider, wagoner, wagon man

rides or accompanies trains of tubs or wagons containing stone; attaches and detaches rope to or from tubs or wagons where required.

banksman

(i) see brakesman;

(ii) see stageman.

barer, stone barer ; burden man, excavator, feigher, muckman, navvy, ridder, rudder, stripper, tirrer, top barer, top delver

removes over-burden (top-soil) with pick and shovel (hand or steam); where over-burden is heavy or tenacious, explosive is sometimes used, or the over-burden is removed by chamfering and piling.

blaster ; charger, shot-firer, shotman, shotsman

blows down or out, or rends open, with explosive, the stone face; sees to drying of shot hole, inserts charge, tamps it up and fires it (with electric battery or safety fuse); often necessary to fire a series or range of shots simultaneously or after each other; by similar, hut smaller, operations, breaks up larger boulders of rock which have been hewn from rock-face; cf. fireman (071); in granite quarries these boulders are never fired, but are split, see plug and feather man.

block chopper ; stone cutter

(i) in Yorkshire cuts stone into smaller pieces with wedges, after it has been hewn from quarry face;

(ii) see scabbier.

block cutter, blocker, blockman ; cutter, stone cutter

breaks stone with heavy hammer (mall) into rough blocks, roughly a foot cube, ready for further cutting into 4 or 5 setts; in some quarries this work is done by settmaker (575) q.v.

bogie man, bogie rider

see bank rider.

borer, machine borer

(i) see driller;

(ii) see rock borer.

bottom delver ; bottom getter

a delver q.v. who works on lowest "bench" (step, tier or level), where quarry is worked in "benches".

bottomer

(i) makes holes with pick under large blocks of stone for insertion of wedges;

(ii) hitcher; in quarries attaches rope to wagon at bottom of incline, and signals to engineman;

(iii) in mines pushes filled trucks on to cage at shaft bottom, and sends stone up to surface; signals to winding engineman; draws out empty wagons on descent of cage.

bottom getter

see bottom delver.

brakesman, brakeman, breaksman ; banker, banksman, shunter, trammer, wagon braker

(i) on inclined, planes . controls speed of wagons by hand brake, or by drum-brake at top of incline; sometimes also hauls stone out of quarry; supervises the men attaching and detaching tubs to the ropes at landing end;

(ii) lias charge of engine for raising and lowering quarrymen and stone;

(iii) in large quarries assists engineman in moving large wagons.

breaker and filler

a sledger q.v. who breaks up stone after blasting, with a large hammer, and loads it into tubs for removal; cf. filler.

breaker (hand), stone breaker ; cracker, junker, lugger, mailer, in filler, mellor, mellsman, rubble burster

breaks up stone with small hammer.

breaker (machine), stone breaker (machine)

see crusher driver.

burden man

Cornish term, see barer.

butty

see cabin boy.

cabin boy ; butty, kettle boy

looks after workmen's cabin; cleans mess- rooms; boils water for men's meals; sometimes also carries tools; cf. tool boy.

carter, cartman

see horse driver.

causewayman, causeyman

(i) where quarries are worked in steps, keeps travelling way on each step clear;

(ii) see roadman.

chain man

(i) examines chains for weak links, and keeps them in good condition;

(ii) see slinger.

channeler

(i) operates machine which cuts channel in stone;

(ii) cuts channel in stone, by hand, using hand tools.

charger

see blaster.

cleaner

roughly cleans stone with pick when first it comes out of quarry.

contractor (getting stone)

a quarrier q.v. who undertakes stone getting in a mine or quarry on contract; pays men working under him.

conveyor attendant

operates "conveyor" (belting which carries stone from place to place in quarry); controls conveyor by means of hand levers and looks after its running.

cracker

see breaker (hand).

crateman

see screenman.

crusher, stone crusher

see crusher feeder.

crusher driver ; breaker (machine), crusher man, stone breaker (machine)

controls stone-crushing machine by operating various levers; oils and greases working parts and looks after its running.

crusher feeder ; crusher, crusher man. feeder, mill breaker, millman, mill tender, stone crusher

feeds crushing machine with broken stone, regulating the supply of stone by means of trap door which is operated by hand levers.

crusher man

(i) see crusher driver;

(ii) see crusher feeder.

cutter

(i) see hewer;

(ii) see block cutter;

(iii) see plug and feather man.

cutter-up

see flagstone cutter.

dayman ; journeyman

a labourer q.v. paid time rate of wages.

delph labourer ; navvy, quarry labourer

loads and unloads wagons, helps in repair of quarry roads and does other unskilled work; cf. loader.

delver ; stone getter

loosens and gets blocks of stone from solid rock by various tools, when it has been blasted down; may also split blocks of stone with hand tools to reduce to convenient size.

delver's labourer

assists delver q.v. in getting stone and in loading it into trams.

digger

see quarrier.

dimension quarryman

see scabbier.

dredger

separates inferior stone from the better.

dresser-down ; face dresser

removes loose stone, etc., from face of quarry with pick and shovel; sometimes done by driller or miner q.v.

drift maker

see heading driver.

drill carrier

see tool boy.

drill driver

see driller (hand or machine).

driller (hand or machine), rock driller, rock drill man ; borer, drill driver, drill runner, machine borer, rock borer, rock cutter

drills holes for blastings, for trial borings, or for "plug and feather" (see plug and feather man) with hand or machine drills; sometimes also bars down loose rock after shot has been fired; cf. quarrier.

driller, electrical

a driller q.v. who operates an electrically-driven drilling machine in a stone quarry.

driller's attendant

see tool boy.

excavator

see barer.

face dresser

see dresser-down.

feeder

see crusher feeder.

feigher

see barer.

fettler ; fitter

does slight repairs to plant and machinery.

filler, rock filler ; loader

loads stone by band into wagons or boxes for removal from quarry face to another part of quarry; work may be performed by quarrier q.v.

fireman (blasting)

see blaster.

fitter

see fettler.

getter, rock getter

(i) see quarrier;

(ii) see hewer; sometimes specifically designated, e.g. alabaster getter, basalt getter, blue rock getter.

flagstone cutter ; cutter-up

cuts and cleaves flag rock, with picks, wedges, and spalling hammers, in readiness for flag dresser (575) q.v.

getter (sett making)

works on face of rock in quarry, preparing it for setting up of large percussion drill; has a rope round him to protect him from falling; work sometimes done by miner or driller q.v.

getter, stone

see delver.

greaser

see machine oiler.

hanger-on

see slinger.

haulier

see horse driver.

heading driver ; drift maker

drives headings at foot of rock face, and puts in large charge of explosive.

hewer ; cutter, getter, rock getter

(i) roughly dresses stone with hammer or pick after it has been loosened by blasting;

(ii) see quarrier.

hitcher

see bottomer.

horse driver

carter, cartman, haulier, horse keeper, pony driver, teamster, wagoner, wagonman; drives horses about quarries; often also grooms and feeds them, see horse keeper.

horse feeder

feeds and grooms horses under supervision of horse keeper q.v.

horse keeper ; ostler

(i) see horse driver;

(ii) in charge of stables, supervises horse feeder and horse driver q.v. and attends to harness.

journeyman

see dayman.

journey rider

see bank rider.

jumper

a driller q.v. who drills holes in stone with double-ended drill i.e. "jumper"; obsolescent ; work now done by driller q.v.

junker

see breaker (hand).

Kentish rag digger

blasts and hews stone called "Kentish rag," for removal to crusher or to railway siding.

kettle boy

in Cornwall and Devon, see cabin boy.

knapper

breaks up stone or dresses small blocks with a knapper, i.e., a small hammer of special shape.

labourer

does odd work in or about mine or quarry.

loader

(i) see filler;

(ii) loads stone in railway trucks or motor lorries for conveyance from quarry.

lugger

see breaker (hand).

machine oiler ; greaser, oiler

keeps machinery, e.g. pulley wheels, wagon wheels and sheaves, oiled and greased.

machinist

general term for any man who attends to any of the machines used in mines or quarries for drilling, cutting, or breaking stone, including borer, breaker (machine), crusher feeder, driller, millman, rock cutter, stone cutter q.v.

maller, meller, mellor, mellsman

see breaker (hand).

mason (getting stone)

in small quarries in Scotland gets stone (see qualifier) and rough dresses it in the quarry.

mill breaker, millman, mill tender

see crusher feeder.

miner, stone miner

see quarrier ; sometimes specifically designated, e.g., alabaster miner, hath stone miner, grit miner.

muckman

see barer.

navvy

(i) see barer;

(ii) see delph labourer.

nipper

see tool boy.

oiler

see machine oiler.

ostler

see horse keeper.

picker

picks out unburnt pieces of limestone after kilns have been emptied; cf. stone picker (675).

plug and feather man; cutter, splitter

a driller (hand or machine) q.v. who splits rock by drilling holes along desired line of cleavage, inserting in each hole wedge, or "plug," of iron between two "feathers" (or thin wedges) of steel, and hammering on plugs till fracture is made.

pony driver

see horse driver.

powder monkey

as for powder monkey (054).

quarrier ; digger, getter, hewer, miner, quarryman, rock getter, rock hand, rock man. stone, miner

digs, picks, saws or blasts stone or rock, according to its nature;

(i) (blasting) drills bole for explosive with pneumatic or electric drill ready for blaster q.v.; lovers boulders blasted down away from face with bar and pick; breaks them up by drilling and hammering in wedges (see plug and feather man); sometimes specifically designated, e.g., basalt quarrier, black- stone quarrier, granite quarrier, marble quarrier, rock quarrier, whinstone quarrier;

(ii) (channelling and sawing) cuts a channel by hand pick or by machine (see channeller) and/ or cuts blocks of stone with hand saw or more usually with machine driven helicoidal wire saw; drives in steel wedges with sledge hammer and levers blocks away with bar and pick; in some ouarri.es may blast away hard mole dykes in softer stone, see blaster; sometimes specifically designated, e.g., alabaster quarrier, hath stone quarrier, blue flag quarrier, flagstone quarrier, freestone quarrier, limestone quarrier, sandstone quarrier;

(iii) (digging ) gets loose gravels, chalk, flint or sand by digging with pick and shovel or with steam navvy; may also blast down hard aggregations, see blaster; sometimes specifically designated, e.g., chert quarrier, grit quarrier, grit rock quarrier.

quarrier, elvan

Devon and Cornwall term, see quarrier (basalt).

quarry labourer

see delph labourer.

quarryman

(i) see quarrier;

(ii) general term covering any worker engaged in a quarry, including getter, miner q.v.

restorer

a labourer who restores land after excavating operations are complete.

ridder

Forest of Dean, see barer.

riddler

see screenman.

roadman ; causewayman, causeyman

in mines, makes and repairs underground haulage roads; looks after supplies of timber or propwood, and clears away rock fallen from roof; in quarries keeps roads in repair.

road metal miner, roadstone miner

a quarrier q.v. who gets rock, e.g., granite, whinstone, used in making roads.

rock borer ; borer, machine borer

(i) manipulates boring tackle to ascertain thickness of good stone likely to be obtainable (hand tackle need for soft stone, up to depth of 20 or ?30 feet; for greater depths or for harder rocks, larger tackle necessary, and borings made by percussion or core drilling);

(ii) see driller.

rock cutter

(i) see driller;

(ii) cuts diamond-shaped hole in rock and charges with explosives;

(iii) cuts out rock by working hole with pick and driving in wedge to split blocks away from face.

rock man, rock hand

see quarrier.

rope runner

see hank rider.

rough loader

loads rough lumps of stone on trucks to he conveyed to crusher.

rubble burster

see breaker (hand).

rudder

see barer.

runner, run rider

see bank rider.

runner, drill

see driller.

runner-in

(i) fills up corves or tubs with stone, and pushes them to crushers;

(ii) pushes corves from block cutters to sett makers (575) q.v.

scabbler, scappler, scapler, scrabbler, scrapler, scrappier, block scabbier, block scappler, block scrappler ; banker hand, block chopper, dimension quarry man, squarer

roughly shapes, dresses or squares up stone into block with scabbling or spalling hammer; (scabbling hammer has square faces and weighs about 18-22 lbs., or sometimes one square face and one pick face); sometimes done by hand driller or quarry mason (575) q.v.

screenman. screen attendant ; crate- man, riddler, sifter

shovels crushed stone into cylindrical revolving screens for grading, or generally attends screens automatically fed from crushers, to classify broken stone according to size, e.g., road metal: opens trap door of hopper into which screened stone is run, thus loading tubs placed underneath hopper, and pushes tubs to landing point.

sett rider

see bank rider.

settsman, sett quarrier

a quarrier q.v. who gets rough blocks of stone (granite, basalt, whinstone, etc.) with straight-faced fractures, to he made into "setts" for road paving; cf. settsman (575).

shipper, ship man, ship boy

loads stone into ship or barge hy means of derricks, slings and rollers.

shoddy dresser

prepares "shoddy" (smaller stones from quarry), squaring them up to useful sizes.

shot finer, shotman, shotsman

see blaster.

shot holer

a driller q.v. who drills holes for blasting, by hand or machine.

shunter

see brakesman ; cf. pointsman (704).

sifter

see screenman.

signal man, signal boy

transmits orders from foreman to brakesman or engine tenter (950) q.v. .

skip filler

fills skips or rubble boxes to be lifted by crane, or drawn on rails; "skips" may be in form of tubs, or a species of wagon, commonly used for removing overburden or topsoil.

sledger

a breaker (hand) q.v. who breaks up rock for crushing mills, with heavy sledge hammer;

(ii) in Cornwall pushes quarry wagons between face of quarry and stone breaker.

slinger ; chain man, hanger-on

attaches chains and clips to large blocks of stone to enable them to be lifted by crane.

splitter

see plug and feather man.

squarer

see scabbier.

stageman ; banksman

(i) fixes stage on face of rock for men and drilling machines- to stand on; usually done by driller;

(ii) receives stone on landing stage from cranes or wagons;

(iii) works on stage, up to which stone is thrown; he in turn shovels it up to stage above.

stone cutter (getting stone)

(i) see block chopper;

(ii) see block cutter.

stripper

see barer.

stumper

removes lumps of rock from quarry floor by means of bars and wedges, or by explosive.

teamster

see horse driver.

ticket checker

checks time tickets; also makes out tickets for stone and material passing over weighbridge.

tiphead man, tipper

works tipping apparatus at spoil heap; keeps spoil heap levelled down at end of tip.

tirrer

see barer.

tool boy ; drill carrier, driller's attendant, nipper

carries tools, i.e., drills for sharpening, hammers for repair, to and from smithy; cf. cabin boy.

top barer, top delver

see barer.

trammer

(i) takes loaded trams (wagons, tubs, etc.), along quarry tramway to tip, to crusher, or to rope- wav;

(ii) see brakesman.

trolleyman

a loader q.v. who loads and unloads trolleys, i.e., railway vehicles without sides.

wagon braker

see brakesman, cf. pointsman (704).

wagoner ; wagonman

(i) see horse- driver;

(ii) see bank rider.

wagonman

(i) see wagoner;

(ii) assists wagoner q.v.

weigher, stone weigher, weighbridge man, weighman

weighs stone as it passes in wagons over weighbridge; or brings round travelling machine to working places; sometimes also keeps records of wagons sent out and labels to destination; may keep a record of number of men employed in the quarry.

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.

ORDER III.—MINING AND QUARRYING OCCUPATIONS

Sub-order 3.—In Other Mines and Quarries

072.—Stone Miners, Quarriers