Coal Glossary

  • Cage – an elevator used to move workers and supplies into and out of a shaft mine.

    Cap lamps – a lamp fitted on the front of a hard hat and attached to a battery on the miner’s belt. It is worn by each worker in an underground mine to provide lighting. It contains a wet-cell 4-volt battery. (Also called a head lamp)

    Coal seam – a bed or layer of coal.

    Continuous miner – machine that grinds coal from the working face of an underground mine and continuously loads it into a ram car (or shuttle car or buggy).

    Conveyor belt – a continuously moving strip on which coal is transported.

    Dinner bucket – a plastic or metal lunch box containing food and drinks for the miner’s mid-shift meal.

    Earplugs – a device worn in the ear for protection against loud noises.

    Face – area in an underground mine where coal is being mined.

    Gas detector - used to measure gases in the air and is attached to the miner’s belt.

    Gloves – protective covering for the hands.

    Hard hat – adjustable, hard-plastic hat worn at all times on the mine site. The hard hat protects the miner’s head and ears.

    Longwall – a newer method of underground mining in which large blocks of coal are removed in a singly pass. This technique produces more coal in less time than any other underground mining method.

    Longwall miner – a mining machine that has two main components: a spinning drum lined with cutting blades that moves back and forth along the long wall of coal, and 204 self-advancing electro hydraulic roof shields per 1000 feet that protect the miners from falling coal. The rotating shearing blades move back and forth across the coal, cutting it from the face and transporting it away in an automatic conveyor.

    Mantrip – a vehicle used for transporting workers to and from the face in an underground mine.

    Miner’s belt – a wide leather belt used to carry the battery that powers the miner’s cap lamp. The gas detector is also attached to the belt.

    Ram Car – a low, long, wide-bodied vehicle used to haul coal from the working face to a conveyor belt in an underground mine. Also called a shuttle car or buggy.

    Rock-dusting – crushed limestone is sprayed over exposed coal to reduce the risk of coal dust combustion, aid in the lighting of the mine and reduce health hazards.

    Roof – ceiling of the area where coal is being mined.

    Roof bolter – a machine used to install long steel rods, or bolts, into holes to hold the layers of rock in the roof together in an underground mine; also, the miner who operates a roof bolting machine.

    Room and pillar – a method of underground mining that leaves blocks of coal, or pillars, in place to help support the roof of the mining area.

    Safety glasses –large, hard-plastic eyeglasses that fit close on a miner’s face to protect his eyes.

    Scoop – a battery or diesel-powered machine, having a large flat bucket attached to the front, used to clean up loose coal or to transport supplies in an underground mine.

    Self-rescuer – a portable respirator that allows the miner to breathe safely for about an hour if there are dangerous gases in the mine.

    Steel-toed boots – boots having a band of steel over the toe area to protect the feet.

    Surveyor – a mining engineer who makes maps of mining operations.

    Wash house – a large building at the mine site were workers shower and change clothes.

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