D
igging of veins I have written of, and the timbering of shafts, tunnels, drifts, and other excavations, and the art of surveying. I will now speak first of all, of the iron tools with which veins and rocks are broken, then of the buckets into which the lumps of earth, rock, metal, and other excavated materials are thrown, in order that they may be drawn, conveyed, or carried out. Also, I will speak of the water vessels and drains, then of the machines of different kinds,[1]and lastly of the maladies of miners. And while all these matters are being described accurately, many methods of work will be explained.
Iron toolsA—First "iron tool." B—Second. C—Third. D—Fourth.[2]E—Wedge. F—Iron block. G—Iron plate. H—Wooden handle. I—Handle inserted in first tool.[Pg 150]There are certain iron tools which the miners designate by names of their own, and besides these, there are wedges, iron blocks, iron plates, hammers, crowbars, pikes, picks, hoes, and shovels. Of those which are especially referred to as "iron tools" there are four varieties, which are different from one another in length or thickness, but not in shape, for the upper end of all of them is broad and square, so that it can be struck by thehammer. The lower end is pointed so as to split the hard rocks and veins with its point. All of these have eyes except the fourth. The first, which is in daily use among miners, is three-quarters of a foot long, a digit and a half wide, and a digit thick. The second is of the same width as the first, and the same thickness, but one and one half feet long, and is used to shatter the hardest veins in such a way that they crack open. The third is the same length as the second, but is a little wider and thicker; with this one they dig the bottoms of those shafts which slowly accumulate water. The fourth is nearly three palms and one digit long, two digits thick, and in the upper end it is three digits wide, in the middle it is one palm wide, and at the lower end it is pointed like the others; with this they cut out the harder veins. The eye in the first tool is one palm distant from the upper end, in the second and third it is seven digits distant; each swells out around the eye on both sides, and into it they fit a wooden handle, which they hold with one hand, while they strike the iron tool with a hammer, after placing it against the rock. These tools are made larger or smaller as necessary. The smiths, as far as possible, sharpen again all that become dull.
A wedge is usually three palms and two digits long and six digits wide; at the upper end, for a distance of a palm, it is three digits thick, and beyond that point it becomes thinner by degrees, until finally it is quite sharp.
The iron block is six digits in length and width; at the upper end it is two digits thick, and at the bottom a digit and a half. The iron plate is the same length and width as the iron block, but it is very thin. All of these, as I explained in the last book, are used when the hardest kind of veins are hewn out. Wedges, blocks, and plates, are likewise made larger or smaller.
HammersA—Smallest of the smaller hammers. B—Intermediate. C—Largest. D—Small kind of the larger hammer. E—Large kind. F—Wooden handle. G—Handle fixed in the smallest hammer.[Pg 151]Hammers are of two kinds, the smaller ones the miners hold in one hand, and the larger ones they hold with both hands. The former, because of their size and use, are of three sorts. With the smallest, that is to say, the lightest, they strike the second "iron tool;" with the intermediate one the first "iron tool;" and with the largest the third "iron tool"; this one is two digits wide and thick. Of the larger sort of hammers there are two kinds; with the smaller they strike the fourth "iron tool;" with the larger they drive the wedges into the cracks; the former are three, and the latter five digits wide and thick, and a foot long. All swell out in their middle, in which there is an eye for a handle, but in most cases the handles are somewhat light, in order that the workmen may be able to strike more powerful blows by the hammer's full weight being thus concentrated.
CrowbarsA—Round crowbar. B—Flat crowbar. C—Pike.[Pg 152]The iron crowbars are likewise of two kinds, and each kind is pointed at one end. One is rounded, and with this they pierce to a shaft full of water when a tunnel reaches to it; the other is flat, and with this they knock out of the stopes on to the floor, the rocks which have been softened by the fire, and which cannot be dislodged by the pike. A miner's pike, like a sailor's, is a long rod having an iron head.
PicksA—Pick. B—Hoe. C—Shovel.[Pg 152]The miner's pick differs from a peasant's pick in that the latter is wide at the bottom and sharp, but the former is pointed. It is used to dig out ore which is not hard, such as earth. Likewise a hoe and shovel are in no way different from the common articles, with the one they scrape up earth and sand, with the other they throw it into vessels.
Now earth, rock, mineral substances and other things dug out with the pick or hewn out with the "iron tools" are hauled out of the shaft in buckets, or baskets, or hide buckets; they are drawn out of tunnels in wheelbarrows or open trucks, and from both they are sometimes carried in trays.
Buckets for hoisting ore[Pg 154]Buckets for hoisting oreA—Small bucket. B—Large bucket. C—Staves. D—Iron hoops. E—Iron straps. F—Iron straps on the bottom. G—Hafts. H—Iron bale. I—Hook of drawing-rope. K—Basket. L—Hide bucket or sack.[Pg 154]Buckets are of two kinds, which differ in size, but not in material or shape. The smaller for the most part hold only about onemetreta; the larger are generally capable of carrying one-sixth of acongius; neither is of unchangeable capacity, but they often vary.[3]Each is made of staves circled with hoops, one of which binds the top and the other the bottom. The hoops are sometimes made of hazel and oak, but these are easily broken by dashing against the shaft, while those made of iron are more durable. In the larger buckets the staves are thicker and wider, as also are both hoops, and in order that the buckets may be more firm and strong, they have eight iron straps, somewhat broad, four of which run from the upper hoop downwards, and four from the lower hoop upwards, as if to meet each other. The bottom of each bucket, both inside and outside, is furnished with two or three straps of iron, which run from one side of the lower hoop to the other, but the straps which are on the outside are fixed crosswise. Each bucket has two iron hafts which project above the edge, and it has an iron semi-circular bale whose lower ends are fixed directly into the hafts, that the bucket may be handled more easily. Each kind of bucket is much deeper than it is wide, and each is wider at the top, in order that the material which is dug out may be the more easily poured in and poured out again. Into the smaller buckets strong boys, and into larger ones men, fill earth from the bottom of the shaft with hoes; or the other material dug up is shovelled into them or filled in with their hands, for which reason these men are called "shovellers.[4]" Afterward they fix the hook of the drawing-rope into the bale; then the buckets are drawn up by machines—the smaller ones, because of their lighter weight, by machines turned by men, and the larger ones, being heavier, by the machines turned by horses. Some, in place of these buckets, substitute baskets which hold just as much, or even more, since they are lighter than the buckets; some use sacks made of ox-hide instead of buckets, and the drawing-rope hook is fastened to their iron bale, usually three of these filled with excavated material are drawn up at the same time as three are being lowered and three are being filled by boys. The latter are generally used at Schneeberg and the former at Freiberg.
WheelbarrowsA—Small wheelbarrow. B—Long planks thereof. C—End-boards. D—Small wheel. E—Larger barrow. F—Front end-board thereof.[Pg 155]That which we call acisium[5]is a vehicle with one wheel, not with two, such as horses draw. When filled with excavated material it is pushedby a workman out of tunnels or sheds. It is made as follows: two planks are chosen about five feet long, one foot wide, and two digits thick; of each of these the lower side is cut away at the front for a length of one foot, and at the back for a length of two feet, while the middle is left whole. Then in the front parts are bored circular holes, in order that the ends of an axle may revolve in them. The intermediate parts of the planks are perforated twice near the bottom, so as to receive the heads of two little cleats on which the planks are fixed; and they are also perforated in the middle, so as to receive the heads of two end-boards, while keys fixed in these projecting heads strengthen the whole structure. The handles are made out of the extreme ends of the long planks, and they turn downward at the ends that they may be grasped more firmly in the hands. The small wheel, of which there is only one, neither has a nave nor does it revolve around the axle, but turns around with it. From the felloe, which the Greeks calledἀψῖδες, two transverse spokes fixed into it pass through the middle of the axle toward the opposite felloe; the axle is square, with the exception of the ends, each of which is rounded so as to turn in the opening. A workman draws out this barrow full of earth and rock and draws it back empty. Miners also have another wheelbarrow, larger than this one, which they use when they wash earth mixed with tin-stone on to which a stream has been turned. The front end-board of this one is deeper, in order that the earth which has been thrown into it may not fall out.
TrucksA—Rectangular iron bands on truck. B—Its iron straps. C—Iron axle. D—Wooden rollers. E—Small iron keys. F—Large blunt iron pin. G—Same truck upside down.[Pg 156]The open truck has a capacity half as large again as a wheelbarrow; it is about four feet long and about two and a half feet wide and deep; and since its shape is rectangular, it is bound together with three rectangular iron bands, and besides these there are iron straps on all sides. Two small iron axles are fixed to the bottom, around the ends of which wooden rollers revolve on either side; in order that the rollers shall not fall off the immovable axles, there are small iron keys. A large blunt pin fixed to the bottom of the truck runs in a groove of a plank in such a way that the truck does not leave the beaten track. Holding the back part with his hands, the carrier pushes out the truck laden with excavated material, and pushes it back again empty. Some people call it a "dog"[6], because when it moves it makes a noise which seems to them not unlike the bark of a dog. This truck is used when they draw loads out of the longest tunnels, both because it is moved more easily and because a heavier load can be placed in it.
BateaA—Small batea. B—Rope. C—Large batea.[Pg 157]Bateas[7]are hollowed out of a single block of wood; the smaller kind are generally two feet long and one foot wide. When they have been filled with ore, especially when but little is dug from the shafts and tunnels, men either carry them out on their shoulders, or bear them away hung fromtheir necks. Pliny[8]is our authority that among the ancients everything which was mined was carried out on men's shoulders, but in truth this method of carrying forth burdens is onerous, since it causes great fatigue to a great number of men, and involves a large expenditure for labour; for this reason it has been rejected and abandoned in our day. The length of the larger batea is as much as three feet, the width up to a foot and a palm. In these bateas the metallic earth is washed for the purpose of testing it.
Buckets for hoisting waterA—Smaller water-bucket. B—Larger water-bucket. C—Dipper.[Pg 158]Water-vessels differ both in the use to which they are put and in the material of which they are made; some draw the water from the shafts and pour it into other things, as dippers; while some of the vessels filled with water are drawn out by machines, as buckets and bags; some are made of wood, as the dippers and buckets, and others of hides, as the bags. The water-buckets, just like the buckets which are filled with dry material, are of two kinds, the smaller and the larger, but these are unlike the other buckets at the top, as in this case they are narrower, in order that the water may not be spilled by being bumped against the timbers when they are being drawn out of the shafts, especially those considerably inclined. The water is poured into these buckets by dippers, which are small wooden buckets, but unlike the water-buckets, they are neither narrow at the top nor bound with iron hoops, but with hazel,—because there is no necessity for either. The smaller buckets are drawn up by machines turned by men, the larger ones by those turned by horses.
Bags for hoisting waterA—Water-bag which takes in water by itself. B—Water-bag into which water pours when it is pushed with a shovel.[Pg 158]Our people give the name of water-bags to those very large skins for carrying water which are made of two, or two and a half, ox-hides. When these water-bags have undergone much wear and use, first the hair comes off them and they become bald and shining; after this they become torn. If the tear is but a small one, a piece of smooth notched stick is put into the broken part, and the broken bag is bound into its notches on either side and sewn together; but if it is a large one, they mend it with a piece of ox-hide. The water-bags are fixed to the hook of a drawing-chain and let down and dipped into the water, and as soon as they are filled they are drawn up by the largest machine. They are of two kinds; the one kind take in the water by themselves; the water pours into the other kind when it is pushed in a certain way by a wooden shovel.
TroughA—Trough. B—Hopper.[Pg 159]When the water has been drawn out from the shafts, it is run off in troughs, or into a hopper, through which it runs into the trough. Likewise the water which flows along the sides of the tunnels is carried off in drains. These are composed of two hollowed beams joined firmly together, so as to hold the water which flows through them, and they are covered by planks all along their course, from the mouth of the tunnel right up to the extreme end of it, to prevent earth or rock falling into them and obstructing the flow of the water. If much mud gradually settles in them the planks are raised and the drains are cleaned out, for they would otherwise become stopped up and obstructed by this accident. With regard to the trough lying aboveground, which miners place under the hoppers which are close by the shaft houses, these are usually hollowed out of single trees. Hoppers are generally made of four planks, so cut on the lower side and joined together that the top part of the hopper is broader and the bottom part narrower.
I have sufficiently indicated the nature of the miners' iron tools and their vessels. I will now explain their machines, which are of three kinds, that is, hauling machines, ventilating machines, and ladders. By means of the hauling machines loads are drawn out of the shafts; the ventilating machines receive the air through their mouths and blow it into shafts or tunnels, for if this is not done, diggers cannot carry on their labour without great difficulty in breathing; by the steps of the ladders the miners go down into the shafts and come up again.
Hauling machines are of varied and diverse forms, some of them being made with great skill, and if I am not mistaken, they were unknown to the Ancients. They have been invented in order that water may be drawn from the depths of the earth to which no tunnels reach, and also the excavated material from shafts which are likewise not connected with a tunnel, or if so, only with very long ones. Since shafts are not all of the same depth, there is a great variety among these hauling machines. Of those by which dry loads are drawn out of the shafts, five sorts are in the most common use, of which I will now describe the first.WindlassA—Timber placed in front of the shaft. B—Timber placed at the back of the shaft. C—Pointed stakes. D—Cross-timbers. E—Posts or thick planks. F—Iron sockets. G—Barrel. H—Ends of barrel. I—Pieces of wood. K—handle. L—Drawing-rope. M—Its hook. N—Bucket. O—Bale of the bucket.[Pg 161]Two timbers a little longer than the shaft are placed beside it, the one in the front of the shaft, the other at the back. Their extreme ends have holes through which stakes, pointed at the bottom like wedges, are driven deeply into the ground, so that the timbers may remain stationary. Into these timbers are mortised the ends of two cross-timbers, one laid on the right end of the shaft, while the other is far enough from the left end that between it and that end there remains suitable space for placing the ladders. In the middle of the cross-timbers, posts are fixed and secured with iron keys. In hollows at the top of these posts thick iron sockets hold the ends of the barrel, of which each end projects beyond the hollow of the post, and is mortised into the end of another piece of wood a foot and a half long, a palm wide and three digits thick; the other end of these pieces of wood is seven digits wide, and into each of them is fixed a round handle, likewise a foot and a half long. A winding-rope is wound around the barrel and fastened to it at the middle part. The loop at each end of the rope has an iron hook which is engaged in the bale of a bucket, and so when the windlass revolves by being turned by the cranks, a loaded bucket is always being drawn out of the shaft and an empty one is being sent down into it. Two robust men turn the windlass, each having a wheelbarrow near him, into which he unloads the bucket which is drawn up nearest to him; two buckets generally fill a wheelbarrow; therefore when four buckets have been drawn up, each man runs his own wheelbarrow out of the shed and empties it. Thus it happens that if shafts are dug deep, a hillock rises around the shed of the windlass. If a vein is not metal-bearing, they pour out the earth and rock without discriminating; whereas if it is metal-bearing, they preserve these materials,which they unload separately and crush and wash. When they draw up buckets of water they empty the water through the hopper into a trough, through which it flows away.
WindlassA—Barrel. B—Straight levers. C—Usual crank. D—Spokes of wheel. E—Rim of the same wheel.[Pg 162]The next kind of machine, which miners employ when the shaft is deeper, differs from the first in that it possesses a wheel as well as cranks. This windlass, if the load is not being drawn up from a great depth, is turned by one windlass man, the wheel taking the place of the other man. But if the depth is greater, then the windlass is turned by three men, the wheel being substituted for a fourth, because the barrel having been once set in motion, the rapid revolutions of the wheel help, and it can be turned more easily. Sometimes masses of lead are hung on to this wheel, or are fastened to the spokes, in order that when it is turned they depress the spokes by their weight and increase the motion; some persons for the same reason fasten into the barrel two, three, or four iron rods, and weight their ends with lumps of lead. The windlass wheel differs from the wheel of a carriage and from the onewhich is turned by water power, for it lacks the buckets of a water-wheel and it lacks the nave of a carriage wheel. In the place of the nave it has a thick barrel, in which are mortised the lower ends of the spokes, just as their upper ends are mortised into the rim. When three windlass men turn this machine, four straight levers are fixed to the one end of the barrel, and to the other the crank which is usual in mines, and which is composed of two limbs, of which the rounded horizontal one is grasped by the hands; the rectangular limb, which is at right angles to the horizontal one, has mortised in its lower end the round handle, and in the upper end the end of the barrel. This crank is worked by one man, the levers by two men, of whom one pulls while the other pushes; all windlass workers, whatsoever kind of a machine they may turn, are necessarily robust that they can sustain such great toil.
Tread whimA—Upright axle. B—Block. C—Roof beam. D—Wheel. E—Toothed-drum. F—Horizontal axle. G—Drum composed of rundles. H—Drawing rope. I—Pole. K—Upright posts. L—Cleats on the wheel.[Pg 163]The third kind of machine is less fatiguing for the workman, while it raises larger loads; even though it is slower, like all other machines which have drums, yet it reaches greater depths, even to a depth of 180 feet. It consists of an upright axle with iron journals at its extremities, which turn in two iron sockets, the lower of which is fixed in a block set in the ground and the upper one in the roof beam. This axle has at its lower end awheel made of thick planks joined firmly together, and at its upper end a toothed drum; this toothed drum turns another drum made of rundles, which is on a horizontal axle. A winding-rope is wound around this latter axle, which turns in iron bearings set in the beams. So that they may not fall, the two workmen grasp with their hands a pole fixed to two upright posts, and then pushing the cleats of the lower wheel backward with their feet, they revolve the machine; as often as they have drawn up and emptied one bucket full of excavated material, they turn the machine in the opposite direction and draw out another.
Horse whimA—Upright beams. B—Sills laid flat upon the ground. C—Posts. D—Area. E—Sill set at the bottom of the hole. F—Axle. G—Double cross-beams. H—Drum. I—Winding-ropes. K—Bucket. L—Small pieces of wood hanging from double cross-beams. M—Short wooden block. N—Chain. O—Pole bar. P—Grappling hook.(Some members mentioned in the text are not shown).[Pg 165]The fourth machine raises burdens once and a half as large again as the two machines first explained. When it is made, sixteen beams are erected each forty feet long, one foot thick and one foot wide, joined at the top with clamps and widely separated at the bottom. The lower ends of all of them are mortised into separate sills laid flat upon the ground; these sills are five feet long, a foot and a half wide, and a foot thick. Each beam is also connected with its sill by a post, whose upper end is mortised into the beamand its lower end mortised into the sill; these posts are four feet long, one foot thick, and one foot wide. Thus a circular area is made, the diameter of which is fifty feet; in the middle of this area a hole is sunk to a depth of ten feet, and rammed down tight, and in order to give it sufficient firmness, it is strengthened with contiguous small timbers, through which pins are driven, for by them the earth around the hole is held so that it cannot fall in. In the bottom of the hole is planted a sill, three or four feet long and a foot and a half thick and wide; in order that it may remain fixed, it is set into the small timbers; in the middle of it is a steel socket in which the pivot of the axle turns. In like manner a timber is mortised into two of the large beams, at the top beneath the clamps; this has an iron bearing in which the other iron journal of the axle revolves. Every axle used in mining, to speak of them once for all, has two iron journals, rounded off on all sides, one fixed with keys in the centre of each end. That part of this journal which is fixed to the end of the axle is as broad as the end itself and a digit thick; that which projects beyond the axle is round and a palm thick, or thicker if necessity requires; the ends of each miner's axle are encircled and bound by an iron band to hold the journal more securely. The axle of this machine, except at the ends, is square, and is forty feet long, a foot and a half thick and wide. Mortised and clamped into the axle above the lower end are the ends of four inclined beams; their outer ends support two double cross-beams similarly mortised into them; the inclined beams are eighteen feet long, three palms thick, and five wide. The two cross-beams are fixed to the axle and held together by wooden keys so that they will not separate, and they are twenty-four feet long. Next, there is a drum which is made of three wheels, of which the middle one is seven feet distant from the upper one and from the lower one; the wheels have four spokes which are supported by the same number of inclined braces, the lower ends of which are joined together round the axle by a clamp; one end of each spoke is mortised into the axle and the other into the rim. There are rundles all round the wheels, reaching from the rim of the lowest one to the rim of the middle one, and likewise from the rim of the middle wheel to the rim of the top one; around these rundles are wound the drawing-ropes, one between the lowest wheel and the middle one, the other between the middle and top wheels. The whole of this construction is shaped like a cone, and is covered with a shingle roof, with the exception of that square part which faces the shaft. Then cross-beams, mortised at both ends, connect a double row of upright posts; all of these are eighteen feet long, but the posts are one foot thick and one foot wide, and the cross-beams are three palms thick and wide. There are sixteen posts and eight cross-beams, and upon these cross-beams are laid two timbers a foot wide and three palms thick, hollowed out to a width of half a foot and to a depth of five digits; the one is laid upon the upper cross-beams and the other upon the lower; each is long enough to reach nearly from the drum of the whim to the shaft. Near the same drum each timber has a small round wooden roller six digits thick, whose ends arecovered with iron bands and revolve in iron rings. Each timber also has a wooden pulley, which together with its iron axle revolves in holes in the timber. These pulleys are hollowed out all round, in order that the drawing-rope may not slip out of them, and thus each rope is drawn tight and turns over its own roller and its own pulley. The iron hook of each rope is engaged with the bale of the bucket. Further, with regard to the double cross-beams which are mortised to the lower part of the main axle, to each end of them there is mortised a small piece of wood four feet long. These appear to hang from the double cross-beams, and a short wooden block is fixed to the lower part of them, on which a driver sits. Each of these blocks has an iron clavis which holds a chain, and that in turn a pole-bar. In this way it is possible for two horses to draw this whim, now this way and now that; turn by turn one bucket is drawn out of the shaft full and another is let down into it empty; if, indeed, the shaft is very deep four horses turn the whim. When a bucket has been drawn up, whether filled with dry or wet materials, it must be emptied, and a workman inserts a grappling hook and overturns it; this hook hangs on a chain made of three or four links, fixed to a timber.
Horse whimA—Toothed drum which is on the upright axle. B—Horizontal axle. C—Drum which is made of rundles. D—Wheel near it. E—Drum made of hubs. F—Brake. G—Oscillating beam. H—Short beam. I—Hook.[Pg 167]The fifth machine is partly like the whim, and partly like the third rag and chain pump, which draws water by balls when turned by horse power, as I will explain a little later. Like this pump, it is turned by horse power and has two axles, namely, an upright one—about whose lower end, which descends into an underground chamber, there is a toothed drum—and a horizontal one, around which there is a drum made of rundles. It has indeed two drums around its horizontal axle, similar to those of the big machine, but smaller, because it draws buckets from a shaft almost two hundred and forty feet deep. One drum is made of hubs to which cleats are fixed, and the other is made of rundles; and near the latter is a wheel two feet deep, measured on all sides around the axle, and one foot wide; and against this impinges a brake,[10]which holds the whim when occasion demands that it be stopped. This is necessary when the hide buckets are emptied after being drawn up full of rock fragments or earth, or as often as water is poured out of buckets similarly drawn up; for this machine not only raises dry loads, but also wet ones, just like the other four machines which I have already described. By this also, timbers fastened on to its winding-chain are let down into a shaft. The brake is made of a piece of wood one foot thick and half a foot long, projecting from a timber that is suspended by a chain from one end of a beam which oscillates on an iron pin, this in turn being supported in the claws of an upright post; and from the other end of this oscillating beam a long timber is suspended by a chain, and from this long timber again a short beam is suspended. A workman sits on the short beam when the machine needs to be stopped, and lowers it; he then inserts a plank or small stick so that the two timbers are held down and cannot be raised. In this way the brake is raised, and seizing the drum, presses it so tightly that sparks often fly from it; the suspended timber to which the short beam is attached, has several holes in which the chain isfixed, so that it may be raised as much as is convenient. Above this wheel there are boards to prevent the water from dripping down and wetting it, for if it becomes wet the brake will not grip the machine so well. Near the other drum is a pin from which hangs a chain, in the last link of which there is an iron hook three feet long; a ring is fixed to the bottom of the bucket, and this hook, being inserted into it, holds the bucket back so that the water may be poured out or the fragments of rock emptied.
Sleigh for OreA—Sledge with box placed on it. B—Sledge with sacks placed on it. C—Stick. D—Dogs with pack-saddles. E—Pigskin sacks tied to a rope.[Pg 168]The miners either carry, draw, or roll down the mountains the ore which is hauled out of the shafts by these five machines or taken out of the tunnels. In the winter time our people place a box on a sledge and draw it down the low mountains with a horse; and in this season they also fill sacks made of hide and load them on dogs, or place two or three of them on a small sledge which is higher in the fore part and lower at the back. Sitting on these sacks, not without risk of his life, the bold driver guides the sledge as it rushes down the mountain into the valleys with a stick, which he carries in his hand; when it is rushing down too quickly he arrests it with the stick, or with the same stick brings it back to the track when it is turning aside from its proper course. Some of theNoricians[11]collect ore during the winter into sacks made of bristly pigskins, and drag them down from the highest mountains, which neither horses, mules nor asses can climb. Strong dogs, that are trained to bear pack saddles, carry these sacks when empty into the mountains. When they are filled with ore, bound with thongs, and fastened to a rope, a man, winding the rope round his arm or breast, drags them down through the snow to a place where horses, mules, or asses bearing pack-saddles can climb. There the ore is removed from the pigskin sacks and put into other sacks made of double or triple twilled linen thread, and these placed on the pack-saddles of the beasts are borne down to the works where the ores are washed or smelted.Wagons for Hauling OreA—Horses with pack-saddles. B—Long box placed on the slope of the cliff. C—Cleats thereof. D—Wheelbarrow. E—Two-wheeled cart. F—Trunks of trees. G—Wagon. H—Ore being unloaded from the wagon. I—Bars. K—Master of the works marking the number of carts on a stick. L—Boxes into which are thrown the ore which has to be divided.[Pg 170]If, indeed, the horses, mules, or asses are able to climb the mountains, linen sacks filled with ore are placed on their saddles, and they carry these down the narrow mountain paths, which are passable neither by wagons nor sledges, into the valleys lying below the steeper portions of the mountains. But on the declivity of cliffs which beasts cannot climb, are placed long open boxes made of planks, with transverse cleats to hold them together; into these boxes is thrown the ore which has been brought in wheelbarrows, and when it has run down to the level it is gathered into sacks, and the beasts either carry it away on their backs or drag it away after it has been thrown into sledges or wagons. When the drivers bring ore down steep mountain slopes they use two-wheeled carts, and they drag behind them on the ground the trunks of two trees, for these by their weight hold back the heavily-laden carts, which contain ore in their boxes, and check their descent, and but for these the driver would often be obliged to bind chains to the wheels. When these men bring down ore from mountains which do not have such declivities, they use wagons whose beds are twice as long as those of the carts. The planks of these are so put together that, when the ore is unloaded by the drivers, they can be raised and taken apart, for they are only held together by bars. The drivers employed by the owners of the ore bring down thirty or sixty wagon-loads, and the master of the works marks on a stick the number of loads for each driver. But some ore, especially tin, after being taken from the mines, is divided into eight parts, or into nine, if the owners of the mine give "ninth parts" to the owners of the tunnel. This is occasionally done by measuring with a bucket, but more frequently planks are put together on a spot where, with the addition of the level ground as a base, it forms a hollow box. Each owner provides for removing, washing, and smelting that portion which has fallen to him. (Illustration p.170).
Into the buckets, drawn by these five machines, the boys or men throw the earth and broken rock with shovels, or they fill them with their hands; hence they get their name of shovellers. As I have said, the same machines raise not only dry loads, but also wet ones, or water; but before I explain the varied and diverse kinds of machines by which miners are wontto draw water alone, I will explain how heavy bodies, such as axles, iron chains, pipes, and heavy timbers, should be lowered into deep vertical shafts.WindlassA—Windlass. B—Straight levers. C—Upright beams. D—Rope. E—Pulley. F—Timbers to be lowered.[Pg 171]A windlass is erected whose barrel has on each end four straight levers; it is fixed into upright beams and around it is wound a rope, one end of which is fastened to the barrel and the other to those heavy bodies which are slowly lowered down by workmen; and if these halt at any part of the shaft they are drawn up a little way. When these bodies are very heavy, then behind this windlass another is erected just like it, that their combined strength may be equal to the load, and that it may be lowered slowly. Sometimes for the same reason, a pulley is fastened with cords to the roof-beam, and the rope descends and ascends over it.
Water is either hoisted or pumped out of shafts. It is hoisted up after being poured into buckets or water-bags; the water-bags are generally brought up by a machine whose water-wheels have double paddles, while the buckets are brought up by the five machines already described, although in certain localities the fourth machine also hauls up water-bags of moderate size. Water is drawn up also by chains of dippers, or by suction pumps, orby "rag and chain" pumps.[12]When there is but a small quantity, it is either brought up in buckets or drawn up by chains of dippers or suction pumps, and when there is much water it is either drawn up in hide bags or by rag and chain pumps.
Chain PumpsA—Iron frame. B—Lowest axle. C—Fly-wheel. D—Smaller drum made of rundles. E—Second axle. F—Smaller toothed wheel. G—Larger drum made of rundles. H—Upper axle. I—Larger toothed wheel. K—Bearings. L—Pillow. M—Framework. N—Oak timber. O—Support of iron bearing. P—Roller. Q—Upper drum. R—Clamps. S—Chain. T—Links. V—Dippers. X—Crank. Y—Lower drum or balance weight.[Pg 173]First of all, I will describe the machines which draw water by chains of dippers, of which there are three kinds. For the first, a frame is made entirely of iron bars; it is two and a half feet high, likewise two and a half feet long, and in addition one-sixth and one-quarter of a digit long, one-fourth and one-twenty-fourth of a foot wide. In it there are three little horizontal iron axles, which revolve in bearings or wide pillows of steel, and also four iron wheels, of which two are made with rundles and the same number are toothed. Outside the frame, around the lowest axle, is a wooden fly-wheel, so that it can be more readily turned, and inside the frame is a smaller drum which is made of eight rundles, one-sixth and one twenty-fourth of a foot long. Around the second axle, which does not project beyond the frame, and is therefore only two and a half feet and one-twelfth and one-third part of a digit long, there is on the one side, a smaller toothed wheel, which has forty-eight teeth, and on the other side a larger drum, which is surrounded by twelve rundles one-quarter of a foot long. Around the third axle, which is one inch and one-third thick, is a larger toothed wheel projecting one foot from the axle in all directions, which has seventy-two teeth. The teeth of each wheel are fixed in with screws, whose threads are screwed into threads in the wheel, so that those teeth which are broken can be replaced by others; both the teeth and rundles are steel. The upper axle projects beyond the frame, and is so skilfully mortised into the body of another axle that it has the appearance of being one; this axle proceeds through a frame made of beams which stands around the shaft, into an iron fork set in a stout oak timber, and turns on a roller made of pure steel. Around this axle is a drum of the kind possessed by those machines which draw water by rag and chain; this drum has triple curved iron clamps, to which the links of an iron chain hook themselves, so that a great weight cannot tear them away. These links are not whole like the links of other chains, but each one being curved in the upper part on each side catches the one which comes next, whereby it presents the appearance of a double chain. At the point where one catches the other, dippers made of iron or brass plates and holding half acongius[13]are bound to them with thongs; thus, if there are one hundred links there will be the same number of dippers pouring out water. When the shafts are inclined, the mouths of the dippers project and are covered on the top that they may not spill out the water, but when the shafts are vertical the dippers do not require a cover. By fitting the end of the lowest small axle into the crank, the man who works the crank turns the axle, and at the same time the drum whose rundles turn the toothed wheel of the second axle; by this wheel is driven the one that is made of rundles, whichagain turns the toothed wheel of the upper small axle and thus the drum to which the clamps are fixed. In this way the chain, together with the empty dippers, is slowly let down, close to the footwall side of the vein, into the sump to the bottom of the balance drum, which turns on a little iron axle, both ends of which are set in a thick iron bearing. The chain is rolled round the drum and the dippers fill with water; the chain being drawn up close to the hangingwall side, carries the dippers filled with water above the drum of the upper axle. Thus there are always three of the dippers inverted and pouring water into a lip, from which it flows away into the drain of the tunnel. This machine is less useful, because it cannot be constructed without great expense, and it carries off but little water and is somewhat slow, as also are other machines which possess a great number of drums.
Chain PumpsA—Wheel which is turned by treading. B—Axle. C—Double chain. D—Link of double chain. E—Dippers. F—Simple clamps. G—Clamp with triple curves.[Pg 174]The next machine of this kind, described in a few words by Vitruvius,[14]more rapidly brings up dippers, holding acongius; for this reason, it ismore useful than the first one for drawing water out of shafts, into which much water is continually flowing. This machine has no iron frame nor drums, but has around its axle a wooden wheel which is turned by treading; the axle, since it has no drum, does not last very long. In other respects this pump resembles the first kind, except that it differs from it by having a double chain. Clamps should be fixed to the axle of this machine, just as to the drum of the other one; some of these are made simple and others with triple curves, but each kind has four barbs.