DIGGING THE COAL

Up to the introduction of power loading machines in mining to cut and load the coal, the main tool for loading the coal was the miners shovel. In the very early days the miner would have used a “Screen Fork” to load coal so that only coal of a minimum size could be loaded. This was because the mine owner wanted bigger coal and would not pay for the so-called “Smalls”.


With the advent of steam boilers a market was found for smaller coal they began using shovels at the coal face. The Screen fork was not used at Bestwood colliery. The three main types were:-
1 The Gumming Shovel

2 The Colliers Shovel 



3 The Rounded Shovel
A flat pan with a long handle for cleaning under the cut coal

With a square raised pan and used on the coal face where the coal had been machine cut leaving a smooth flat floor. This was known as a number 9 shovel. In mining a man with big hands was said to have “Hands like a No 9 shovel”

With a rounded nose end for shovelling from an uneven floor as on “Ripping” gate work. This was known as a number 6 shovel.
See Below for the range of shovels available and the Bestwood type examples - images from Liveleek.com.