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 Post subject: Primitive Hoisting Shaft
PostPosted: Sun Feb 08, 2009 2:52 pm 
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Joined: Mon Jun 20, 2005 11:28 pm
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Location: Winnemucca, NV
I have edited my post to make it a little more accurate (for better archival reference). While driving north of Crown King in Arizona, we spotted this unnamed shaft. It provides a rather simple method of hoisting via bucket. Perhaps this was a low capital operation as this is nothing fancy. Unfortunately the picture taking was a little rushed and under low light conditions.

Photos here: http://www.ironminers.com/mineforum/viewtopic.php?p=109291

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Last edited by Miner Mike on Sun Feb 22, 2009 4:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sun Feb 08, 2009 7:24 pm 
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Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2005 2:34 pm
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Location: Within 60 Miles of the Northern Anthracite Field
interesting, that looks like the way we get into most of our active mines :lol:

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PostPosted: Sun Feb 08, 2009 10:38 pm 
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Location: SW Indiana
At first glance it reminded me of AB. Just in a rougher condition.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sun Feb 08, 2009 11:07 pm 
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Location: Within 60 Miles of the Northern Anthracite Field
yea, this thing is quite a bit smaller than ab, but theres still some around that make this shaft look high class!

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sun Feb 08, 2009 11:09 pm 
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Location: Within 60 Miles of the Northern Anthracite Field
are you sure that is for water, and not a small "bootleg" ore mine?

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 10:27 am 
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Sure that is possible, a miner may fill up a bucket with whatever he chooses. I didn't have enough time to poke around and get a better sense of the full scale of the operation and I don't recall how far down the water level was.

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 7:58 pm 
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Location: Above the Sterling Hill Mine
It was not uncommon in the day to use an ore bucket to both pull up ore and to dewater a mine. You used whatever means you had available back in the day before pumps were available or economical for your operation.

Miner Greg


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 11:56 pm 
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Location: Western PA
Mike, take a closer look at the bottom of the bucket.

"Bailing tanks" for dewatering mines have clack valves in the bottom which open as the tank drops into the sump. When the tank is hoisted (heisted), the weight of the water in the tank holds the valve closed.

Image

Image
clack valve

Image
inside the tank

It looks like the bucket in your pictures has a chain attached to the bottom. That chain is part of the dump mechanism.

The angled plate with the notch on the top edge, is hinged along its bottom edge (the plate is visible just above the bucket in your pictures). As the bucket is hoisted it tips the notched plate out of the way on its way up. Once the bucket is above the notched plate, it falls back into the pictured position.

The trick to the whole thing is the chain on the bottom of the bucket. If the bucket is stopped at the right spot, the chain on the bucket bottom catches in the notch on the plate. Now, when the bucket is lowered, the chain causes the bucket to tip over and spill whatever was in it, onto the chute.

There is a name for this setup..... I can't think of it right now. It's a pretty ingenious little arrangement.

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu Feb 12, 2009 1:46 am 
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Location: Above the Sterling Hill Mine
John,

Thanks for posting those up. Those are some pretty good pictures and pretty ingenious way to dewater a mine without pumps..

There are really lots of different methods used for keep mines dry, I have also read about mines using ore skips to keep the water levels low (when not hoisting ore via the skips). Regardless, it is still pretty wild to see setups like this left untouched..

Miner Greg


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