A MACHINE INVENTED BY HIM FOR THE CARRYING COALS FROM THE COAL WALLS WHERE THEY ARE DUG TO THE BOTTOM OF THE PIT OR SHAFT, AND FROM THE MOUTH OF THE PITT OR SHAFT TO THE HEAPS AT SOME DISTANCE THEREFROM, AND IN SOME CASES OF CARRYING THEM TO THE STAITHS, OR PLACES WHERE THEY ARE PUT ON BOARD KEELS OR SHIPS, WITHOUT THE ASSISTANCE EITHER OF HORSES IN DRAWING EMPTY OR LOADED WAG- GONS, AND OF A NEW METHOD OF MOVING A KNOWN MACHINE FOR DRAWING THE COALS FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE PIT OR SHAFT TO THE MOUTH OR TOP THEREOF, BY WHICH THEY WILL BE DRAWN MUCH CHEAPER AND QUICKER THAN BY THE METHOD NOW USED, AND BY THE SAKE NEW METHOD METALS, STONES, AND ALL KINDS OF RUBBISH MAY
Year: 1750

page_text: WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty, by His Letters Patent under
the Great Seal of Great Britain, dated the Ninth day of February last
past, was graciously pleased to grant unto MICHAEL MEINZIES, Esquire, the
exclusive property and sole benefit and advantage of "A MACHINE INVENTED BY
HIM FOR THE CARRYING COALS FROM THE COAL WALLS WHERE THEY ARE DUG TO THE
BOTTOM OF THE PIT OR SHAFT, AND FROM THE MOUTH OF THE PITT OR SHAFT TO
THE HEAPS AT SOME DISTANCE THEREFROM, AND IN SOME CASES OF CARRYING THEM
TO THE STAITHS, OR PLACES WHERE THEY ARE PUT ON BOARD KEELS OR SHIPS,
WITHOUT THE ASSISTANCE EITHER OF HORSES IN DRAWING EMPTY OR LOADED WAG-
GONS, AND OF A NEW METHOD OF MOVING A KNOWN MACHINE FOR DRAWING THE
COALS FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE PIT OR SHAFT TO THE MOUTH OR TOP THEREOF, BY
WHICH THEY WILL BE DRAWN MUCH CHEAPER AND QUICKER THAN BY THE METHOD
NOW USED, AND BY THE SAKE NEW METHOD METALS, STONES, AND ALL KINDS OF
RUBBISH MAY BE DRAWN OUT OF THE PITTS TO THE HEAPS IN GREATER QUANTITIES,
IN LESS TIME, AND WITH LESS EXPENCE THAN BY THE METHOD NOW USED; in which
Letters Patent there is this proviso, that he should within the space of four
calendar months after their date, particularly describe in what manner tho
same is to be performed, by an instrument under his hand and seal, and
cause the same to be inrolled in His Majestie's High Court of Chancery.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Michael Menzies, do hereby describe the nature of my said Invention, which
is to be performed in the manner following, to wit:-
From the bottom of the pit, throughout the field of coal, there must be a

page_text: drift of six feet wide or somewhat wider, if the roof will allow it. This drift
must ascend one fathom in fifteen or thereabouts, and must be carryed as far
and made so long as so many boards or rooms (as they are termed in some
places) may begin in it as there are colliers to work, which rooms or boards
are to be carryed streight up to the rise of the coal, as they generally work at
Newcastle. On this six-feet sloping drift there must be all along a double
waggon way, and each of them two feet wide only and about half a foot
distance from one another. There must also be a wheel like a large pulley of
about two feet and half diameter, and the timber of the wheel a foot thick, at
the lower end of the waggon ways, within a few yards of the bottom of the
pit, and also another wheel at the top of it of the same largeness. These are
both to be parralel to the waggon way, and slope as it does. They are to be
about four feet above the waggon way, if the seam or stratum of coal will
permitt it, and where the thickness of coal won't permit such a height it may
be less, but still so as to be somewhat lighter than the depth of the box in
which the coals are to be carryed from the coal wall to the bottom of the pitt.
From one end of this double waggon way to the other, and round the large and
thick pulleys, are two ropes to go, each of them going in a perpetual round.
They may be ten inches distance one from another, and have little furrows in
the two pulleys in which they will run. Supposing then ten colliers to work
at a time, and to have ten boards or rooms to work in, all going up from the
waggon way to the rise of the coal, and each of them six feet wide, and
reckoning twelve feet of coal left betwixt each board, then the length of the
waggon way will be ten times eighteen feet, (id est) one hundred and eighty
feet long, and the ropes will each of them be double that length. Now, at
eighteen feet distance, all round the ropes, let there be fixt a piece of iron
about two feet long; let the upper end of this iron be fixed to the upper rope.
and ten inches below that let it be fixed to the under rope, and about
a foot of it hang down below the under rope; and this iron has a
hook at the lower end of it, pointing always one way. Let twenty boxes be
mado of two foot wide, four foot long, and four feet deep, or thereabouts, and
let cach of them have four wheels of two feet diameter each, and the wheels
about two inches thick, shoed with iron. Suppose one of the boxes fixed to
every one of the irons, all of them placed on the waggon way, and on the
upper side, where the rooms or boards begin, let the ten boxes filled with coales
be placed, and the ten empty boxes on the rope on the lower side; then, the
side with the loaded boxes being set in motion by a man's hand, they will
move down, and draw the light ones up and round the wheel or pully at the
top. When the loaded boxes come to the bottom of the waggon way they are
drawn up the pit, and an empty box is put on the iron which the loaded one

page_text: came off, and so is drawn up the waggon way on the under side; and when
an empty box turns the wheel at the top of the waggon ways, and comes down
in the waggon way on the upper side, it is taken off when it comes to the
uppermost board, and the next empty one is allowed to go down to the second
board, and then is taken off, and so the rest of the empty boxes go down to
the other boards, and always as one loaded box is taken off at the bottom an
empty one turns the wheel or pully at the top; and it would be observed that
the boxes may be less than four feet deep when the thickness of the seam of
coal won't admitt of that deepness, and the boxes may be deeper when the
scam will admit of it. Thus, also, the coals may be brought in the common
cowes laid on common four wheel trams, provided the way on which they run
is made sloping like the waggon way above described. The way these loaded
boxes are brought from the coal wall down the boards to the upper waggon
way is thus:-There may either be a double waggon way up every board to
the coal wall, and lengthened as the colliers work up further in the coals, and
have a pulley or wheel at the top, such as is at the head of the double waggon
way above mentioned, and then thero may be two boxes belonging to every
board, and there may be a small rope fixed to both, of the length of the board,
from the sloping waggon way, and when one box is filled with coals at the
coal wall the other may be emptied down at the foot of the board by the
sloping waggon way, and when the loaded box is set agoing down the ono
waggon way in the board the empty box will be drawn up the other, the rope
going round the wheel or pulley at the top; and when it is filled it will draw the
empty box up the other side, and so in all the boards; but if a doublo waggon
way is too expensive,-tho' by them, if the boards are not rugged, the collier may
send down his coals to the sloping waggon-way himself, and get up the empty
box at the same time,-but if two waggon ways in every board is to expensive,
one may serve in this manner :-Let the collier have an empty box standing
at his hand, and a rope fixed to it as long as his distance from the double
sloping waggon way; then, supposing a single waggon way of two feet wide
laid down the board from him to the sloping waggon way, the box when filled'
with coals by him will run down that waggon way to the bottom of the board:
at the double waggon way, and he may keep the end of the rope by tying it to.
the lead of the waggon way; and whenever the loaded box is taken off by a
person who attends to do it, he fixes an empty corf in its place, which being
done the collier can draw up the empty box to himself, and fil it as he did the
other, and so every collier in every board. Both these double and single
waggon ways can be easily lengthened 'every two or three days as the board
lengthens by the colliers working. But if the coal owners don't choose to

page_text: have a single waggon way, as the sole of the board may be rugged, then a
man must go up to the collier drawing the empty box, and draw down the
loaded ones, which he will always be able to do without a horse, as it is down
bill. When they have occasion to work the coals above one hundred and
eighty feet from the bottom of the pit, they must lengthen the double waggon
way, and set off new boards from the new waggon way, and the wheel at the
upper end of the former waggon way removed to the upper and further end of
this, and the ropes lengthened and put round that wheel. When the boards
are so far carryed up as to require a thirling or communication among them,
then the double waggon way below is to be removed to that thirling, and to
slope as before, or have a greater slope, if that is found more usefull, and to go
through all the thirlings; and therefore the row of them must not be horizontal,
as at present, but sloping, for to allow the waggon way to pass through; and as
then the lower end of the waggon way will be at the mothergate board, or
board next the bottom of the pitt, there must be a double waggon way
down the mothergate board to the bottom of the pitt, and a tonnerail at the
head of it, and foot of the double sloping waggon way, to help the loaded boxes
to turn the angle made by these two ways, and there must be wheels or
pulleys at the head and foot of this mothergate board waggon way, as at the
other. When the coals are to be brought from below the bottom of the pit,
then there may be a double waggon way, such as that described above, but going
directly down from the bottom of the pitt thro' the coal to the coal wall, and
from the bottom of this waggon way there is to rise a sloping waggon way such
as that which went up from the bottom of the pitt, and the coals are to be
brought down to it as to the pitt from the waggon way above the pit, and
from thence they are to be drawn up the direct waggon way to the bottom
of the pitt, by having a vessell full of water to go down the one side, and
draw up the loaded corf in the other; and if this require too much time, then
there may be a circle of boxes with the coals, as in the sloping waggon way
above mentioned, and a circle of vessells full of water to draw the boxes up.
The vessells with water may be fixed between every two of the boxes, so
that there be a like number of both, and the vessells filled with water
may be so fixed to the ropes that they may empty themselves at the bottom of
the double waggon way where they begin to go up. Another way of drawing
up the coals from below the bottom of the pitt is by having sloping double
waggon ways, beginning at the bottom of the pitt, and going downwards
in the coal as they went upwards, for bringing the coals from the coal wall
above the pit, with a circle of boxes, and with wheels or pulleys at the
head and feet; only there must be a circle of vessells, which hold water too,

page_text: placed betwixt the boxes, by the down going of which in the one waggon
way the boxes of coals will be drawn up in the other, and the boards must
begin in these sloping waggon ways below the bottom of the pitt, as they
did from that above it. The method above mentioned is for Newcastle and
those places where the boards are carryed streight up to the rise of the coal.
But tho' the boards or rooms were all paralell to the waggon way, which
slopes upward from the bottom of the pitt, the coals may be also brought with
more ease and less expence than at present, for there may be a double waggon
way or single waggon way in each of these paralell rooms or boards, as in
the former boards, and a double waggon way from the bottom of the pitt
streight up the rise of the coal along the mouths of these paralell rooms;
and when the coals come out of the boards into that double waggon way,
the loaded corves will draw up the empty ones, and at proper distances there
may be thirlings downwards from the uppermost of these parallel rooms
to the lowest, where there must be a double waggon way come from the
bottom of the pitt, and the double waggon way which runs by the mouths of
these boards may be removed into the thirlings, and carry down the loaded.
and draw up the empty boxes, as before; and when these boards beyond
that thirling are come to a proper length, then a new thirling will be made
downwards, and the waggon way removed out of the former thirling into
this, and the double waggon way in the lowest room or board lengthened
to the new thirling, and stil there must be tonnerails where the waggon
ways make an angle with one another, which is always to be understood
when boxes come from one waggon way to another at an angle. Tho' here
waggon ways have been mentioned of the common sort, made of timber,
yet in some places they may cut out of the pavement of the coal, or made of
stone, and where the pavement is stone it may serve for a waggon way to
the board or boards carryed streight up to the rise of the coal, with little
or no cutting at all. In some cases, where the pitt is far from the coal wall;
and somewhat above the water level, the coals might be brought in tubs
or little boats along the water level, leaving the water standing some fect.
deep in the water level, and the coals let down from the coal wall to the level
in a waggon way. This method will be especially proper where there is a level,
and the month of the levell is near the road by which the coals are to be
carryed, for there the coals may be brought from the coal wall to the.
mouth of the level without being at all drawn up to the mouth of the pitt.
In order to draw metals or rubbish with more ease and less expence from
the forehead of the main, where they are digg'd, to the bottom of the pit in
which they are to be drawn up, it would be proper to work the main, not

page_text: horizontally, but slopingly upwards, which will be no less, provided the level
be worked and carryed horizontal; and if the work is carryed sloping upwards,
then either with the double or single waggon way used in the boards for coals
the metals or rubbish may be brought down to the bottom of the pit. It
should be observed not to bring the metals or rubbish in wheelbarrows from the
forehead to the bottom of the pitt, as usual, for they must be turned out of
that, and then filled again into the vessell in which they are drawn up
in the pitt, but in boxes with four wheels, in which they are to remain til
they come to the mouth of the pitt, and when they have come to the mouth of
the pitt, which is called a sump (that is, the mouth of which comes not to the
surface), they must be run along to the next sump, and never emptyed,
and then drawn up that sump, and run along from the mouth of that to the
foot of another, til they are drawn up to the surface, and not emptied, and
filled over and over again, as they are at present, out of the wheelbarrows
into the buckett at the foot of every sump or pit, but these boxes may be
made less than two feet wide, and so as to run in the narrowest drift. Thus,
there will be a saving in bringing metals or rubbish from the foreheads to
the bottom of the pitts, and from the head of one sump to the bottom of.
another sump, tho' there be no waggon ways laid, and much more if waggon
ways are laid in these sloping drifts.
The carrying coals to the heaps at some distance from the mouth of the pitt
is performed thus:-The box with four wheels, full of coals, when it comes to
the mouth of the pitt, it lands on a floor of timber at twelve feet or thereabouts
above the earth. At the mouth of the pit, from the outer side of this flower,
there goes a waggon way of two feet wide, of twenty, thirty, forty, or even sixty
yards long, according to the largeness of the heaps intended to be made, and
another waggon way, of the same dimensions as to wideness and length,
beginning near the other, and going out as far as the other, either paralell to
it or forming an angle with it. These waggon ways are to slope away from
the pit so as the loaded box will run down in them to the end of them, and
they are to be supported, with long small pieces of timber having holes in
them, by pegs, in which they can be made to slope more or less according to
the heigth of the heap at the head of these. At a few feet from them there
is a large pully, or wheel like a pulley, which, when the waggon ways are
paralell, must be four feet diameter, and less where they make an angle.
The center around which this this pully or wheel is to turn is in the line
that runs along betwixt the two waggon ways where they are paralell, and
where they make an angle in the place where a line drawn all along the
middle of one of the waggon ways cuts the like line in the other. This wheel

page_text: is to be somewhat higher above the floor where the loaded boxes land than
the deepness of the boxes, & the plan of this wheel must slope as the waggon
ways do. Let a rope be put round this wheel or pulley, & the one end of it
reach to the other end of the waggon way, and have an empty box fixed
to it, and the other end be two or three feet on the other side of the pulley,
and let the loaded box come out of the pit be fixed to that end, then let the
banksman shove this loaded box into the waggon way next it, which will run
down, & at the same time draw the empty box up the waggon way on the
other side, which empty box is taken off and let down into the pitt, & the
loaded box at the lower & outer end of the waggon way the banksman goes
& empties, & leaves the empty box fixed to the end of the rope, & the
next loaded box is just let down like the former, but on the other waggon way.
These two waggon ways are fixed by a frame together, & by the help of the
wheels at the feet of all the supporters of that frame may be easily moved
round. From the end of this double waggon way there goes out another waggon
way, making with the former a right angle, or rather a more obtuse one; &
this other waggon way may be either sloping or horizontal, & along theso
loaded boxes are to run or be shoved & emptyed. To make boxes turn from
the one waggon way to the other, there may be a tonnerail. When all along
below that side waggon way the earth is covered with coals, then both it and
the other waggon ways are to be shoved round the pit as far as this side
waggon way is long; & when that part of the earth is also covered with
coals, then it is to be shoved anew till the heaps make a hexagon or an
octagon. When the boxes are drawn up very quickly after one another, they
may be a double waggon way, one on each side of the pit, and two banksmen
instead of one, at least two men, to empty the boxes. Another way of making
the waggon ways is, to make one of them some feet below the other, & let
the loaded box run down & run out on the upper waggon way, and that box
when emptyed to return by the lower waggon way; only here there must be
a vertical wheel, both at the outer & inner end of this waggon way. Betwixt
the upper & the under & round these vertical wheels must the ropes go, &
the loaded box will empty itself as it goes round the outer pulley or wheel.
Another still more simple way is to have but one sloping waggon way, and at
the outer end of it let it turn so downward as the loaded box may empty itself.
The banksman here has a small rope somewhat longer than the waggon way,
& upon one end of it there is a hook, which, being fixed to the loaded box, it
will run out of itself to the lower end of the waggon way, & empty itself. The
banksman all the while keeps the other end of this rope in his hand, by which
he draws back the box after it has emptyed itself by going down the outer end

page_text: of the waggon way, and thus the box may be made to empty itself in the
above-mentioned waggon ways, and this single waggon way & the doublo
waggon way one above another may be more easily moved round the pit
mouth than the other double waggon ways. It is to be observed, that theso
waggon ways can be made shorter when the heaps are small and near the pit
mouth, and lengthened as the heap increases; and when one tier of coals is
laid on the ground, another may be laid above it, and another above that, till
the heaps are near three yards deep, that is, when the flour at the mouth of
the pit is but four yards high, but if the floor is higher, the heaps may be
made higher too. But when the mouth of the pit is on the side of a hill,
there is no need of raising the floor above the surface of the earth, but the
waggon ways may slope gently down the hill, & carry the coals that way, and
make the heaps there. When the coals are always to be emptyed out of the
boxes in any one place, the single waggon way above described will do, & thus
the metals may be sent from the mouth of the pit to the heaps, only having one
side for metals, and another for rubbish, and a third for the two when mixt
together, to keep these three sorts separate from one another; or three spouts
may do when the heaps are near, into which the bucket or box may be
emptyed without waggon ways. To draw coals from the heaps to the staiths
there's only needful two waggon ways, one for the loaded waggons to go down, &
another for the empty waggons to come up, as they have at present; to which
is only to be added a wheel at the top, which must slope as the waggon ways
dlo, and must be as broad as the distance from the middle of one waggon way to
the middle of the other; & if that is too large for one wheel, there may be
two. Round this wheel is to be put a rope three hundred yards long, at the
upper end of which near the wheel is the loaded waggon to be fixed, and to
the other end three hundred yards down the other waggon way is to be fixed
the empty waggon. Now, when the loaded waggon is put in motion it will
descend the three hundred yards, and draw up the empty one; and when the
loaded waggon is come down the three hundred yards, it is to be taken off that
rope and put to another, which goes round another wheel, and has an empty
waggon at the other end of it three hundred yards down, which it will draw up
by going down itself, as before; and so on till the loaded waggon comes to the
staith, and an empty one is drawn up to the leaps. If, by experience, it is
found that more or less than three hundred yards is necessary or proper, that
will be practised. If the waggon ways have an angle, there must be tonnerails
as usual, & a new wheel at the top of the new waggon way, with a rope round
it, as in former case, by which the loaded waggon will draw up the empty one,
as in the former case. But not only nay the coals be drawn thus to the

page_text: staiths by two waggon ways, but with one, in the manner following, thero
being then a single waggon way descending from the heaps to the staiths:―
Let there be a vertical wheel at the head of the waggon way, of a diameter
something longer than the depth of a waggon in which the coals are to be
carried. Let there be a loaded waggon at the heaps, and an empty one threo
hundred yards below, upon the waggon way. Let a rope be fixed to the loaded
waggon at a low place of the hinder part of it. Let that rope go in below, and
go round the vertical wheel, and come over the head of the loaded waggon,
and run over a pulley somewhat higher than the waggon, go down to tho
empty waggon, and be fixed to it. When the loaded waggon is set in motion,
it will draw up the empty waggon till they come to meet, and then there may
be a way at the side made for the empty waggon to pass the loaded one, or a
tonnerail to take the empty waggon out of the way till the heavy one is passed;
so when the loaded waggon is down three hundred yards the empty one will
bo up at the heaps; and by the help of another vertical wheel where the
loaded waggon is it may go down other three hundred yards, and draw up an
empty one as far, and so on till the loaded waggon comes to the staiths; only
where the lower vertical wheel is the waggon way must be double, to allow the
waggon to pass the vertical wheel where some part of the waggon way is flat,
and that not longer than the sloping part of the waggon way which is
ifiediately below it. For example:-Two hundred yards flatt. Let a
loaded waggon be placed on the upper side of the plain next the coal heap,
and another on the other side at the head of the descent, and suppose a little
vertical roller a foot high placed in the waggon way on the top of the descent;
then the loaded waggon, when entering upon the descent, should have a rope fixed
to itself and to the other loaded waggon at the other side of the plain, which
is two hundred yards broad; then the waggon going down the slope will draw
after it the the loaded waggon through the two hundred yards plain, if the
descent is considerable, as in many cases it is, and it may draw up at the same
time the empty waggon in the other waggon way through the two hundred
yards plain; and in case it was near an equilibrium, then the man attending
the loaded waggon going down the slope may increase its force by leaning and
pressing on it behind to make it go forwards; and if the man's force is too
small, then another waggon with water (if it can be had) may be fixed to the
loaded waggon in the descent, and so helf it to draw the other; or where
water is to be had in plenty, a waggon with water may be provided at the top
of the descent, having a rope fixed to itself and the waggon on the upper
side of the plain. This waggon with water, set in motion down the slope,
will draw the other over the plain, and at the same time may draw
an
F

page_text: empty waggon from the lower side of the plain to the upper side of it,
by the loaded waggon having a rope at one end fixed to itself and at the
other fixed to an empty waggon on the lower side the plain, and having a
horizontall pully at the upper side of the plain round which the rope goes
from the loaded to the empty waggon. If the plain through which the
waggon way goes is long, and lies along the top of a hill, which is sometimes
the case, then a waggon fitted for holding water, and full of it, may go down
a waggon way on the side of the hill made on purpose, & may draw the
loaded waggon through the plain to the lower side of it, and an empty
waggon to the upper side of it, and at the same time draw up an empty
water waggon to the top of the waggon way on the side of the hill; and
if the plain is very long there may be another side waggon way, and a
third, if necessary, by which the loaded waggons shall be drawn to the
lower side of the whole plain, and an empty waggon to the upper side of
it. If the plain lies along the bottom of a hill, which is oftner the case,
if there's water up in the middle of the hill or higher, then a waggon way
both for loaded and empty waggons must be made, gradually ascending up
the side of the hill to the heighth at which the water is, and a pully or wheel
placed at the top betwixt the waggon ways; to this place the loaded waggon
may be drawn up by having a waggon full of water and an empty coal
waggon along with it, by the descending of which the loaded waggon may be
drawn up, by their being a rope betwixt them going round that whcel or
pully, and from this head of that waggon way where the water is another
waggon way is to be made, sloping downwards to the plain again on the
other side, where the descent of the loaded waggon will draw up the empty
one with a rope and pully, as before; and if this ascending & descending
waggon ways do not carry the loaded waggons thro' the whole plain, then
another must be made, ascending and descending, like the former, which will
carry the waggons to the end of the plain. By such ascending & descend-
ing waggon ways may coals be brought from the coal wall to the bottom of
the pit when one sloping waggon way will not do. Thus, also, waggons may
be brought through the hollows in the way, without the vast charges of build-
ing stone arches and high earthen dykes, as at present; for suppose a waggon
way made down one side of the hollow and up the other, then the loaded
waggon going down into the hollow draws up the empty one, and in drawing
up the loaded waggon on the other side a vessell full of water, somewhat more
than the weight of the coals, and placed on a carriage with wheels like the
waggon, its descending with an empty waggon along with it will draw up the
loaded waggon, and where the hollow is not very wide the descending loaded

page_text: up,
waggon going down one side may be made to draw up the loaded waggon on
the other in this manner :-Let there be a vertical wheel placed at the head
of the waggon way in which the loaded, waggon descends, and let there be
another such vertical wheel placed at the head of the other waggon way
where the loaded. waggon is, to come up. Let there be a rope fixed to the
descending waggon, which goes round the vertical wheel where it begins to
descend. Let this go over the hollow, and go over the head of the vertical.
wheel on the other side, and go down to the loaded waggon at the foot of that
waggon way. Then, by the descending of the former, the latter will be drawn
if somewhat is added, as a little vessel of water, to overcome the friction;
and perhaps the leaning of the waggon man on the descending waggon, and
the other waggon man not leaning on the ascending one, may be sufficient to:
overcome this friction, which if it does there's no need of water. When the .
waggon way lies through a long flat plain, without, descents or ascents on
either side, then a water mill, where it can be had, may draw along the loaded:
and back the unloaded waggons with ropes and a pully at oue end; and if.
one water mill is not sufficient, another may be erected at some distance :
from the former; but if water mills cannot be had, then a fire.engine may be
made to the same by sliding works; and if. it will not bear the charges of a:
water mill or a fire engine, then horses may be kept at that place to draw in :
that part of the waggon way.
Another cheap method of carrying coals from the heaps to the staiths
or places where they are consumed is by having a ditch full of water, of
four feet wide or more, and three feet deep or more, from the. heaps tor
the places where the coals are sold; and, by having little boats or canoes, :
of four or five feet long, two feet broad, & two feet deep; in these tho:
cpals could be carried cheaper than by waggon ways; the loaded little
boats may go all at one hour, and return at another certain hour, by which.
one ditch will serve; but if that is not convenient, another ditch may be,
made, in which the empty little boats may be brought back. If there is a
considerable descent in the way, there may be à double waggon way, by which
the loaded. waggon going down will draw up. the-empty one: in the manner -
above mentioned; and if there-are ascents the coals may be drawn up these..
If there's water at the top of the ascent, to prevent these little boats from
being hurt when going up or down waggon ways there may be some. strong.
vessels made sufficient to hold in .water, tho' they roll on a waggon way; or,
rather, this strong vessel may hang perpendicular in à frame, & have the
little boat in it, and that strong vessell filled with water, so that the boat may
swim even in that vessel: Where the descents or ascents are not great, a lock or:.
two may serve instead of the waggon ways. ·

page_text: The new method of my moving a known machine for drawing the coals
from the bottom of the pitt or shaft to the mouth or top thereof is as
follows: A windless or roller must be placed over the mouth of the pit,
such as they have at present in mines & collierys. Over this roller
must be put two ropes, or rather iron chains, the one to be about one
foot from one end of the roller, and the other at the same distance from
the other end of it. These chains are to be each of them double the
length of the depth of tho pit, and the two ends of each chain to be joined
together, so that when the roller revolves, & one side of the chains come
up, the other may go down and come up on the opposite side. To the
upper end of these chains, a little below the roller, and on what I shall call
the right-hand side, is to be fixed a vessell somewhat in shape like a bathing tub,
which can hold so much water as is somewhat heavier than what is intended
to be brought up at once. About four inches below this vessel of water is to
hang a frame of timber in shape of a parrallellopipid, much the same length
& breadth of the vessell above, sufficient to hold the corf or box full of coals;
and for allowing the corf to come into it one of the four sides of the frame
is to open with a hinge, and to shut again when the corf is thrust into it. . At
the lower end of these chains, on the left side, is to be placed a frame of the
same largenes and shape of the former, and a few inches above it another
vessel with water, like the other above. Besides these there must be a cistern
full of water, several feet deep and several feet square, with two valves at the
bottom; the one valve above the vessel on the one side, & the other above the
vessel on the other side. Things being thus prepared, and the chains with
the buckets & frames on each side in equilibrio, the corf full of coals is to
be thrust in at the opening side of the frame at the bottom, & the side or
door then shut with a proper latchet to prevent the door flying open; & let
this be on the left side, of which the banksman being advertized at the mouth
of the pit, he, by a little laver, draws up one of the valves on the right side of
the bottom of the cistern full of water, which is placed above the roller a few
inches, by the opening which the water gushes out in a great quantity into
the vessell below the roller on the right-hand side, which will be filled in
a few seconds, and when its weight is superior to that of the coals at the
bottom it will go down, & the coals be drawn up, and according to the excess
of the weight of water above that of the coals so will the velocity be accel-
lerated of the descent of the water vessell and the ascent of the coals. To
prevent the frame being dashed to pieces by its violent stroke upon the
bottom, there are to be springs at the bottom where the empty frame with
the full bucket beats the bottom. When the frame with the loaded corff
comes up, then the banksmen opens the door of the frame, & draws out the 4

page_text: corff, which is sent to the heap in the manner above mentioned, and puts into
the frame an empty corff which is standing at his hand; then by a laver he
opens the other valve at the bottom of the cistern on the left side, and lets the
water fill the empty vessell above the frame with the empty corf; or rather,
the machine shall be so made as to fill the empty vessell while the banksman
is drawing out the loaded and putting in the empty corf. This is to be done
by making the frame when it comes up open the valve in the cistern just
above it. In the meantime, while he is doing these things at the top of the
pit, the man at the foot of it is taking out the empty & putting in the loaded
corf, and the machinery below is so made as to open a valve in the vessell
full of water, to empty it, at the same time that he is taking out and putting in
the other corf. There are two other things for perfecting the machine, (viz')
at the arrival of the frame at the bottom a peg shall jett out which shall hold
the frame there till the man at bottom has put in the loaded corf, and then
he draws back that jetting peg, at which time the frame at bottom is ready to
ascend again, and at the same time his putting back that pegg shall draw
down a wire which goes up to the top, by which the banksman at the top shall
know (without their roaring from below as usual) that all is ready below;
and at the top there is a peg which shall jett out whenever the frame with 'the
loaded corff comes up, and so prevent the frames going down (tho' the water
bas filled the vessel at the top) till the banksman draws out that peg, which he
must never do till he has got in the empty corf. The design of these pegs is
to hold the machine till both of them are drawn out, that is, till both
banksmen are satisfied that all is ready; and each of them has it in his power to
stop the engine till they are ready, & so prevent the vessell with water running
amain, as they call it, which would endanger both the frame and the vessells
being broke in pieces. The water, when it runs out of the vessell at the
bottom, runs away without any further trouble, if there is a levell; & if there
is not it runs to the fire engine or water engine pitt, and water is much
cheaper drawn by these engines than the same weight of coals, and it is very
seldom but these engines have force enough to draw up their ordinary quantity
of water, and a good deal more, and where they have not that force to spare,
then the fire engine must be enlarged with a greater cilender and everything
conformable, and the force of the water engine must be encreased, if possible,
and when that cannot be done a little fire engine must be erected, which
can always be had. The distance of the two ropes or chains from one another
on the roller depends upon the wideness of the pitt and the length of the
roller, and the length of the frames to which they are fixed, so that always the
frame with the coals in it may be kept equally pois'd, and not get liberty to go

page_text: round, nor half round, but stand still at the top and bottom in the same
precise place, for the facility of loading & unloading the corf, and that they
don't justle against one another in going up and down. Here two ropes o
chains are used, but one will do, tho' I think not so securely, nor can the
corf be so quickly loaded and unloaded. The coals might also be brought
up in the same vessel which takes down the water, by not filling it full of
coals when it comes up; but I think not so prudently, because then that
vessell would soon be put out of order for holding water. So also might tho
coals be drawn up by making the chains go perpetually round, and having
vessels fixed in the chains, which may be constantly filled with water as they
go down on the left side, and vessells with the mouths the contrary way,
which might be filled with coals, and come up on the right side, and bo
discharged when they come over the roller at the top; and this in drawing
up rubbish, and in some cases where they don't mind the breaking of the coals,
may be practised, as it will save the trouble to take out the loaded and putt in
the empty corf, and save a banksman at the top; and where the mouth of the
pitt has a descent of a hill at the side of it, the coals may be drawn up by tho
descending of a waggon full of water, or a waggon with a hogshead of water
in it, as far as the pitt is deep, having a rope fixed to the water waggon,
and going over a verticall pully, and being fixed to the corf of coals or framo
with it at the bottom of the pitt, when the waggon, with water, setts out; and
when it is run far enough down, and has drawn up the coals to the mouth of
the pitt, then it is let out; and this will be proper to be used when the water,
if let down the pitt, behooved to be drawn up again by a fire or water engine,
which by this method is prevented. These things are mentioned as known and
discovered by me, that nono may pretend, when they make these or such cir-
cumstantial variations, that they have discovered a new machine, or are not
using my machine when they use one with such variations, the principal
thing in my machine being the drawing up solids by the descent of water in
buckets or other vessells fixed to ropes or chains; and I have described the
manner of applying it which to mo at present seems the safest & quictest
and most simple way of drawing up the coals, metals, or rubbish. But not
only can I draw up the coals, &c. in the simple manner above mentioned,
where the water descends as far as the coals ascend, as in a ballance, but in
various other less simple and more compleat methods which it is needless to
mention, particularly as I reckon them not so good as that above mentioned.
But I shall give one instance, that it, or the like, may not be reckoned a new
Invention, or not mine; for suppose the pitt out of which the coals are to be
drawn is forty fathom deep, & suppose there is water in an old wast of an

page_text: upper seam of coal twenty fathom below the top of the pitt, the water falling from
thence to the bottome of the pit, which is only twenty fathom, may be made to
draw up
the coals forty fathom. Thus, let there be a roller above the mouth of the
pit, which on one side is three foot round, and the other side is six foot round; let
there be a rope forty fathom long, of which twenty fathom is rolled round that side
the roller which is only three foot about; let the other twenty fathom hang down
the pitt, and have affixed to the end of it a bucket, which holds forty stone weight.
of water; let another rope of forty fathom be fixed to that part of the roller which
is six foot round, and let all the forty fathom hang down, and the corf of coals
fixed to the lower end of it, which corf is only twenty stone weight; lett the
water be let out of the waste into the bucket till it is full, then the descent.
of that water, which is forty stone, through twenty fathom, will draw up the.
corf of coals forty, that is to the top of the pit. In the same manner the.
twenty fathom of rope, if round that part of the roller which is but three
foot round, has the twenty fathom taken from it which did hang down, in, the
former case, and the end of the other twenty fixed to a waggon loaded with
water; if there is a descent upon one side of the pit, and a waggon,way twenty;
fathom long, this waggon, by its descent twenty fathom, will draw the coals;
forty fathom up. And so numberless other cases might be figured where, the
descent of water in buckets or vessels will draw up solids. For supplying the.
water in the cistern, it is to be brought from any running water which is high
enough, and to be brought along the sides of hills, tho' at a considerable dis-
tance; and in order to have water in the summer time, where hills or rising:
grounds are, there may be great reservoirs made to hold the rain water, which.
may draw many days' coals, being, let out gradually by sluices.. It may also.
be raised by all the known methods of raising water. But besides. these there is.
a new one, which will be of great use for filling the cisterns with water for,
drawing up the coals, and that is by the water which comes into the pit out.
of the sides of it, for preventing which waters falling down the pitt, and annoy-.
ing them while drawing up the coals, wetting the coals & spoiling the ropes,.
they have rings round the sides of the pit for gathering. it together, and bore.
holes for carrying off from the pit.. Now let these bore holes be stopped, and.
all the water gathered in the ring come out of the lower side, and fall into a:
horrizontall tube which goes round the pitt, and let one half of the water fall out,
of it at one side of the pitt, and the other half on the opposite side, and at
each side, at one place of three or four inches broad, let there be a roller and
chains, as above described; let there be vessels fixed to the chains at six feet.
distance all round the chains, and their mouths up when going down, and.
their bottoms up when coming up; let there be as many vessells fixed to the.

page_text: chains at the same distance from one another, but three feet distance from each
of the former vessels, and with their mouths quite the contrary way; so that
the last when they go down they go with their bottoms up, and when they
come up they come up with their mouths up; and let the water come out of
the horrizontal tube, so that the vessels going down with their mouths up shall
receive one half of the water, and the vessels coming up with their mouths up
shall receive the other half; and let it be supposed that the pitt is sixty fathoms
deep, and the water is twenty four fathoms from the mouth of the pit, or from
the roller over which the chains and vessels are to turn, and the chains and the
vessells in equilibrio. Then let the water, on what we shall call the right side,
run into the vessels which go down with their mouths up on that side on which
there is thirty-six of these buckets below where the water is, and let the water
run out of the opposite side of the pitt also into the vessels which come up
with their mouths upward, where there will be but twenty-four above the
place where the water is. Now, supposing all the vessells of equal bignes, for
example, each holding a gallon, then it is evident that thirty-six gallans will out-
weigh and draw up the twenty-four gallons, and draw the vessells over the
roller at the top, where the water will run out of them when they turn the
roller & turn their mouths downwards; and as the water will constantly run
into the vessels on both sides, and as there will constantly be thirty-six buckets
with thirty-six gallons of water on one side, and but twenty-four gallons of
water on the other, there will be a constant revolution of the chains and
vessells, and the twenty-four always be emptied at the top, where the water is
to run into the cistern, which is to fill the vessells for drawing up the coals, and
the thirty-six will always empty themselves at the bottom of the pit as they
turn upon the opposite side to that in which they go down; and in such a pitt
one half of the water will be drawn up which comes out of the ring, when the
ring is at or below the middle of the pitt, then the vessels which bring up the
water must be less than the vessels which carry down the water; and where
the water is at two or three different places of the pitt, and at different dis-
tances from the surface, the vessels must be made so in number and measure
that the one side may draw up the other, and overcome the friction of the
machine too, and the uppermost ring should always supply the vessels which
carry up the water, and the lower rings the vessels which carry it down.
There may be also a roller near the bottom of the pitt, as in the machine for
drawing up the coals, round which the chains and vessells may come. To keep
the upgoing and downgoing vessels from touching one another, the vessels are
so to be affixed to the chain as to make them flatt on the side which touches
the rollers and round on the other side, which will be the outer side both in going

page_text: down and comeing up. But not only will this chain with buckets draw up
water when they are not drawing up coals, which may be conveyed from the
little cistern above the roller to a large cistern, from which it will return
again to the little cistern and draw up the coals; but where they want to
draw up coals night and day, it may be so adapted as to draw up water while
they are drawing coals. And not only will water issueing from the sides of the
pitt thus draw up water, but, where running water near the pitt is not so high
as the pitt mouth, or the roller over which the chains go which draw up the
coals, it
may, by a drift, be brought into the side of the pitt, and so operate as
the water issueing from the sides of the pitt. By such water issuing out of
the sides of the pitt, or brought into it as above, such a chain of vessells, as
above, will draw water from a pitt below levell up to the levell; for, supposing
the pitt sixty fathoms, as above, and the water to be drawn up twenty-four
fathoms below levell, and suppose the water only to fill the vessells at twenty-
four fathoms below the surface, and let the vessells be so fixed to the chains by
a centrical iron pin as to move somewhat above a quadrant out of the perpen-
dicular line, and let there be an obstacle a little above the levell, which the full
vessells with water going down can't pass without being kept more than a
quadrant back, by which means they will empty themselves into the levell, and
afterwards go down empty the twenty-four fathoms below the levell, and the
vessells, which have their mouths upwards when they go up, let them be so
made as to be moved more than a quadrant out of the perpendicular line a
little above the levell as they go up; then it is evident that the vessels
descending thirty-six fathoms full of water will draw up the same quantity of
water from twenty-four fathoms below levell, & overcome the friction too.
Thus the water may be drawn from below level, up to the levell, and water
drawn up to the cistern for the coals at the same time. If the quantity of
the descending water be able to draw up both waters to the levell
and to the cistern, by such a chain of vessells having their mouths all
one way, and taking in the whole water which comes out of the ring or
rings in the sides of the pitt, water may not only be drawn from below levell
out of a perpendicular pitt, but out of the sloping wastes of the coal (which
will save the expence of the perpendicular pitt below levell, and also of the
horizontal drift betwixt the bottom of that pitt and the coal, which is necessary
to bring the water from the coal to the bottom of that pitt). This is done
by having one or two chains made like the chain of a watch, which will
always have one & the same side touching the roller, which on that side
must have, on every peice of the chain at four inches distance, a peice of iron
'cross the chain, of four inches or so long, two broad, and one inch deep;
B

page_text: and the roller must havo peices of iron on it of six inches long, two inches
broad, and one inch thick or deep; there must be on the outside of the roller,
and placed at the same distance from one another as the like peices of iron
are upon the chains, & these all round the roller where each peice of the
chain touches it, so that when the chains are drawn round the roller by the
descending vessells the roller may be drawn surely round, and with all the
force of the weight of water in the vessells. Let this roller have a crank near
one end of it beyond where the chains are, and upon that crank let there be
a pump staff which reaches to the bottom of the pit, where a pump is to be
placed of four or fivo feet perpendicular height, and from the bottom of this a
sloping pump is to be laid down the waste of the colliery till it is five fathoms
or thirty feet perpendicular lower than the bottom of the pit, the chain of
vessels will turn round the roller and the crank, and so work the pump at the
bottom, and draw up the water from the coal five fathoms perpendicular below
the bottom of the pitt, and if there is no waste it will draw up the water as
they work down upon the coal, and if the depth that the water is to be drawn
from is more than five fathoms perpendicular below the bottom of the pitt,
then the pump staff can move sliding work, which will go down to the lowest
part of the coal, and there move a forcing pump, which will force the water
up through sloping pumps to the bottom of the pitt where the levell is
supposed to be. This will be of use for drawing water from below levell to the
levell, which water will serve to draw up the coals from below levell too, in
the manner above sett forth, and the same crank will force up water to a pitt
which lies higher, and which needs water for the cistern at the top of the pitt.
Another new way of raising water is by making an orifice in a frame damm
(as it is called), and making the water issuing out of that orifice with great
volocity fall on the spokes of a wheel, which will force up the water to draw up
the coals. Where coals are drawn from below levell, or below the levell of the
bottom of the engine pitt, and consequently the water which draws up the
coals is to be drawn up from below levell, or below the levell of the engine
pitt, & where there is water issueing out of the sides of the pitt, or water in
a higher seam of coal which can be brought into the pitt, the water may be
drawn from below lovell without a circle of buckets, as above described, by the
help of two buckets. Thus, suppose the water to be drawn up is eight
fathom below levell, and suppose the water in the upper coal or issuing from
the side of the pitt is nine or more fathoms above the levell; lett the water in
the upper coal be stopped up, and a valve placed on the mouth of it, which
remains shutt till it is opened; let the two chains which draw up the coals
have the frames for the corves and for the vessells with water placed so that

page_text: when the one frame is eight fathom below levell the other may be just below
where the water from the upper coal or out of the side of the pitt comes into
the pitt; but let the vessel which holds the water be placed in the bottom of
the frame where the corf of coal is placed when coals are drawn up, that is,
in that frame which goes down below the levell to draw up the water to it,
and in the other frame lett a vessell for holding water be placed where the corf
of coals used to be, and that beside the vessel for holding water above it, and
let there be put such a weight of stone or the like into the frame which draws
up the water as will make it heavier than the other frame with the vessels
for holding water; this machinery, being thus prepared, let the frame for
drawing up the water bo let down below level eight fathom to the water which
is to be drawn up, having a valve at bottom, opening upwards, it will fill full
of water, which we shall suppose two hundred pints. Now, the other frame,
which has two vessels for holding water, being at the place where the water
comes out of the upper coal, let the valve which holds in this water be opened,
and the water be made to run out into the two vessels with water in the other
frame which holds six hundred pints of water, then this frame will go down
and draw up the other eight fathom, that is to the levell, where, instead of
getting higher, the valve at the bottom shall be raised by the frames pressing
upwards, and when the water in it is run out into the level then this frame gets
up higher a fathom or more, and the other frame gets leave to go down so
much lower, where the valves of its vessels are opened, and the six hundred
pints of water runs out, after which, the frame on the other side being heavier
than the frame on this, the frame on the other side will descend again, & draw
up the frame on this side, when the frame which goes below levell will fill
itself as before, and the other frame will open the valve of the upper sean
water, and so draw up the water as before, and so on. Metals and rubbish
out of the mines aro drawn up the same way coals are drawn up where
there is but one pitt to draw them up in; but as in mines, at the foot of one
pitt there is often a horrazontal drift a certain number of fathoms, for example,
twenty, and at the end of that twenty fathom another pitt, and at the foot of
that pitt another horazontal drift, and at the end of that another pitt, which
pitts are called sumps in some places, so the way of drawing metals and
rubbish up through all those pitts in a cheaper rule than ordinary
is as follows:-For the first pitt let there be the same machinery as for
drawing up coals; at the bottom of this let there be a trough sufficient for
receiving as much water as draws up one bucketfull of metals or rubbish; and
from that trough let there be a pipe or spout through which the water
may run out of that trough along the horrizontal drift to the head of the
second pitt, where there must be another reservoir, and at the foot of that

page_text: second pitt another trough, and a pipe through the second horrizontal drift
to the head of the third pitt, where there is another little reservoir, and so
on, if there are more pitts or sumps, and more horrizontal drifts: in each
of these pitts let there be the machinery for drawing up, and then from
the surface lett water be lett down to fill all the reservoirs, which is dono
by letting down the first pitt so many bucketts full of water as will fill the
reservoir at the head of the second pitt, and tho man at the head of the
second pit is to let it down to fill the reservoir at the head of the third,
and so on; it is evident the troughs at the foot of every pitt will send it
to the reservoir at the head of the next pitt. The reservoirs being all full,
and the machinery for drawing erected in every pitt, let the metal or
rubbish be brought to the bottom of the lowest pitt in a little four-wheel
box; this may be put into the frame like the coals, and drawn up to the
head of that pitt; there the man at top of that pitt takes out the box
with metal, and puts in an empty box in place of it, & then he runs
the loaded box along the horrizontal drift to the foot of the next pitt,
when he putts it into a frame, and there it is drawn up by the men at
the top of it as the coals are, and then by him run along the next horrizontal
drift, and drawn up through the next pitt, and so on till it come to the
surface. Here it is supposed that the machinery for drawing in every pitt
is like the machinery for drawing up coals, that is, with two ropes or iron
chains over the roller, & with a frame for the box and for the vessell which
holds the water; but if the owner of the mine don't chuse to be at so much
charges, he may make one rope or chain and a single bucket serve, which
may carry down the water when it goes down, and hold the metal when it
comes up, and instead of little boxes with four wheels he may use the
ordinary wheelbarrows to carry the metal from the forehead to the bottom of
the lowest pitt, and through all the horrizontal drifts, and fill it into the buckett
at the foot of every pitt. Another new way of raising water is by having
a circle of little waggons full of water going down a waggon way full of
water on the one side, and comcing up empty on the other, and fixed to one
chain or two, like watch chains, with irons upon the chains like that above
described, and going round a roller with peices of iron like that above
described, only that roller having the axletree of it sloping, so as to make
a right angle with the slope of the waggon ways, and having a crank upon
its axletree, it will draw or force up water as well as the other. This will
be usefull where there is water in an old wast of coal, betwixt which and the
levell there is a sloping waste of coal, in which the waggon ways may be
laid, if the pavement is not smooth and firm, and the circle of waggons run
and so get the benefit of the fall of that water through that wast. Another

page_text: way of getting the benefitt of water running down through such a wast is
by conveying it down in a sloping pipe from the highest place the water
comes from to the bottom of the waste, and after letting the pipe be filled
allow the water to jett out at the bottom as fast as it comes in at the top,
and lett this jett fall upon the spokes of a wheel, which wheel may slope
like the waste of the coal, and run round in the waste without being at the
charge of cutting out room for it. This wheel will also draw or force up water
to draw up the coals.
It would be endless to mention the variations that might be made, and
yet the essence of this Invention used. I shall only mention onc, viz', that
in the sloping waggon ways below ground one rope may do instead of two,
and hooks hanging down from that rope at eighteen foot distance, instead of
the streight peices of iron, to take hold of the boxes in ascending and
descending; that the frames in which the corves or boxes of coals are drawn
up may be either timber or iron; and that the water by the descent of
which the coals are drawn up may be emptyed, not only by opening of
valves in the vessells which hold it, but by using a vessell which is hung by
pins a little above the center, and by raising the bottom to the levell of the
center, which will empty the water as well as the opening of the valves.
In witness whereof, I, the said Michael Meinzies, have hereunto put
my hand and seal, this Fifth day of June, in the twenty-third year
of the reign of His Majesty King George the Second, and in the
year of our Lord Christ One thousand seven hundred and fifty.
MICH MEINZIES.
Signed, sealed, and delivered (being
first duly stamped) in the presence of
THO* DRUCE.
AND BE IT REMEMBRED, that on the said Fifth day of June the
aforesaid Michael Meinzies came before our Lord the King in His Chancery,
and acknowledged the Writing aforesaid, and every thing therein contained
& specified, in form above said. And the said Writing was stamped according
to the Statute made in the sixth year of the reign of the late King William
and Queen Mary, and so forth.
Inrolled the said Fifth day of June, in the said twenty-third year of the