FAST BAY (L.).

FAST END. The limit of a stall in one direction, or where the face line of the adjoining stall is not up or level with, nor in advance

of it. See Fig. 68. Three stalls are here shown; the face of the middle one is represented by the line ab; the end a is a fast end; that at b is called the loose end.

FAST NEEDLE. See Dialling.

Fig. 68.

στατι

stall

G

FAST SHOT. A heavy or miss-shot. See Shooting

catches or shuts in midworkings. Fig. 69 is a side elevation, showing the action of the catches.

FAULT. Generally means a fracture or disturbance of the strata breaking the continuity of the beds. There are

several kinds of faults, e. g. Faults of Dislocation, Fig. 70 (1); of Denudation (2); Upheaval (3); Trough

Fault (4); Reverse or Overlap Fault (5); Step Fault (6); Thinning out (7). Faults of displacement (1) are sometimes of many hundred yards throw, and run through the country for many miles. Those of type (2)

are frequently of great extent, being several hundred yards in width, and running through miles of country; (3), (4), and (5) are not of common occurrence; but (6) and (7) are types of faults met with in most coalfields.

FAULT-SLIP. The smooth surface of the fractured rocks at a fault of No. (1), (4), and (6) types, always to be found in the lines ab.

FEATHERS. Two long wedge-shaped pieces of steel or iron which are inserted at the back of a drill hole in coal, between which a long wedge is driven up, forcing the feathers apart, and thereby breaking down or loosening the coal.

FEE (M.). To load up the coal, &c., in a heading into tubs.

FEED. Forward motion imparted to the cutters or drills of rock-drilling or coal-cutting machinery, either hand or automatic.

FEEDER. 1. An underground spring or regular flow of water proceeding from the strata or from old coal or other workings.

2. A small blower.

FEER (M.). One who fees.

FEEL (S. S.). To examine the roof of a thick seam of coal with a long stick or rod by poking and knocking upon it.

FEIGH. Refuse coal or waste slack.

FENCE-GUARDS (S. S.). Rails fixed round the mouth of a pit-shaft, or across the shaft at an inset or at midworkings to keep people and things from falling in. FEND OFF BOB. A beam hinged at one end and Fig. 71.

Fend off Bob

having a free reciprocating motion, fixed at a bend in a shaft or upon an inclined plane, to regulate the motion

of and to guide the pump rods passing round the bend. See Fig. 71.

FETTLING (N.). Cleaning up and putting tidy any underground roadway, &c.

FIEG (S. W.). A crack in the roof, often letting in water.

FIELD. 1. A term used to signify a large tract or area of many square miles of coal. See Coalfield. 2. A colliery, or firm of colliery proprietors.

3. The immediate locality and surroundings of an explosion.

FIELD BOX (S. S.). A colliery accident club.

FIELD CLUB. A sick or accident club or society supported and managed by the Owners or Lessees of a colliery.

FIERY. Containing the explosive gas called firedamp, which see.

FIERY MINE. A colliery in which the seam or seams of coal being worked give off considerable quantities of light carburetted hydrogen gas. Mines subject to blowers are specially fiery. In England the mines of Lancashire, South Wales, Durham, and Yorkshire, are the most fiery.

FIGHTING. When the weight or pressure of the ventilating current of air in a mine becomes equal or nearly so in both the downcast and upcast shafts, and no appreciable movement is caused in the air, that is to say, when the motion of the air is first in one direction and then in another, the pit is said to be fighting.

FILL. To load trams in the mine.

FILLER. One who fills at a working place or in a stall.

FILLING. The places where trams are loaded in the workings.

FILTY (Som.). A local term for fire-damp.

FIND. A sinking or driving for coal, &c., attended with success.

FINGER GRIP. A tool used in boring for gripping the upper end of the rods.

FIRE. 1. A collier's term for the explosive gas met with in mines.

2. To blast with gunpowder.

3. To explode or blow up. The expression "the pit has fired" signifies that an explosion of fire-damp has taken place.

4. A gob fire.

5. A word painted upon a piece of board and fixed in the workings to indicate the presence of gas or other danger beyond it.

6. A word shouted out by colliers to warn one another when a shot is fired.

FIRE BANK (M.). A spoil-bank which takes fire spontaneously.

FIRE-BOSSES (U. S. A.). Underground officials who examine the mine for gas, and inspect every safety lamp taken into the colliery by the men.

FIRE-BOARD. A piece of board with the word fire painted upon it, and suspended to a prop, &c., in the workings, to caution men and lads not to take a naked