By William N.T. Wylie
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In both mountain and plains
mines, the preparation plant usually consisted of an elevated
building, sometimes called a tipple, located at the junction of
transportation systems coming from the mine entrance and the
outside world. The rail spur, used to ship the coal
to market, frequently ran under the building to facilitate
loading. Coal was carried along the tracks from the mine entry
in coal cars, pulled by mechanized rope equipment, or by
compressed air or electric locomotives in the mountains. By the
1930s, covered conveyors were also used to connect the entries
and tipple at some sites, such as the Atlas mine in the
Drumheller Valley.1
In the plant, the coal went
through several stages. It was first weighed and dumped. Moving
along conveyors, it was then screened by size, as it traveled
over metal plates or bars with openings of various dimensions.
The coal was carried across the screens by means of gravity if
the metal plates were inclined, or by means of the oscillating
action of the screens themselves. First developed in the United
States, vibrating or oscillating screens, powered by
electricity, had become quite common by the 1920s. Regardless of
the screen types, the larger coal pieces moved on, while the
smaller ones dropped through to another level. Depending on the
sizes desired, the coal might proceed across several screens
with progressively smaller openings.2
Cleaning took place before,
during, or after screening. Until the 1930s, the most common
process was manual cleaning. The coal was dumped on a picking
table, which might be stationary, a moving conveyor, or an
inclined surface. The impurities, such as rock, were removed by
hand. The picking process tended to be closely associated with
screening, and there often was a table adjacent to each size of
screen. Manual cleaning was used at smaller mines in the region
until at least the 1950s.3
William N.T. Wylie, "Coal-Mining Landscapes:
Commemorating Coal Mining in Alberta and Southeastern British
Columbia," a report prepared for the Historic Sites and
Monuments Board of Canada, Parks Canada Agency, 2001.
See Also:
The Coal
IndustryOverview, Rapid Expansion,
Domestic and Steam Coalfields,
1914-1947: The Struggling Industry,
Collapse and Rebirth,
Settlement of the West,
Issues and ChallengesOverview,
Entrepreneurship, Technology,
Underground Techniques,
Surface Technology,
Surface Mining,
Social Impacts,
Unions,
1882-1913: Unionization and Early Gains,
1914-1920: Revolutionary Movement,
1921-1950s: Labour Unrest and
Setbacks, Mining Companies, People of
the Coal Mines,
The Middle Class,
Miners and Local
Government,
Politics and Economics ,
Environmental Impacts,
Health and SafetyOverview,
The State and
Labour Relations,
The State and
Development after 1918
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