Photograph courtesy of National Museum of Wales
These three men are working in a stall removing coal, using a mandrel, bar and shovel. A coal bar was pointed at one end, while the other end was chisel shaped. It was around five feet long and used for wedging between cracks in the coal to remove it from the coal face. The bar was one of the main tools used underground, and it was used for many different jobs, for instance removing broken timbers, making holes for timber supports, heaving rails into place, etc.
If you find yourself in the company of an old miner, and he uses the expression ‘Well, it's time to put the tools on the bar’. What that means is he is ready to go home. For underground a miner kept his tools on the coal bar. The coal bar had a hole about 9 or ten inches from the top of it, and through this hole is another smaller bar of around 10inches long and half inch in diameter. The reason for this second bar was to receive a workman’s tools, for instance a hatchet, which would have a hole in the handle, or ‘Helve’, and would be slipped on the bar, while a shovel would have had a hole drilled in the corners of the blade, or a mandrel or pick, again with a hole in the handle, and other tools one would require to do the job of work. Once the end of the shift was near, a boy would be expected to collect up the tools, and put them on the bar and lock them up. This was done by standing the coal bar in a vertical position, with the short bar pointing toward oneself. It was this short bar that went through the holes in the tools, and on which they were received. In order to lock the tools, a "T" shaped piece of metal with a hole to receive the lock was inserted through a slot in the short bar and a lock was applied.
When the mandrel or pick needed sharpening, it was done by the colliery blacksmith. On some mandrels the blade was detachable, making it easier to carry up the pit.
In these early days, candles were the main source of light, these were held by a candle holder which had a spike to be driven into an upright timber, or somewhere convenient, But carbide lamps were also used.. There were two main types of these. One, the smaller of them, could be attached to the miners cap. There were also larger ones. These were designed to hang on the belt or any convenient place. They held water which was allowed to drip onto a substance called Calcium Carbide, which gave off acetylene gas at a small jet, this gave a very white light, and the smaller one could be lit with a small flint and wheel which was attached to the reflector of the lamp. This reflector enhanced the light considerably. The cap lamp was usually made of brass, while the larger type were mainly galvanised iron.
