My grandfather Jim Starkey was a deputy at Glascote and Amington Collieries near Tamworth, Staffs through 1910s 20s and 30s. I've got 2 questions:

(1) I've read that a Deputy's stick (a yard long) was used as a sign of authority: to measure between pit props: and to hang a lamp on to test for gas. Was it also used for tapping the roofs of galleries to test for falls. He was buried 3 times and dug out by another deputy.

(2) Did deputies work in pairs in case one was buried as in my grandfather's case. Or did a deputy go in with an assistant deputy who was learning the ropes?

Hello I am afraid I cannot Be much help at all but have seen a video with writing when a group of investors was getting shown around in the 1940s in a iron mine , to test for the needs of supports they hit the ceiling with a iron bar they could tell by noise if it needed support or not , not all levels need supports all depends on the stone itself and how much is left in .I guess this varies all over the country also depending on styles etc


Tom

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My grandfather Jim Starkey was a deputy at Glascote and Amington Collieries near Tamworth, Staffs through 1910s 20s and 30s. I've got 2 questions:

(1) I've read that a Deputy's stick (a yard long) was used as a sign of authority: to measure between pit props: and to hang a lamp on to test for gas. Was it also used for tapping the roofs of galleries to test for falls. He was buried 3 times and dug out by another deputy.

(2) Did deputies work in pairs in case one was buried as in my grandfather's case. Or did a deputy go in with an assistant deputy who was learning the ropes?

(1) is just about right - the status - often other markings to measure a foot etc. as well - and used for sounding roof. Not easy to hang a lamp off though........

(2) Didn't usually work in pairs though a "deputy's traveller", a workman, might accompany him if inspecting remote airways etc. - or as you suggest if under training.

A deputy's stick was used for detecting gas but only in much later times when deputies carried Garforth lamps and had a gadget to fill a remote sample bulb using their stick for reach.
Certainly not in the 30's or earlier.

However, sticks did have a dimple in the top of the handle which you could (conceivably) hang a lamp from. Although how you would read a gas cap from 3 feet away is beyond me, maybe you would whip the lamp down quickly and read a cap on the gas in the lamp?. Maybe it would tell you if there was a 100% roof layer because the lamp would burn up?
Or maybe the dimple was only there from the machine that turned the sticks (more likely).
I have never seen a stick used except with a Garforth attachment.

Yardsticks in West Yorkshire had a hole drilled in the hand end which was deep enough to accept the hanging hook of a safety lamp. When the Garforth version of the lamp was introduced, in the late 1960’s, the deputy carried a small remotely operated valve along with the aspirator bulb, that could be triggered by a length of string.

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Thanks for clear reply. I though it sounded wrong hanging a Davy Lamp on the end of the stick in the 30s.

In one photo a stick had a bobble on one end - not part of the tiuning but stuck on. I don't know whether this had any connection with the Garforth lamp.

I don't understand...'tell you if there was 100% roof layer because the gas lamp would burn up.' Please cd you explain.

Also, re roof-tapping, I'm puzzled how anything as light as the stick could detect potential roof falls. I've read of banging with iron bars. I've also read that roof falls could be predicted through different sorts of rumblings and a wet patch either side of the bit that was due to fall.

In the pit village where my gdfather was a dep. quite a few miners had plates in their heads from roof falls. He was in his 70s when he was buried and carried back home on a hand cart. In bed 3 months. Ended up in the lamp house.

Also, re roof-tapping, I'm puzzled how anything as light as the stick could detect potential roof falls. I've read of banging with iron bars. I've also read that roof falls could be predicted through different sorts of rumblings and a wet patch either side of the bit that was due to fall.

Even tapping with your finger could detect loose rock. Whatever you use for tapping doesn't necessarily have to be heavy unless you want to bring down the dangerous bit without any further testing. It also depends on the thickness of the loose rock how hard you need to tap.
Tapping or sounding the roof is just testing for loose rock. You need different tools if you want to make it safe and scale the roof.

If it's already rumbling or getting wet you'd better get out of the way of whatever started moving.

I've had to abandon several bolting locations after tapping with the hammer - it should ring like a bell in limestone, but some sections in Odin Mine sounded more like an old wardrobe when struck ;)

But you get quite good at it after a while and do develop a bit of a 'nose' for it, if that's an appropriate term.

First, remember that a Deputy was a highly trained, and experienced man.
Tapping walls or roofs to check firmness will give distinctive sounds if loose rock is present, a metal or wood tool can be used as the difference in sound is still clear.
Also the deputies stick can be used to check the tightness (safety) of wooden pit props. Again the sound is very different between loose and tight timbers.
In many circumstances, you want to give walls, or timberwork a gentle tap, not a good thrashing which could bring it all down on top of you!

There's an old Durham miner's song "Jowl, jowl and listen" about testing the stability of your working area by tapping with the pick handle and listening to the sound it made - the chorus of this song goes:

Jowl, jowl and listen, lad,
Ye'll hear the coal face workin'.
There's many a marra missin', lad,
Because they wadna't listen, lad.

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I don't understand...'tell you if there was 100% roof layer because the gas lamp would burn up.' Please cd you explain.

If you put a lamp into a high concentration of gas it goes beyond showing a gas cap and will flare up inside. This is not to be recommended as whilst the gauzes of the lamp prevent fire getting out, if the gauzes get red hot they can transmit out. (Same reason you should not have too high a flame anyway.) The procedure is to lower the lamp to the floor ASAP and smother it with whatever you have to hand, like your jacket.