advice needed on Bedford united· Page 2

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derrickman
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Newbie

13 years ago

#21

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunter 's_chain .. this was still taught at CSM as late as the 1970s, I remember the first fieldwork on the survey course being a chain survey of the KEM surface buildings.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fathom . The great expansion of deep shaft mining for copper in Cornwall was the result of the demand for brass in the Industrial Revolution; if you were looking for men with experience of ladders, ropework, windlasses and handling large timbers and other heavy weights in confined spaces, you would get seamen.

''the stopes soared beyond the range of our caplamps' - David Bick...... How times change .... oh, I don't know, I've still got a lamp like that.

Tamarmole
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13 years ago

#22

I've always subscribed to the "nautical practices" theory regarding the use of fathoms. It is also worth noting that other nautical tems such as captain and purser crossed over into Cornish mining

dangerous dave
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Newbie Topic Starter

13 years ago

#23

"Tamarmole" wrote:
The adit by the bridge on theCornish is bank is part of Old Gunnislake (Bonney lode)

The adit with standing water is Phillips Lode (Bedford United). there is flooded stope in there which is a tad dodgy if you get your footing wrong.

ah ok will be mindfull of that thanks for the advice on that one take it the stope is underwater and cant be seen if the water is muddy
I did old Gunnislake last year that was quite a good one will have to go back and revisit that one

derrickman
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13 years ago

#24

"Tamarmole" wrote:
I've always subscribed to the "nautical practices" theory regarding the use of fathoms. It is also worth noting that other nautical tems such as captain and purser crossed over into Cornish mining

if you look at the dates you will see that there was a great expansion in Cornish mining following the Seven Years' War, as the Industrial Revolution progressed.

The Seven Years' War ( 1756-63) tends to be somewhat overlooked, or confused with the later Napoleonic Wars, with a massive expansion of the Navy followed by a rapid and drastic demobilisation.

''the stopes soared beyond the range of our caplamps' - David Bick...... How times change .... oh, I don't know, I've still got a lamp like that.

Trewillan
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Newbie

13 years ago

#25

"Roy Morton" wrote:
Just another thought, which I should have mentioned long before now, is that horizontal progress was also measured in fathoms, certainly in Cornwall anyway....

The only reason I can think of to keep the same unit of measurement in both vertical and horizontal planes, is simplicity. Confusion cannot arise if one unit is used......Maybe!

Previous dozen posts have been on this very subject, so don't worry about not mentioning it.

So was it only in Cornwall that fathoms were used for horizontal distances?

Good point about a consistent unit, stoping could then be measured in square fathoms (=4 square yards). Multiply that by the lode width and you have the volume, being careful with the units, if lode width is expressed in yards, feet and inches.

Trewillan
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Newbie

13 years ago

#26

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunter 's_chain ..

Scope for confusion there, there is the 22yard chain made from 100 links - hence the units "chain" and "link" Also a surveyor's chain of 100 feet, Can't remember which of those is called the Gunter chain.

There is also the 30 metre version of the 100 foot chain.

Interesting that surveyors still commonly refer to distances as "chainages", probably fifty years or more after chains were used for this purpose. And a surveyor's assistant is still called a "chain-lad", from his original role of dragging the thing around.

Tamarmole
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Newbie

13 years ago

#27

"dangerous dave" wrote:

"Tamarmole" wrote:
The adit by the bridge on theCornish is bank is part of Old Gunnislake (Bonney lode)

The adit with standing water is Phillips Lode (Bedford United). there is flooded stope in there which is a tad dodgy if you get your footing wrong.

ah ok will be mindfull of that thanks for the advice on that one take it the stope is underwater and cant be seen if the water is muddy
I did old Gunnislake last year that was quite a good one will have to go back and revisit that one

Be aware that the radon levels in Old Gunnislake are reputed to be fairly mental - this is due to the proximity to Great Green and Little Green Lodes which contain torbenite (a uranium ore).

lozz
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Newbie

13 years ago

#28

If the stope was less than one fathom in width then a price was set per running fathom, ie: hieght x length the price was higher as more work was needed to break out the rock.
The cubic fathom was also used as a measure of timber volume and maybe other things.

Lozz.

dangerous dave
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Newbie Topic Starter

13 years ago

#29

yes we just limited our time in there to avoid the issues from radon. guess thats an issue with the cornwall mines tho

Tamarmole
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Newbie

13 years ago

#30

"dangerous dave" wrote:
yes we just limited our time in there to avoid the issues from radon. guess thats an issue with the cornwall mines tho

I wouldn't get too hung up about the radon thing - it is something to be aware of but I wouldn't loose any sleep over it

dangerous dave
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Newbie Topic Starter

13 years ago

#31

"Tamarmole" wrote:

"dangerous dave" wrote:
yes we just limited our time in there to avoid the issues from radon. guess thats an issue with the cornwall mines tho

I wouldn't get too hung up about the radon thing - it is something to be aware of but I wouldn't loose any sleep over it

the amount of crap ive walked thru breathed n god knows what else doing topside explores it wont phase me much

derrickman
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Newbie

13 years ago

#32

I honestly can't remember which one was used at CSM. I have certainly never used one in a work environment. Dragging out Hooper and Winiberg ( 5th Edition, 1966 ) I see no mention of the subject.

Chainages are still referred to in civil engineering but in marine work they are called KP ( Kilo Post ) although the actual meaning of the abbreviation is almost never heard. Pipelines still use literal posts as markers.

''the stopes soared beyond the range of our caplamps' - David Bick...... How times change .... oh, I don't know, I've still got a lamp like that.