FACE. — The innermost extremity of a place working into the solid coal or stone.

FACING. — A cleat.

FALL. — A dropping down of the roof. Bucket or clack lids. (See Bucket.)

FAST AND OPEN POINTS. — An arrangement at each end of a siding which by means of groves not so deep as the flange on one side, and deeper on the other side of the way, enables the sets, whether going in or outbye, each to keep its own bye-way, without any switch.

FAST-SHOT. — (See Standing Bobby.)

FAST-WALL. — A sheth-wall. The wall in which the bearing-up or bearing-down stoppings are placed. (See Coursing.)

FAST-JENKING. — (See Jenking.)

FAULT. — Any hitch, slip-dyke, or nip, &c., which renders a portion of the seam valueless.

FEEDER. — A spring or runner of water.

FIERY. — A colliery which produces firedamp in dangerous quantity is called fiery.

FIERY-HEAP. — The deposit of rubbish and waste or unsaleable coal hich usually takes fire spontaneously.

FIRE-CLAY. — A refractory clay or shale. (See Sagre Clay.)

FIRED. — A colliery is said to have fired when an explosion of firedamp has taken place.

FIRE-DAMP. — Light carburetted hydrogen gas. It is found in most coal mines, and is most abundant in the vicinity of slips and dykes. (It has been found in the lead-mines of Derbyshire.) It is only explosive when mixed with from 5 to 14 times its bulk of atmospheric air. Its specific gravity is 0.5594. It is fatal to animal life when in a concentrated state, but, when mixed with air, may be respired to a great extent without apparent injury. It may be produced artificially by distilling in a coated glass flask at a red heat, the following mixture :— 1 part of stick potassa. 1 part of dried acetate of soda. 1½ part of quick-lime. All rubbed to fine powder and well dried.

FIRE-LAMP. — A round iron cage supported on three legs, or hung by chains, in which a coal fire is maintained for the convenience of the banksmen and skreeners. Also sometimes placed at the bottom of a shaft to produce ventilation in opening out a colliery.

FIRST WORKING. — (See Whole.)

FISH. — To catch up a drowned clack by means of a fishbead. (See Fish-head.)

FISH-BELLIED. — An early form of railway rail which had its gr eatest depth half-way between the supporting chairs, the lower edge being elliptically curved between chair and chair. Cast-iron rails were made of this form. Malleable iron rails of the fish-belly pattern manufactured at Bedlington Ironworks under a patent granted to John Birkinshaw and dated December 2, 1820, were used on the Stockton and Darlington Railway at its commencement.

FISH-HEAD. — An instrument used to draw a clack when covered with water and inaccessible by means of the clack door. It is attached to the bottom rod and lowered down through the pumps and past the clack bow, in passing which two shoulders kept out by springs are forced back into the fish-head, after having passed which, the shoulders are pressed out by the springs, and catching under the bow draw the clack to the bucket door or top of the pump.

FISSLE, FISTLE. — To make a crepitant noise or faint crackling. This is heard in early stages of creep.

FITTER. — A coal broker who conducts the sales of coals between the owner of a colliery and the shipper.

FLANCH OR FLANGE. — The crease or raised part or rim of a waggon or tub wheel running on edge rails. Also the projecting rim at the end of pumps by means of boltholes through which the length of pumps is bolted together. Before the bolts are put in weizes made of rope, or spun yarn, or of india rubber, or lead are put between the flanges, inside of the bolts. When the weizes are of lead they should be caulked with a flat-edged chisel after being screwed up

FLANK-HOLE. — (See Bore.) Also a hole put in the flank or side of a drift to widen it by putting in a shot.

FLAT. — (See Crane.)

FLAT-LAD. — (See Craneman.)

FLAT-SHEETS. — Square or oblong sheets of cast-iron about ¾ inch thick which are nailed upon planking at the top or bottom of a pit and form a metal floor for the free moving about of the coal tubs. They are often also used in the workings where roads cross or converge, as at the top and bottom of small inclines, &c.

FLEET. — "Fleet the rope," or "Fleet the crab." The main crab-rope has three or four turns round the main crab and the tail end of the rope is wound up taut on the tail crab, but as the process goes on, the coil upon the main crab rises, and requires adjusting back or lowering from time to time. To do this a scotch or sprag is put in between the rope and the crab-rope sheave at the bottom of the shearlegs, which securely grips the rope at that point. The crabs are then eased and the crab-rope being slightly slacked the coils are lowered down to their proper position. This operation is "fleeting the rope." With a steam crab there is no " fleeting."

FLOOR. — The surface of the stratum immediately underlying the coal.

FLUE. — A horizontal chimney from boilers at a distance from the upcast shaft. They require constant and careful examination and are frequent causes of accident. Also the return channels by the side of, or through boilers, by which a greater surface is exposed to the beat of the boiler fires.

FLY-DOOR. — (See Door.)

FLYING CRADLE. — (See Cradle.)

FOAL. — (See Headsman.)

FOLLOWING-IN. is when one man works after another in the same place. The same consideration attaches to it as to double working.

FOLLOWING-STONE. — (See Ramble.)

FORCING-SET. — A description of pump in which the engine lifts a column of dry spears at the bottom of which there is fixed a ram or plunger which works through a stuffing-box or gland into a vertical chamber beneath. When the engine lifts the rain the water follows it into the chamber through the bottom clack. With the descending stroke the ram forces the water up the rising main, in which a little above the cross pipe there is also a clack.

FORE HEADWAYS. — (See Head ways.)

FORE OVERMAN. — (See Overman.)

FORE-SHIFT. — "The first shift of hewers who go down from 2 to 3 hours before the boys." (Nicholson.)

FORE-WINNING. — Winning out in front of other workings.

FOTHER. — A measure of coals, being 1/3 of a chaldron, or 17 2/3 cwt.; a good single horse cart load.

FOUL. — In an inflammable state from fire-damp having accumulated.

FOUL-COAL. — " Bad coal; soft, danty, or hitch coal; unfit for sale." (Nicholson.) — (See Dant.)

FOX-WEDGE. — A long wedge driven between two other wedges with their thick ends placed in the opposite direction; it is used to bring forward into the pit the lower part of a segment of metal tubbing if when being wedged it should tend to fall backward out of the true line. It is also called a stob and feather, or plug and feather. An application of this principle to wedging coal was made by the writer in 1869. Two pieces of steel, rounded at the back, and tapered in front as above. were pushed to the far end of a 2½ inch drill hole, and a wedge, being the end of a stout bar, was driven between them. The result was satisfactory.

FRAME DAM. — A dam made of wood and of various thickness, say from 3 to 8 feet, according to the pressure and size of the place in which it is required to be placed. A frame dam is formed of balks of fir-wood, placed endways against the pressure, and tapered, but with the top and bottom surfaces parallel, and accurately dressed and numbered. The coal in a drift where it is proposed to place a dam, should be perfectly sound and strong, and should be cut back at each side, and dressed true to the sweep of the circle to which the balks are cut. When the balks of wood are well in their places, the joints are firmly wedged until the whole is perfectly tight. It would add to the security of these dams if 8 or 10 yards of strong ashlar or brick walling with cement were put in behind them, commencing at 5 or 6 yards back from the dam, to notch the stone-work into the coal walls so as to bind the whole together. It is necessary during the erection of the dam to make provision for the passage of the feeder of water and for the workmen wedging the dam on the inside, with plugs to be drawn through on closing, and also for an outset pipe.

Under moderate pressure the balks may, if the dam is only required to be of small size, be placed crossways and laid upon each other, and then wedged; or, they may, for still slighter resistance, be constructed of two rows of 3-inch planks set on edge, and parallel, say 18 inches apart, with good clay or sifted dry soil carefully rammed between the sides. They must be well supported on both sides by good props.

FREE LEVEL. — (See Adit.)

FUR, FURRING. — The deposit, usually carbonate of lime, from limestone or other impregnated water, in pipes, boilers, &c.

FURNACE. — A large fire placed near the bottom of the upcast shaft, which by rarifying the air contained in the upcast shaft, causes that disturbance of equilibrium between its column and a column of cold air of equal length, which occasions a constant current of air to travel to and up the upcast shaft. This current is, by proper arrangements, employed to ventilate the colliery workings. The size of the furnace will, of course, vary with the requirements of the mine in which it is to be placed. Thus a furnace 6 feet in width, which in one seam of coal and for the confined workings of a small colliery, would be ample, would be found quite inadequate to cause an efficient ventilation of extended workings in a fiery seam of coal. A furnace of the width of 10 feet with the bars 6 feet long — the height above the bars to be 5 feet, with the arch elliptical — the area of the furnace drift to the upcast shaft to he not less than 50 square feet, and to rise from the back of the furnace to the shaft at the rate of 1 in 3, the whole being well attended to, will in most cases be sufficient, In a very extensive colliery where much ventilation is necessary, two or even three such furnaces are applied.

FURTHERANCE. — 4d. per score paid in addition to the putting price to hewers for putting. (1849.)

FUZE. — Used in blasting as a substitute for a "kitty." It consists of a waterproof flexible tube about the size of the shank of a clay tobacco pipe, with a fine core of gunpowder or other composition. It is placed in the cartridge and stemmed with it in the shot-hole. It affords, after being ignited, ample time for safe retirement before the explosion takes place. It is frequently ignited by electricity. (See Kitty; Match).