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Full Details

Surname
?
Forename
?
Day
NK
Month
NK
Year
1925
Age
Occupation
Mine/Quarry Name
Newcraighall
Mineral Worked
Coal
Owner
Niddrie & Benhar Coal Co. Ltd
Location
Newcraighall
County
Edinburghshire
Details of Event
Information from the Inspectors of Mines - 1925: Shaft Accident Newcraighall Colliery, Edinburgh, an overwind was caused by the inadvertence of the winding engineman when the morning shift was being lowered and the night shift was ascending. It was estimated that the speed of the cages was from 5 to 12 miles hour when the impact with the pit bottom occurred and 14 of 15 men on the descending cage were injured. The overwind preventer failed to prevent the detaching hook coming into operation, but it retarded the speed to a crawl and no one in the upgoing cage was hurt. Three points in connection with this accident are worth mentioning (1) It was found that one jaw of the detaching hook had been cracked almost through for some time and all the weight of the cage had been hanging from a single plate ; (2) the overwind preventer had an overspeed device that operated in steps corresponding to about 23 ft. of rope travel. It was possible for an engineman to negotiate successfully the last overspeed trip and then to increase the speed considerably before the end of the wind. The device has since been altered so that the final overspeed trip acts only 12 ft. from the end of the run ; (3) it was found that the winding engineman was temperamentally unfit for the work.