Brattice

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title: "Brattice" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["mine-ventilation"] description: "Partition used to ventilate a mineshaft" topic_path: "general/mine-ventilation" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brattice" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Partition used to ventilate a mineshaft ::

A brattice is a partition used in mining. It is built between columns of a sub-surface mine to direct air for ventilation.{{Cite news |url=https://iln.org.uk/iln_years/year/1862a.htm |journal=The Illustrated London News |date=January 25, 1862 |issue=1129 |page=81 |title=The Hartley Pit Disaster |journal=The Mechanics' Magazine |title=The Hartley Catastrophe |volume=76 |date=31 January 1862 |page=59 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zJsAAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA59

Depending on the type of mine and how the operation is run, brattices can be permanent (concrete or wood) or temporary (cloth). Temporary installations are also called curtains.

Early collieries sometimes only had one pit which was divided by a brattice. A furnace was kept burning within the pit and the hot air rose up the one side of the brattice (the upcast side) drawing cold air down the other (the downcast side). One such pit was Hartley pit. In 1862 the beam of the pumping engine failed and brought down part of the lining resulting in the pit being blocked. All the men trapped underground died from carbon monoxide poisoning as a consequence of the lack of ventilation. As a result, an Act of Parliament was passed later in the year requiring all collieries to have at least two shafts. Rather than bratticing one shaft, it was more convenient to use one shaft as the upcast pit and the other as the downcast pit. Underground however, brattices remained vitally important for directing the current of air throughout the whole of the colliery.

In an 1868 article titled "Coal" in the All the Year Round periodical, the author describes the workings of a ventilation shaft in a mine and a brattice:

Etymology

Brattice, from the French bretèche, originally referred to part of a castle. This was a small wooden structure, sometimes temporary, that projected out beyond the main part of a castle wall, so as to give flanking fire along that wall whilst still offering some degree of protection. See hoarding.

References

References

1. (1868). "Coal". [[All the Year Round]].

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