Miner's Drill
code: LVSAV1987.004
Description
Cast iron ratchet drill, "P.A.D." engraved on block head. 2'6" drill bit, c. 1920.
Drummond of West Calder, the local blacksmith was renowned for the quality of his ratchet drills, usually stamped with his name on the shank Shale was mined by drilling a series of shot holes then inserting explosive charges. An upright prop or "tree" was jammed between the floor and the roof and the hand powered borer was then jammed between the shale face and the tree. As the handle of this racket "rickety" borer is turned it turns the cutting bit and, by a screw arrangement, forces the bit into the rockface. Drilling a metre deep shothole in the hard shale could take half an hour of laborious work. Often twelve holes were required to progress the whole shale face by a metre.