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Evan Roberts
| Age: | 23 |
| Died: | 29th Dec 1858 |
| Accident: | 29th Dec 1858 |
| Year Born: | abt. 1835 |
| Colliery: | Osier Bed |
| Company: | H. M. Sparrow |
| Occupation: | Bandsman |
| Notes: | A 3 link wooden chain broke through falling off the pulley, which did not work true |
| Buried: | [not known] |
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| Description | |
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No. 115. This most melancholy accident occurred through the breaking of a three-link chain, commonly called a wood chain, from the blocks of wood inserted to keep the links from bending, and to keep the three lines of links together.
The pit had been at work all day, and the last set of men were coming up, when about nine yards from the bottom a jerk was felt, and five men and one boy precipitated to the bottom, the dolly, a mass of iron 3½ cwt. and 64 yards of chain about 1,600 lbs. falling upon them. Three men were killed, and the others more or less injured. It was evident the original cause was the chain falling off the pulley, and getting jammed between the pulley and the carriage, and that the jerk caused the chain to snap at that portion of the links where the next links are attached. The cause of its getting off the pulley is not so clear, the pulley and frames were slightly atwist, but scarcely so much so as in itself to account for this.
W. Williams, the ground bailiff, attributed it, (and with some probability) to the banksman having pulled the chain over sideways, to lift in the tackling skip which had drawn a part of the chain on to the flange of the pulley, and being empty it had gone down in that way, and when the weight had got on had ridden on the flange so far and then dropped off. It being dark at night, about 6 p.m., this might occur without being seen by the banksman. In testing portions of the chain, I found that, although the long portion of the link was of excellent fibre and appearance, the portions where the links are connected had more or less been converted into a crystalline form, a change of molecular structure well known to be caused by a constant percussive action.
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| Sources | |
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- 1858 Mines Inspectors Report, by Henry G. Longridge, H.M. Inspector of Mines, Page: 90
- 1858 Mines Inspectors Report, by Henry G. Longridge, H.M. Inspector of Mines, Page: 97, Accident Number: 115
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