Skip

A steel container that runs on guide rails up and down a mine shaft to hoist broken ore or waste to the surface, distinct from a cage, which carries men and materials rather than bulk rock.

Historical usage

Skips became the standard means of shaft haulage as mines mechanised beyond simple kibbles and horse whims, running in fixed guides within the shaft rather than hanging freely on a rope, allowing much higher speeds and loads without swinging or snagging.

How it worked

A skip is loaded with broken rock at depth, then hoisted to the surface by a winding engine, where it can usually be tipped automatically to discharge its load before returning underground; many mines ran a balanced pair of skips on the same winding drum, one descending empty as the other was hoisted full, reducing the net load the engine had to lift at any moment.

Why it was used

A guided skip could be hoisted much faster and more safely than a freely hanging kibble, and its automatic tipping mechanism did away with the manual unloading a kibble or bucket required at the surface, making it far better suited to the continuous, high-volume haulage that larger, deeper 19th- and 20th-century mines needed.

Risks & limitations

A skip's guided rails demanded a straighter, better-engineered shaft than older, less regular workings could always offer, so converting an older mine to skip haulage was itself a significant engineering undertaking, not a simple like-for-like swap.

Regional variation

'Skip' is used across British coal and metal mining alike for this kind of guided ore/waste conveyance, distinguishing it consistently from the 'cage' used to carry men.

Sources

1. (secondary) Hoist (mining) — Wikipedia
2. (secondary) Mining Buckets and Skip Mechanism Explained — Firgelli Automations

Record created: 21 August 2026 · Last researched: 21 August 2026