Coal and the coal mines

by Homer Greene

Bed. Any separate stratum of rock or coal.

Bench. A horizontal section of the coal seam, included between partings of slate or shale.

Black damp. Carbonic acid gas; known also as choke damp.

[Blossom.] Decomposed coal, indicating the presence of an outcrop.

Blower. A forcible and copious discharge of gas from a cavity in the coal seam.

Bony coal. Coal containing in its composition slaty or argillaceous material.

Bore-hole. A hole of small diameter drilled or bored, either vertically or horizontally, through the measures or in the coal; usually, a hole drilled vertically for prospecting purposes.

Brattice. A partition made of boards or of brattice cloth, and put up to force the air current to the face of the workings.

Breaker. A building, with its appliances, used in the preparation of anthracite coal for the market.