Robert P. Multhauf

“ It is possible that these shaft houses also cover horse whims used to operate bucket hoists such as that shown in the lower center. A house with three chimneys in the background may be the smelter. The horse over whose head the Deity holds a wreath is a symbol of Luneberg.
For a detailed description of the mechanical equipment of this era we are largely indebted to Agricola. He classifies hauling machines into four types; the ordinary bucket windlass, the piston (suction) pump, the chain of dippers, and the rag and chain pump. ”

“ According to Parsons (op. cit., footnote 1, p. 629) the introduction of machinery worked by animals and falling water, “radical improvements” of the 15th century, fixed the development of the art “until the eighteenth, and, in some respects, even well into the nineteenth century.” Wolf in his History of science ... in the eighteenth century (p. 629, see footnote 1) agrees, saying that “apart from [the steam engine] mining methods remained [during the 18th century] essentially similar to those described in Agricola’s De re metallica.” ”

“ Prominent in figure 4 is an aqueduct, one function of which is to supply a waterwheel in the house below, which in turn delivers power through the Stangenkunst to two open shafts. The reverse (fig. 5) , an unusually fine view of the inner workings of a mine, shows, above ground, a typical horse whim driving a bucket windlass. Below ground is shown a crank-driven piston pump typical of those driven by Stangenkunst. ”

“ The source of power, hidden by the curious “log cabin” at the right, was probably a waterwheel. I have not found evidence that the Stangenkunst was used to operate bucket hoists, as appears to be the case here. It will be noticed that the above and below ground portions of these illustrations do not correlate precisely. This coin, like the others, shows miners doing various things familiar from Agricola—divining, digging, carrying, and operating windlasses. ”

“ Such is the case with the Kehrrad, a bucket windlass driven by a reversible waterwheel which Agricola describes as his largest hauling machine. [10]
Agricola describes 23 hauling devices of these four types, the diversity resulting generally from the application of three types of prime movers, men, horses, and waterwheels, and in the endowment of each in turn with a mechanical advantage in the form of gearing. [11] Although he does not specify clearly the relative importance of the various pumps, the majority (13) use man as the prime mover. ”

“ According to Veith (op. cit., footnote 8, p. 306) , B. Rössler, in his Speculum metallurgiae politissimum (Dresden, 1700, p. 41) says that the Taschenkunst (pocket-work) was used with a pipe, like the rag and chain pump, and the translator of the German (1928) edition of De re metallica also uses Heinzen and Taschen interchangeably. Calvör and others, however, seem to use Taschenkunst for the ordinary chain of dippers, which seems better suited to its literal meaning.
[10] Agricola, op. cit. ”

“ Although the first three had been known in antiquity, and the last perhaps a century before his time, [6] their [Pg 116] use in mining would appear to date from the mid-14th century or later. His is not an historical account, and one who attempts to compare it with others of contemporary or later times encounters a difficulty in his use of descriptive Latin names rather than the common German names used by most others. English and German editors have interpreted them as follows: [7] ”

“ As shown in figure 3 it was adapted to the utilization of a distant stream, through the Feldstangen, an extended horizontal series of reciprocating rods, and the Kunstkreuz (fig. 6) , a lever in the shape of a cross for changing at right angles the direction of power transmission. ”