Minecart facts for kids
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A minecart (also called a mine car or mine hutch) is a special type of cart used in mining. It runs on a mine railway, which is like a small train track. Minecarts were used to carry ore (rocks with valuable minerals) and other materials out of mines.
In modern mining, minecarts are not used as much. Big machines like belt conveyor systems and large dumpers have mostly replaced them. These newer systems are much faster and more efficient for moving materials.
Contents
What are Minecarts Called?
Minecarts have different names around the world!
- In South Africa, they are called cocopans.
- In Germany, they are known as Hunt.
- In Wales, people call them drams.
- In the U.S. and other places, they might be called a skip or skip wagon.
V Skip Wagons
A special type of minecart is the V skip wagon. It has a V-shaped body and can tip its contents to the side. This made it easier to unload the materials it carried.
How Minecarts Work
Minecarts come in different sizes and are usually made of strong steel. They are shaped like large, rectangular buckets. These carts run on metal tracks, similar to a train.
In the past, people or animals would push or pull the minecarts. Later, rope systems were used to move them. Minecarts became popular in early modern times. They replaced the old way of carrying materials by hand.
At first, minecarts didn't have wheels with rims like modern train wheels. Instead, they had flat wheels that ran on wooden planks. A pin under the cart or the cart's bottom would fit into a groove to keep it on the track. This was sometimes called the "Hungarian system."
As mines grew bigger, it became too hard to move materials with just people or animals. So, larger minecarts were used. These bigger carts were pulled by locomotives, which are like small trains. These locomotives often ran on narrow gauge tracks. They could be diesel or electric powered. In coal mines, where there could be flammable gas, the locomotives were specially designed to be safe, like flameproof or battery powered ones.
Minecarts were very important in the history of technology. They helped lead to the invention of modern railroad cars and played a big role in how trains developed.
Lorry or Mine Car
A lorry or mine car is an open railroad car with a tipping trough. These were often found in mines. In the UK, they were known as a tippler or chaldron wagon.
Images for kids
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A mining cart from a book called De Re Metallica (1556). You can see the guide pin that kept it on the track.
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This picture clearly shows the guide pin on a minecart.
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Minecarts at Bessie Mine in Alabama around 1910-1911.
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A mine car being weighed in Kentucky in 1946, before its coal was dumped into a railroad car.
See also
- Chaldron
- Corf
- Decauville wagon
- Gondola (rail)
- Mineral wagon
