A tipple is a structure used at a mine to load the extracted product (e.g., coal, ores) for transport, typically into railroad

hopper car A hopper car () or hopper wagon () is a type of railroad freight car that has opening doors or gates on the underside or on the sides to discharge its cargo. They are used to transport loose solid bulk commodities such as coal, ore, grain, a ...

s. In the United States, tipples have been frequently associated with

coal mine Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...

s, but they have also been used for

hard rock mining Hard means something that is difficult to do. It may also refer to: * Hardness, resistance of physical materials to deformation or fracture * Hard water, water with high mineral content Arts and entertainment * ''Hard'' (TV series), a French T ...

Operation

Basic coal tipples simply load coal into railroad cars. Many tipples had simple screening equipment to sort coal pieces by size before loading. A modern coal mine facility usually includes a

coal preparation plant file:Coal Washer.JPG, 300px, A coal "washer" in Eastern Kentucky file:FAB's BlaschakCoalCompany IMG 4442 BLASCHAK 'Modern Breaker Coal Processing Plant'.JPG, A modern coal breaker in Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania combines washing, crushing, grading, ...

which washes coal of soil and rock, before loading it for transport to market. The term "tipple" may be used interchangeably with coal prep plant. Tipples were initially used with

minecart A minecart, mine cart, or mine car (or more rarely mine trolley or mine hutch), is a type of rolling stock found on a mine railway, used for transporting ore and materials procured in the process of traditional mining. Minecarts are sel ...

s, also called ''tubs'' or ''tram cars'', or ''mine cars'' in the U.S. These were small hopper cars that carried the product on a

mine railway A mine railway (or mine railroad, U.S.), sometimes pit railway, is a railway constructed to carry materials and workers in and out of a mine. Materials transported typically include ore, coal and overburden (also called variously spoils, waste, s ...

out of the mine. When a mine car entered the upper level of the tipple, its contents were dumped through a chute leading to a railroad hopper car positioned on a track running beneath the tipple. At some facilities, each car was tipped over manually—thus the name, "tipple". In higher volume facilities, each car was placed in a machine called a rotary dump, which rotated the car to dump the coal or ore. In the early 20th century, mine operators began using

conveyor belt A conveyor belt is the carrying medium of a belt conveyor system (often shortened to a belt conveyor). A belt conveyor system consists of two or more pulleys (sometimes referred to as drums), with a closed loop of carrying medium—the conveyor b ...

s to load coal and ores into railroad cars, eliminating the use of mine cars.Rakes, Paul H. (2012)
"Coal Mine Mechanization."
''The West Virginia Encyclopedia.'' West Virginia Humanities Council, Charleston, WV. At some mines the conveyor loading facility is still referred to as a "tipple". File:Clarksburg Fuel Co Tipple 1908.jpg, A coal tipple in

Clarksburg, West Virginia Clarksburg is a city in Harrison County, West Virginia, United States, and its county seat. The population was 16,039 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in West Virginia, tenth-most populous city ...

, in 1908 File:Tipple at copper mine. Franklin Mine, Michigan LCCN2017812991.tif, Tipple at a Michigan copper mine in 1941 File:Montour no. 4 mine 1942b.jpg, A rotary dump of the Pittsburgh Coal Co. File:Geography of Ohio - DPLA - aaba7b3295ff6973b6fd1e23e33cde14 (page 83) (cropped2).jpg, Coal tipple in Belmont County, Ohio, 1923 File:Blue-heron-tipple-ky1.jpg, Coal tipple in

Blue Heron, Kentucky Blue Heron, also known as Mine 18, is a former coal mining community or coal town on the banks of the Big South Fork of the Cumberland River in McCreary County, Kentucky, United States, that has been recreated and is maintained as an interpreti ...

References

{{Reflist Coal mining Underground mining Bulk material handling

Operation

See also

References