coal dropn.
/ˈkəʊl drɒp/, U.S. /ˈkoʊl ˌdrɑp/ 1. A piece of machinery used to lower a coal wagon from a wharf to the level of a hatchway on a ship so that the coal may be deposited directly into the hold. Now chiefly historical.
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1826 W. Chapman Brit. Patent 5330 (1857) 2 Apparatus [for loading of ships]..extensively used on both the rivers Tyne and Wear, and commonly known by the name of a drop.]
1839 Railway Times 30 Mar. 269/2 One coal drop has been already put up.
1850 W. Laird Export Coal Trade Liverpool 43 A self-acting coal-drop..can ship coals at the rate of 150 tons per hour.
1898 Trans. Inst. Mining Engineers 1897–8 15 74 An improved coal-shipping drop..was designed to remedy the difficulty found at other coal-drops in holding ships in position by warps.
1966 Times 5 Jan. 6/6 He arrived at Seaham Harbour to find an early Victorian coal-drop about to be broken-up for scrap.
2002 Biogr. Dict. Civil Engineers I. 127/1 While actively engaged in mining, Chapman in 1807 obtained a patent for a coal ‘drop’ whereby loaded wagons could be lowered vertically from the extremity of the staith directly into the ships' holds.
2. An apparatus for depositing coal into a storage place, container, etc., usually by means of a slide or chute; esp. a structure consisting of an elevated section of railway track allowing coal to be dropped directly out of the bottom of a truck or hopper into a receptacle positioned below.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > mining equipment > [noun] > chute for passing coal, etc., into receptacle
pass1671
trunk1725
chute1829
coal drop1864
1864 Rep. Accidents on Railways I. 62/1 They..went to the depôts close at hand, to place the waggons over the coal-drops.
1878 F. S. Williams Midland Railway (ed. 4) 247 If some 3½ acres of land were arched over for coal drops, at least 250,000 tons of coal could be disposed of.
1900 Sheffield & Rotherham Independent 31 Mar. 3/6 The deceased died from injuries received from falling down a coal drop.
2004 Victorian July 5/1 The West Side Buildings..which originally housed a parcels depot and coal drops, have been demolished.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2013; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.1839