breaker boy breaker boy coal mining worker united_states united_kingdom job separate coal hand coal breaker breaker boys primarily children elderly coal miners longer work mines age disease accident employed breaker boys use breaker boys began public disapproval employment children breaker boys existed practice end 1920s coal breaking coal came wide use late united_kingdom island nation widely ban placed harvesting wood forests solely royal_navy newly middle class increasingly demanded glass windows glass making industry relied heavily fuel longer available industry turned coal demand coal increased invention development methods casting iron objects cannon function coal breaker break coal pieces sort pieces categories nearly uniform size process known breaking coal mixed rock slate ash bone clay soil second function coal breaker remove economically desirable feasible grade coal based percent remaining necessary coal cottage industry grade production methods necessary economies scale moved production early factories larger workforce installations began producing glass iron greater quantities prior little coal mined fuel early american industrial revolution coal underwent little processing sent market primarily iron works producing wrought iron use break large coal use teeth set inches apart collect larger pieces coal shipment surface easiest pack densely sack like bags pack animal trip smaller coal considered non left beginning surface processing coal began concurrent canal projects developments great_britain better matching timing similar developments great_britain heavily landscapes simply find economic alternatives sooner coal iron machine developments leading ultimately railroads infant industrial chemicals industries 1860s coal placed plates cast iron breakers hammer coal pieces small fall holes second screen caught coal shaken hand animal steam water power remove smaller broken screened coal worth broken coal coal sizes trouble need tending past point use breaker boys nearly coal breaking facilities united_states labor intensive removal hand usually breaker boys ages years old use breaker boys began hours day days week breaker boys sit wooden seats belts picking slate coal breaker boys working belts stop coal pushing boots stream fuel flowing beneath briefly pick let coal pass breaker boy processing divert coal horizontal sat pick coal clean allowing fuel flow clean coal work performed breaker boys hazardous breaker boys forced work gloves better handle slick coal slate sharp breaker boys leave work fingers cut bleeding breaker boys fingers rapidly moving belts lost feet hands arms legs moved machinery caught belts gears crushed death bodies retrieved gears machinery end working day caught rush coal crushed death dry coal kick dust breaker boys wore lamps heads black lung disease common coal washed remove created acid acid burned hands breaker boys public condemnation public condemnation use breaker boys widespread pennsylvania enacted law forbidding employment age working coal breaker law poorly enforced employers forged proof age documentation families forged birth certificates documents children support family estimates number breaker boys work coal fields pennsylvania vary widely official statistics generally considered historians numbers significantly estimate breaker boys working state working working working technological innovations 1890s 1900s mechanical water designed remove coal dramatically lowered need breaker boys adoption new technology slow 1910s use breaker boys dropping improvements technology child labor laws enactment compulsory education laws practice employing children coal breakers largely ended efforts photographer educated public practice succeeded obtaining passage national child labor laws union activities breaker boys known fierce independence rejection adult authority breaker boys formed joined trade unions precipitated number important strikes coal fields pennsylvania strike culminated massacre coal strike
Breaker boy