[2] Depending on the type of mine and how the operation is run, brattices can be permanent (concrete or wood) or temporary (cloth).
In 1862 the beam of the pumping engine failed and brought down part of the lining resulting in the pit being blocked.
All the men trapped underground died from carbon monoxide poisoning as a consequence of the lack of ventilation.
[1] In an 1868 article titled "Coal" in the All the Year Round periodical, the author describes the workings of a ventilation shaft in a mine and a brattice:[3] Changes from gusty windiness to tropical heat are sudden.
Canvas or "brattice-work" divides the two, and the vast labyrinthian passages along which coal has been or is being worked are cold or hot according to the turn the ventilation has been made to take.Brattice, from the French bretèche, originally referred to part of a castle.