Whim (mining)

A rope is wound around the drum, with both ends traversing several pulleys and hanging down the mine shaft.

[1][2][3] The major benefit of a whim is that its operation can be performed at a distance from the shaft, thus resolving some of the congestion.

Whims were used in coal mines until the end of the nineteenth century.

[5] The gin wheel at Nottingham Industrial Museum dating from 1844, is a wooden drum, set on a vertical pole within a wooden frame, with a horizontal shaft from the drum for attaching to a horse.

Before joining the other exhibits at Nottingham Industrial Museum, the whim was used at Langton and Pinxton Collieries.