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handled round nosed miners' shovels he was asked if
he could provide racks and colliers' scuttles. A colliers'
scuttle was a scoop made from sheet iron - like a
big shoe box with one end cut off. It had a handle
on the back end and a lifting bar across the top.
They were popular in the South Wales pits as most
of the coal seams in that area were too narrow for
the coal to be shovelled back from the face, as was
normal in other areas. After the coal had been loosened
with a pick the miner would rack the lumps into the
scuttle and the slack and rubbish would be left behind.
He would then drag the scuttle back to where there
was more headroom and tip it into a collection tub.Leonard,
had never heard of a Colliers scuttle, but thinking
on his feet he asked to see the particular design
in question. They told him the unit cost and he said
" we can make it for less".
He travelled back to the Black Country with an order.
A board meeting of the Brown's was called and they
decided to place the contract with a firm of bucket
manufacturers in Lye.
This sub - contract proved to be very profitable and
went on for many years.
After
a few years an existing employee of Brown's named
Billy Hackett approached John Brown and suggested
that he could make the scuttles for a cheaper rate
then currently paid to the Lye firm. John found that
the iron for the scuttles was supplied by a German
firm - in fact it was cheaper than iron supplied by
local firms. Billy was appointed Scuttle Maker and
earned One shilling and ninepence (£0.09) for
every dozen scuttles produced.
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