Slope-climbing Machine Using Gravity Called Nezumi Maki or Jiten Maki
April 1965

Nezumi Maki; Jiten Maki to mo Iu
[Slope-climbing Machine Using Gravity Called Nezumi Maki or Jiten Maki]
38.2 x 54.2 cm Painting in Watercolors and Ink

This kind of device was used on a slope called a kiriagari which lay inclining from a slope bottom to a coalface above it. When a loaded mine car was sent down on this slope with a wire rope, an empty car connected to the end of the wire rope was pulled up.
The nezumi maki shown above and in the inset at the top left was used in and after 1903. It had a brake system and worked very well. However, it could only send down one loaded car and wind up one empty car at a time. It was used at S Coal Pit run by Mr. A. A mine car loaded with debris (botahako) weighed as heavy as one and a half loaded mine cars. Therefore, the transport man was required to adjust the strength of braking.

Words in the Inset at the Bottom
konkuri: concrete
teppan: steel plate
mizu: water

Text on the Left of the Bottom Inset
The right inset shows the hydraulic brake system for the nezumi maki used at Nittetsu Inatsuki Coal Pit in the end of the Taisho era (1912-1926). This type of brake system required no operator. However, mine cars moved very fast when it was used for a nezumi maki above a very steep slope.

Text under the Mine Car
sumibako: mine car
In some pits, the railroad track for this machine was doubled only in the center of the slope.


Translation Assisted by Mr. Nathan Johndro

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