Headframe

A headframe is actually a frame structure placed on top, at the head, of a mining shaft. The structure is necessary to build an elevator into the mine, to hoist machinery, personnel, or materials. The elevator hangs on steel ropes in the shaft. The rope goes over the wheel in the top of the headframe to the engine, which pulls the elevator.

photography — Chevalement du Vieux II, France. Public Domain.

Alternative names: gallows frame, winding tower, hoist frame, pit frame, shafthead frame, headgear, headstock, poppethead.

The basic principle of an elevator is a cabin, a rope, a winch, and a motor which powers the winch. The winch is where the cable is stored, when the elevator is pulled up it fills, when it is lowered, the rope from the winch is uncoiled. A little more complicated is a simple idler pulley and two cabins. One cabin is on the upper ende while the other is on the lower end. By pulling the cable through the idler pulley the upper is lowered while the lower is pulled up. The main difference is the necessary energy: as the weight is the same on both sides, no energy is required for pulling the cabin.

So the main question is actually: why is there a frame? Why not placing the winch directly on top of the shaft, this is done with elevators in buildings. There are basically three reasons:

The engine is very heavy, especially in the early days it was a huge and heavy steam engine. So it is best placed on a stable basement on solid ground, and definitely not on top of a deep shaft.
The elevator brings carts with ore to the surface, it is helpful if they are pulled by a locomotive out of the elevator, in other words the elevator must be on the surface where the railroad tracks are, the winch must be higher up.
If there are two lift cars with a single rope, there is the problem of rope stretching. The rope becomes longer or shorter depending on the load and temperature. This causes the elevator to miss the stops. So a compensating mechanism is needed.

It is much rarer, but there are also systems where the engine is located at the top of the tower. In this case, it is called a winding tower. To protect the engine and the mechanics from wear and tear caused by the weather, they usually have walls. A winding tower, on the other hand, does not need walls; the rope is exposed to moisture in the shaft anyway and is kept rust-free by the constant movement.