One of the main pain points that a breaker bar solves is the need for increased torque. The socket on the end can be swapped out to fit various sizes, making it a versatile tool. I mean, these tools are relatively inexpensive, with most costing less than $30, so there is no excuse not to have one on hand.Ī breaker bar is a long, thin bar with a socket on one end… The length of the bar allows for increased leverage, making it easier to break loose stubborn bolts and nuts. I have painted this series in their honor: “Coal Breaker Communities – Faded Memories.Every tradesman knows that having the right tools can make all the difference on a job site and one tool that is essential in any toolbox is a breaker bar. And of course there were family members as well, a diverse community of male and female, young and old, rich and poor.Īll the anthracite breakers in Luzerne and Lackawanna counties are gone now and so are most of those who worked and lived in the anthracite coalfields. There were shopkeepers, tavern owners, squib factory workers, carpenters, mule keepers, lokie drivers, railroad workers, labor leaders and activists, priests and pastors and even a few wealthy coal company owners.
The work of the miners was the main theme in the dramatic story of the coal industry, but many others also lived and worked near the collieries. However, it has recently emerged again in this series of surrealistic aquarelle acrylic paintings on paper produced with many layers of glazes. The research for that series tore me apart mentally and emotionally since the history of coal mining is punctuated with sometimes brutal and often heart-wrenching events.įor nearly a decade, my obsession with anthracite and my artwork inspired by its culture seemed to go underground like the convoluted veins of black diamonds.
From 2000 through 2007, I produced a series of 300 hexagonal canvases, most of which are part of a collection beautifully housed in King’s on the Square, Wilkes-Barre. Other breakers were built in a wide open space where coal had been discovered and a settlement, like Wanamie, grew up around the breaker.įor many years, anthracite has served as my artistic muse. Some breakers were built when coal was discovered near an already settled town such as Plymouth or Nanticoke. Coal breakers were the coal processing plants for anthracite for crushing, sorting, sizing, and weighing coal for market. The anthracite coal of Northeastern Pennsylvania was the fuel that fired America’s Industrial Revolution.
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