Jobs That No Longer Exist Today- Volume 3

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Here is a series on interesting/strange occupations gone due to societal and technological changes. "Breaker Boy"- a job which started during Victorian times it entailed the use of children to break coal into pieces that removed its impurities. The use of children in the coal mills was a common practice in Great Britian and the United States. The job involved separating by hand the rock, slate, sulphur, ash, clay, or soil from the coal. The use of breaker boys began around 1866. For 10 hours a day, six days a week, breaker boys would sit on wooden seats, perched over the chutes and conveyor belts, picking out these impurities. The work performed by breaker boys was hazardous. They had to work without gloves to better handle and remove the debris from the coal. Often times, because the coal was sharp, the boys would cut their fingers to the point of bleeding. The machinery around the mills was also very dangerous to these youngsters aged 8-12. Many would lose their fingers from rapidly moving conveyer belts which carried the coal, and it was not ususual for feet, hands and arms to be amputated from the belts and gears. "By the 1910s, the use of breaker boys was dropping because of improvements in technology, stricter child labor laws, and the enactment of compulsory education laws." Also, thanks to the public outcry over child labor by 1920 this practice had ended. And we think some jobs are tough today. I have to say with regards to this job thank goodness for technology and protestors! My one reaction of many is if only there was a Mc Donald's or fast food place for the older boys to work. What do you think of this job and practice? Source- msn-lovemoney.com Additional information- Wikipedia Photo- cardcow.com