| Frančiška's Shaft Museum's Technical Department |
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; "Jašek Frančiške") After 1950, during a time of grand reconstruction and modernisation,
the mine discarded numerous machines and technical apparatuses from the
Austrian and Italian periods.The collection is extraordinary as the mercury mine was always using the most developed technical achievements. Frančiška’s Shaft, which is well visible even from afar due to the symbolic image of two miner’s hammers on the winding (haulage) tower, belongs as such among the most famous and oldest preserved structures of the Idrija Mercury Mine. The opening of the shaft, which is named after the emperor Franz, started 1792, during the time when the production of quicksilver was at its most intensive. Our attention may be drawn to the haulage machine with its electric-drive system from the Siemens-Scuchert factory, introduced in the year 1906, which is, as a veritable miracle of industrial quality, still able to function even today. In the courtyard you can see electric, petrol, and diesel mining locomotives from the first half of the 20th century. In the back there is the Jon-Wall water turbine. The central position is dedicated to a large haulage steam machine of Czech origin dating from 1880. It is the only machine of its type to have been preserved in Slovenia. Within two ground-floor rooms, fourteen other exhibits are on display. Beside the entrance, one may admire two five-stage centrifugal pumps that were active on the 11th horizon of Joseph’s shaft and a one-stage centrifugal pump of an older make. The largest machine in the first room is a two-cylinder diesel engine of Austrian production from the year of 1915, which operated in the mine’s power plant at Lenštat as the supplementary generator set for electricity generation. The next exhibit is a large compressor followed by another compressor of Italian make, a vertical two-stage, water-cooled Austrian compressor from the year of 1909, and a steam-powered mining winch. The latter is also adapted to function by means of compressed air. In the second room there are two vertical water pumps, a battery steam boiler made by the Škoda factory of Plzen in 1882, a unique exhibit of technical heritage. An Austrian steam piston machine produced in 1882 that was taken from the former Bašerija (ore assortment). Next to it there is a Czech steam piston machine made in 1893, which came from a cinnabar plant. On the wall there are three steam vertical water pumps from the end of the 19th century. The upper exhibition rooms present processing machines over 100 years old, which served in the mine’s mechanical, carpentry, and smith’s workshops. Among the well-preserved and restored exhibits are lathe, slotting machine, surface planning machine, treading machine, band saw, and forging machine. In order to run this machinery, a power transmission was located on the ceiling. Visitors may also view an American drill set for deep drilling and room for miners’ radiation. More information on the website: www.muzej-idrija-cerkno.si |