As the mechanisation of the coalface brought an increase in production, the problem of transporting all that coal was overcome by the introduction of powered conveyors.
The difficulty of using belt conveyors over large distances was that the weight could cause the belt to slip and loose grip in the drive unit. Based locally in Horbury, the engineer Richard Sutcliffe revolutionised belt conveying by using multiple rollers to overcome the issue of slippage. The tension created by looping the belting around the rollers provided sufficient grip and pull to carry the coal.
His first belt conveyor was trialled and installed at Glasshoughton Colliery, West Yorkshire, in 1905.
