The history of mine surveying began a long time ago - 5 millennia ago. What is it - mine surveying or surveying. Foreign words related to technology are very often of German origin. Germany has always been a leader in engineering. Therefore, many things related to various industries have German names.
What is mine surveying?
The whole industry associated with mining is called mine surveying.
Literal translation from German means “separating borders”, or land surveyor. Mine surveying involves the determination of the detailed boundaries of mountain deposits, but it also deals with the exact determination of the composition of the field, its specific spatial position, the appropriateness of development - all that is associated with further optimal development and exploitation of the field. The mine surveyor collects all the data with their subsequent technical justification, conclusions and graphic representation of the plans.
Ancient only hunting
Mine surveying is one of the oldest branches of science and technology. The first mine workings date back to the 4th-3rd centuries BC. They have been preserved in some places of the globe to the present day, and calculations and outline drawings for later developments have also remained. Some schemes performed on papyrus are illuminated - the water was colored blue, the sand yellow. The explanations to the drawings indicate that preliminary geodetic measurements were carried out. And if in the 1st century geodesy got its first device - a diopter, on the basis of which theodolite was later created, then the surveying business was just taking shape, and turned into an independent industry only in the Middle Ages. With the advent of mining regions, new problems arose, new tasks were posed. Often several owners owned the deposit, and the boundaries between their plots had to be clearly defined both on the ground and in its bowels. This was the essence of the new discipline. At the same time, presumably, its name arose - "mine surveying."
The emergence of a new discipline
There is a circle of specialists who are engaged only in this matter; they begin to study the art of mining in medieval universities. In the XV century, the first professional device appeared - a mountain compass. The number of equipment necessary for measuring the adit in the mines and quarries increased all the time, its designs became more complicated. For competent performance of work, professionals were needed. Since the calculations were supposed to secure the work of a large number of people in the bowels of the earth, engineers were forced to get higher mining education.
The Russian mine surveying, like all mining and all industry, received a huge impetus for development under Peter I. The achievements of the German industrial school, taken as a basis, were supplemented by the discoveries of Russian craftsmen. And in Russia, specialized scientific literature began to be published, workshops for the manufacture of precision instruments were created (compasses, quadrants, astrolabes of very high quality were produced in the workshop at the Russian Academy of Sciences), higher educational institutions that graduated from high-class engineers were opened. In the 18th century, the first educational institution (school) was opened in Russia to train only mining and surveying specialists. And in the recommendations, the head of the mining and metallurgical industry of the Urals was instructed, stipulated in the Zavodskoy Charter, under point VI, that only top-level specialists should be accepted for the position of chief surveyor or surveyor.
Color of domestic mine surveying
The general method of surveying surveys was developed by M.V. Lomonosov. Such scientists as G. A. Maksimovich, the author of textbooks, P. A. Olyshev, who invented the Russian theodolite with an eccentric pipe, and G. A. Tim, who published the manuals on the use of theodolite and compass in the mine site, did a lot for the formation and development of the domestic mine surveying. business. The merit of V.I.Bauman, the organizer of two All-Union congresses of Russian mine surveyors - in 1913 and 1921 is great. In 1905 he published the work "Course of Mine Surveying Art", and in 1921 for the first time in Russia (Petrograd Mining Institute) a new specialty was introduced, which trained engineers and mine surveyors. One cannot but note the merits of P. M. Lentovsky, who studied this science in France and Germany. Upon returning to his homeland, he founded the first professional magazine on surveying and created a level machine.
In 1938, a plant for the production of specialized equipment was opened in the city of Kharkov, at which the Gyrocompass M-1 and the depth gauge DA-2 were produced at different times.
Decent work - decent pay
In Tsarist Russia, the profession of engineer was always revered and well paid. The Ipatiev House is named after the engineer Ipatiev, the last owner of the mansion. A tsarist high-level technical worker could afford to have a luxurious home and live comfortably. In Soviet times, there was no competition at all for the specialty "mine surveyor". Maybe now something will change for the better.