The Collaborative International Dictionary
Brattice \Brat"tice\, n. [See Brettice.] (Mining)
A wall of separation in a shaft or gallery used for ventilation.
Planking to support a roof or wall.
Wiktionary
alt. A wooden partition in a coal mine n. A wooden partition in a coal mine
WordNet
n. a partition (often temporary) of planks or cloth that is used to control ventilation in a mine
v. supply with a brattice, to ventilate mines
Wikipedia
A brattice is a partition used in mining. It is built between columns of a sub-surface mine to direct air for ventilation. Where the mine is sunk at the base of a single shaft, the shaft is divided into two parts by a wooden or metal brattice. Air is delivered down one side of the shaft and exhausted upwards through the other.
Depending on the type of mine and how the operation is run, brattices can be permanent (concrete or wood) or temporary (cloth). Temporary installations are also called curtains.
Early collieries sometimes only had one pit which was divided by a brattice. A furnace was kept burning within the pit and the hot air rose up the one side of the brattice (the upcast side) drawing cold air down the other (the downcast side). One such pit was Hartley pit. In 1862 the beam of the pumping engine failed and brought down part of the lining resulting in the pit being blocked. All the men trapped underground died from carbon monoxide poisoning as a consequence of the lack of ventilation. As a result and Act of Parliament was passed later in the year requiring all collieries to have at least two shafts. Rather than bratticing one shaft, it was more convenient to use one shaft as the upcast pit and the other as the downcast pit. Underground however, brattices remained vitally important for directing the current of air throughout the whole of the colliery.
In an 1868 article titled "Coal" in the All the Year Round periodical, the author describes the workings of a ventilation shaft in a mine and a brattice:
Usage examples of "brattice".
The brattice, a wooden partition which aided the currents of air to flow, had in some way blocked the flow and a small child detailed to watch at the air door had fallen asleep.
Known as a hoarding or brattice, this structure provided a roof over the battlements to protect defenders from missiles, and often projected outwards from the walls to allow defenders to drop missiles on attackers below.
The other end of the gallery is closed by means of brattice cloth and paper diaphragms, the entire gallery being made practically air-tight.
They poked their way up crooked drifts and adits, past brattices too rotten to push more than a whisper of fresh air through the dank tunnels.
She looked out of the window at the wooden galleries and brattices being constructed over the walls of the Chateau Comtal.
The cramped shopfront was windowless except for a crescent pane bratticed with corroded iron.
But there were extra carbide lights stored there, along with concrete blocks, mortar, plastic and cloth sheeting for brattices, and spares of all kinds.