Man-engine or movable ladder adopted in Cornish mines. The movable ladder was powered by the steam engine at the pit head and moved with the regular stroke of the engine. In this model either side of the shaft is fitted with platforms a stroke' length apart. A man standing on one of the side platforms would step on the platform on the man-engine in the pause between strokes. Before the installation of man-engines, it could take men more than an hour to climb down vertical ladders to reach the working level. From The Popular Encyclopaedia (London, 1888).