Coal breakers were always used (with or without a tipple) at anthracite mines. The mine features the last wooden coal tipple in Canada. Built in 1937, the tipple is a coal loading and sorting machine. Luzhou Laojiao was reportedly the favourite tipple of China's paramount leader, Deng Xiaoping. He worked undercover at Howard Collieries, a company that had a tipple destroyed by fire. The main shaft was capped by an steel tipple which controlled a mechanical hoisting cage. The term "tipple" may be used interchangeably with coal prep plant. Ibble Dibble or Ripple Tipple in Australasia is an English variant. In 1920, this was the largest coal tipple in the world. At some mines the conveyor loading facility is still referred to as a "tipple". The mine worked above average until 1924 when the old tipple burned. In 1950, a fire destroyed the tipple and five wooden briquetting plants. Its tipple was not located in town. Silva Tipple New Lake led an American expedition to the ruins in 1938-40. William Tipple Smith found gold near Bathurst in 1848.