Harry E (Coal Breaker)

Daniel Voitek

A view of the "Harry E. Coal Breaker" Also known as “The Bucket Of Blood” which was demolished on April 14 1995. It was located at Swoyersville Pennsylvania in the Anthracite Coal Region of Wyoming Valley Pennsylvania.

A coal breaker is a coal processing plant which breaks coal into various useful sizes. Coal breakers also remove impurities from the coal (typically slate) and deposit them into a culm dump. The coal breaker is a forerunner of the modern coal preparation plant.

Dan Voitek was apparently a student of Atelier 17 printmaker Cathal O'Toole while O'Toole was teaching at Wilkes College (now Wilkes University) in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. We can locate little other information on this talented printmaker.

The subject of this composition, is a rooftop view, either from or of 1028 Spruce Street, probably in Philadelphia, PA. Voitek uses mostly aquatints to create the tonal differences of the architectural elements with a few etched line details.