Noun
man engine (plural man engines)
A mechanical lift for raising or lowering people through considerable distances; specifically (mining) a contrivance by which miners ascend or descend in a shaft. It consists of a series of landings in the shaft and an equal number of shelves on a vertical rod which has an up and down motion equal to the distance between the successive landings. A man steps from a landing to a shelf and is lifted or lowered to the next landing, upon which he then steps, and so on, travelling by successive stages.