We have filled in our fair share of coal chutes. They’re small tunnels into building cellars from the sidewalk, or from areaways adjacent to the front of old buildings, that were used so that coal could be shoveled from a cart or truck to cellar storage without having to be carried. They’ve long since been closed off, usually by having a concrete sidewalk slab placed over the top end, but sometimes the body of the chute leaks and has to be filled solid.
Anyway, here’s a surviving cast-iron cover for the top of a chute:
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