minesafetylamps

MINE FLAME SAFETY LAMPS

Handlan-Buck St. Louis

Ashworth-Hepplewhite-Grey.

Presentation Baby Wolf

ASL&MS Co. Deputy Marsaut

Everhart Davy.

ASL&MS Co.

Jas. Queen Davy

Aluminum Hughes Bros. Davy Lamp

Everhart Davy

Arras Carbide Safety Lamp

C. Koch Carbide Safety Lamp

Seippel Carbide Safety Lamp

Wolf Carbide Safety Lamp

Pieler Lamp

Jack-Davy Lamp

Ashworth-Hepplewhite-

Grey

Patterson HCP

Patterson HCP9

Red Glass Signal Lamp

Unmarked English

Hughes Bros.

J. Davis

Bainbridge

Unmarked English

Shielded Davy

Laidler - Durham

Wolf Westphalian Davy

J.H. Naylor - Wigan

The danger of methane gas (firedamp) being ignited by an open flame in coal mines was much reduced by the development of the flame safety lamp stemming from the work of Dr. William Clanny, George Stephenson and Sir Humphrey Davy. It is Davy who is credited with the true invention of the flame safety lamp in 1816. His idea was to isolate the flame from the flammable gas by means of a wire gauze surrounding the flame. Davy demonstrated that burning gases, on passing through the wire mesh is broken up into tiny streamlets which are so cooled by contact with the metal of the mesh that the flame is extinguished. It was found that the greatest safety could be obtained by a standard mesh formed by 28 steel wires per inch making 784 openings per square inch.