"could create a sufficient updraft that firedamp would not penetrate down the chimney. Further observations of the speed of flame fronts in fissures and passageways led him to design a lamp with fine tubes admitting the air. Sir Humphry Davy was asked to consider the problems of a safety lamp following the Felling explosion. Previous experimenters had used coal gas (chiefly carbon monoxide) incorrectly, believing it to be the same as firedamp. Davy however performed his experiments with samples of firedamp collected from pits. As an experimental chemist, he was familiar with flames not passing through gauze; his experiments enabled"
"Wheat lamp A wheat lamp is a type of incandescent light designed for use in underground mining, named for inventor Grant Wheat and manufactured by Koehler Lighting Products in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, United States, a region known for extensive mining activity. A safety lamp designed for use in potentially hazardous atmospheres such as firedamp and coal dust, the lamp is mounted on the front of the miner's helmet and powered by a wet cell battery worn on the miner's belt. The average wheat lamp uses a 3-5 watt bulb which will typically operate for 5 to 16 hours depending on the"
"Geordie lamp The Geordie lamp was a safety lamp for use in inflammable atmospheres, invented by George Stephenson in 1815 as a miner's lamp to prevent explosions due to firedamp in coal mines. In 1815, Stephenson was the engine-wright at the Killingworth Colliery in Northumberland and had been experimenting for several years with candles close to firedamp emissions in the mine. In August he ordered an oil lamp which was delivered on 21 October and tested by him in the mine in the presence of explosive gases. He improved this over several weeks with the addition of capillary tubes at"
"Safety lamp A safety lamp is any of several types of lamp that provides illumination in coal mines and is designed to operate in air that may contain coal dust or gases both of which are potentially flammable or explosive. Until the development of effective electric lamps in the early 1900s miners used flame lamps to provide illumination. Open flame lamps could ignite flammable gases which collected in mines, causing explosions and so safety lamps were developed to enclose the flame and prevent it from igniting the surrounding atmosphere. Flame safety lamps have been replaced in mining with sealed explosion-proof"
"to improve the perception of objects by 79.5%. Safety lamp A safety lamp is any of several types of lamp that provides illumination in coal mines and is designed to operate in air that may contain coal dust or gases both of which are potentially flammable or explosive. Until the development of effective electric lamps in the early 1900s miners used flame lamps to provide illumination. Open flame lamps could ignite flammable gases which collected in mines, causing explosions and so safety lamps were developed to enclose the flame and prevent it from igniting the surrounding atmosphere. Flame safety lamps"
"designs in early years and later adopted Davy's gauze in preference to the tubes and it was this revised design that was used for most of the 19th century as the ""Geordie"" lamp. The Geordie lamp continued to be used in the north-east of England through most of the 19th century, until the introduction of electric lighting. Bibliography Geordie lamp The Geordie lamp was a safety lamp for use in inflammable atmospheres, invented by George Stephenson in 1815 as a miner's lamp to prevent explosions due to firedamp in coal mines. In 1815, Stephenson was the engine-wright at the Killingworth"
"the paper commented ""The Lamp offers absolute security to the miner... With the excellent ventilation of the ""Whitehaven Collieries"" and the application of Sir HUMPHRY's valuable instrument, the accidents from the explosion of' (carburetted) 'hydrogene which have occurred (although comparatively few for such extensive works) will by this happy invention be avoided"". Unfortunately, this prediction was not fulfilled: in the next thirty years, firedamp explosions in Whitehaven pits cost 137 lives. More generally, the Select Committee on Accidents in Mines reported in 1835 that the introduction of the Davy lamp had led to an increase in mine accidents; the lamp"
"iodine first, but both scientists acknowledged Courtois as the first to isolate the element. In 1815, Humphry Davy invented the Davy lamp, which allowed miners within coal mines to work safely in the presence of flammable gases. There had been many mining explosions caused by firedamp or methane often ignited by open flames of the lamps then used by miners. Davy conceived of using an iron gauze to enclose a lamp's flame, and so prevent the methane burning inside the lamp from passing out to the general atmosphere. Although the idea of the safety lamp had already been demonstrated by"
"a Geissler tube filled with carbon dioxide. However, the carbon dioxide tended to break down. Hence in later lamps, the Geissler tube was filled with nitrogen (which generated red light), and the glass was replaced with glass containing uranium salts (which fluoresced with a green light). Intended for use by miners, the lamp was actually developed both by Alphonse Dumas, an engineer at the iron mines of Saint-Priest and of Lac, near Privas, in the départment of Ardèche, France, and by Dr. Camille Benoît, a medical doctor in Privas. In 1864, the French Academy of Sciences awarded Dumas and Benoît"
"Humphry Davy asking for his help with the problem of providing light safely in the local underground collieries. As a result, Davy visited the Northeast of England in August 1815 and discussed the problem with Colliery owners and mining expert John Buddle. Davy took samples of the gas to his London laboratory and designed his famous ""miners lamp"". Buddle was one of the first people to test the lamp. Stating in a report from the Select Committee on Accidents in Mines on the 4 September 1835 ""I first tried the lamp in an explosive mixture on the surface; and then"
"by a boy, whose only task was to provide light for a group of miners. It was assumed that the sparks had insufficient energy to ignite firedamp until a series of explosions at Wallsend colliery in 1784; a further explosion in June 1785 which the operator of the mill (John Selkirk) survived showed that ignition was possible. The first safety lamp made by William Reid Clanny used a pair of bellows to pump air through water to a candle burning in a metal case with a glass window. Exhaust gases passed out through water. The lamp gave out only a"
"where helmet (cap) lamps had been the norm. Nowadays, safety lamps are mainly electric, and traditionally mounted on miners' helmets (such as the wheat lamp) or the Oldham headlamp, sealed to prevent gas penetrating the casing and being ignited by electrical sparks. Although its use as a light source was superseded by electric lighting, the flame safety lamp has continued to be used in mines to detect methane and blackdamp, although many modern mines now also use sophisticated electronic gas detectors for this purpose. As a new light source, LED has many advantages for safety lamps, including longer illumination times"
"mining engineer. He succeeded his father as manager at Wallsend Colliery in 1806, though his work was not limited to just the local colliery. Buddle was involved with the introduction of the miners safety lamp invented by Humphry Davy being involved in the earliest discussions with Davy in August 1815 and providing ""fire-damp"" samples for experiments in Davy's London Laboratory. The moment when Buddle tested the new Davy safety lamp for the first time, for real, in Northeast England, is recorded by him in a report to the Select Committee on Accidents in Mines on 4 September 1835 ""I first"
"Frank Shuman Frank Shuman (; January 23, 1862 – April 28, 1918) was an American inventor, engineer and solar energy pioneer known for his work on solar engines, especially those that used solar energy to heat water that would produce steam. In 1892 Frank Shuman invented wire glass safety glass. Additional patents were issued relating to the process of making wire glass and machines for making wire glass. In 1914 Shuman invented a process for making laminated safety glass, called safety glass, and manufactured by the Safety Glass Company. In 1916 he patented a ""Danger Signal"" for railroad crossings, as"
"his paper on ""The safety lamp for coal mines and some researches on flame"" in 1818, which made underground coal mines much more safe. George Stephenson a colliery engineer at Killingworth Main Colliery also invented a safety lamp which was successfully tested on 21 October 1815. This became known as the ""Geordie"" lamp. As a result, some in the Northeast then tried to challenge the delivery of some Ceremonial Plate to Davy but the Davy Lamper's won the day and on 25 September 1817 a dinner service as presented to Davy from the coal owners at the Queen's Head in"
"in a wire mesh housing. More robust sensors for use in high risk environments may have solid steel housing with a gas port of sintered metal granules. Both of these work in a manner similar to the Davy safety lamp; gas may percolate through the permeable mesh, but the passages are too long and narrow to support the propagation of a flame. The pellistor was developed in the early 1960s for use in mining operations as the successor of the flame safety lamp and the canary. It was invented by English scientist Alan Baker. The catalytic pellistor as used in"
"and then abandoned. After hatting, the most important industry in Denton was the manufacture of lead-acid batteries by Oldham Batteries (Oldham & Son Ltd). In 1865, Joseph Oldham established a millwright general engineering shop and by 1887 this company was manufacturing machinery for the hat-making industry. Another important industry in the area was coal mining and shortly after 1887 the company began making machinery and equipment for this industry, which included miners' portable lamps. Up to this time, miners had always used the safety lamp devised in 1815 by Sir Humphry Davy (1778–1829) but this new battery-powered Davy lamp eventually"
"the health of men and animals."" Edmund Davy Edmund Davy FRS (1785 – 5 November 1857) was a professor of Chemistry at the Royal Cork Institution from 1813 and professor of chemistry at the Royal Dublin Society from 1826. He discovered acetylene, as it was later named by Marcellin Berthelot. He was also an original member of the Chemical Society, and a member of the Royal Irish Academy. Edmund Davy was a cousin of Humphry Davy, the famous chemist who invented the Davy lamp for the safety of miners. Edmund, the son of William Davy, was born in Penzance, Cornwall,"
"amp-hour capacity of the battery and the current draw of the bulb being used. A grain of wheat lamp is an unrelated, very small incandescent lamp used in medical and optical instruments, as well as for illuminating miniature railroad and similar models. Wheat lamp A wheat lamp is a type of incandescent light designed for use in underground mining, named for inventor Grant Wheat and manufactured by Koehler Lighting Products in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, United States, a region known for extensive mining activity. A safety lamp designed for use in potentially hazardous atmospheres such as firedamp and coal dust, the lamp"
"begun before the Industrial Revolution, but the adoption of John Smeaton's improvements to the Newcomen engine followed by James Watt's more efficient steam engines from the 1770s reduced the fuel costs of engines, making mines more profitable. The Cornish engine, developed in the 1810s, was much more efficient than the Watt steam engine. Coal mining was very dangerous owing to the presence of firedamp in many coal seams. Some degree of safety was provided by the safety lamp which was invented in 1816 by Sir Humphry Davy and independently by George Stephenson. However, the lamps proved a false dawn because"
"Henry Beecher Dierdorff Henry Beecher Dierdorff (January 29, 1851 in Seville, Ohio – January 26, 1935 in Columbus, Ohio) was an American inventor of mining equipment, most notable for the first successful application of electricity to power mining equipment under the surface of earth. While an engineer with Jeffery Mining and Manufacturing Company (later part of Dresser Industries) of Columbus, Ohio, Dierdorff developed insulation that could be packed around electric motor housings to suppress sparking found on early electrical motors. This allowed the first safe electric seam cutting tool in underground mining. This tool was capable of cutting anthracite coal"
"electric lights. Miners have traditionally referred to the various gases encountered during mining as damps, from the Middle Low German word ""dampf"" (meaning ""vapour""). Damps are variable mixtures and are historic terms. Before the invention of safety lamps, miners used candles with open flames. This gave rise to frequent explosions. For example, at one colliery (Killingworth) in the north east of England, 10 miners were killed in 1806, 12 in 1809. In 1812, 90 men and boys were suffocated or burnt to death in the Felling Pit near Gateshead and 22 in the following year. When they came into regular"
"success that he was promoted to enginewright for the collieries at Killingworth, responsible for maintaining and repairing all the colliery engines. He became an expert in steam-driven machinery. In 1815, aware of the explosions often caused in mines by naked flames, Stephenson began to experiment with a safety lamp that would burn in a gaseous atmosphere without causing an explosion. At the same time, the eminent scientist and Cornishman Humphry Davy was also looking at the problem. Despite his lack of scientific knowledge, Stephenson, by trial and error, devised a lamp in which the air entered via tiny holes, through"
"of the safety lamp. The miner was expected to return to the shaft to perform relighting, a round trip of up to a few miles. For men on piece work, this meant a loss of income (perhaps 10% of their day's pay) and so was unpopular. From the mid-century onwards, and particularly after the 1872 act, lamps had to have a lock mechanism which prevented the miner opening the lamp. Two schemes existed; either a special tool was required which kept at the pit head or else opening the lamp extinguished the flame. The latter mechanism can be seen in"
"Newcastle. Davy declined to take out a patent on his lamp design effectively giving it to the nation and the world's coal miners. The moment when the new safety lamp was first tested was recorded by John Buddle in a report from the Select Committee on Accidents in Mines on 4 September 1835 ""I first tried the lamp in an explosive mixture on the surface; and then took it to the mine; it is impossible for me to express my feelings at the time when I first suspended the lamp in the mine and saw it red hot. I said"
"Edmund Davy Edmund Davy FRS (1785 – 5 November 1857) was a professor of Chemistry at the Royal Cork Institution from 1813 and professor of chemistry at the Royal Dublin Society from 1826. He discovered acetylene, as it was later named by Marcellin Berthelot. He was also an original member of the Chemical Society, and a member of the Royal Irish Academy. Edmund Davy was a cousin of Humphry Davy, the famous chemist who invented the Davy lamp for the safety of miners. Edmund, the son of William Davy, was born in Penzance, Cornwall, and lived there throughout his teen"
"miner safety lamps such as the Davy lamp, in which a wire gauze reduces the risk of methane ignition. Carbide lamps were still used extensively in slate, copper, and tin mines where methane is not a serious hazard. Most miners' lamps have now been replaced by electric lamps. Carbide lamps are still used for mining in some less wealthy countries, for example in the silver mines near Potosí, Bolivia. Carbide lamps are also still used by some cavers exploring caves and other underground areas, although they are increasingly being replaced in this use by LED lights. Carbide lamps were also"
"in Brazil. It lights, at no cost, many homes in many countries, including Philippines, India, Bangladesh, Tanzania, Argentina and Fiji. The movement became known as the Liter of Light. Moser says ""It's a divine light. God gave the sun to everyone, and light is for everyone. Whoever wants it saves money. You can't get an electric shock from it, and it doesn't cost a penny."" Alfredo Moser Alfredo Moser (Uberaba) is a Brazilian mechanic and inventor. Born in Uberaba, Minas Gerais in Brazil. He married Carmelinda in 1978. He invented what is known as the Moser lamp. Moser invented a"
"is both a source of light and a sensor. A development of the Geordie lamp was the Purdy. A galley with gauze provided the inlet, above the glass was a chimney with perforated copper cap and gauze outer. A brass tube protected the upper works, shielded them and kept them locked in position. A sprung pin locked the whole together. The pin could only be released by applying a vacuum to a captive hollow screw; not something that a nicotine starved miner could do at the coal face. Clanny abandoned his pumps and candles and developed a safety lamp which"
"Mill Pit in Herrington near Sunderland, where there had been a serious explosive accident, with the loss of 24 lives, on 10 October 1812. Clanny won medals in 1816–17 for his invention from the Royal Society of Arts. His lamp and other improvements were, after some initial disputes, recognised for their true worth by his contemporaries, including northern coal owners who presented him with a purse of gold. with a silver salver at the Athenæum, Sunderland, on 3 February 1848. George Stephenson acknowledged a debt to Clanny's researches and Humphry Davy invented his version of a lamp very soon after"
"Ohio in 1851. Dierdorff married twice; first to Charlotte Miller (five children) and then to Hattie Monnette. He died in Columbus, Ohio in 1935 and is buried in Greenlawn Cemetery, Columbus, Ohio. Henry Beecher Dierdorff Henry Beecher Dierdorff (January 29, 1851 in Seville, Ohio – January 26, 1935 in Columbus, Ohio) was an American inventor of mining equipment, most notable for the first successful application of electricity to power mining equipment under the surface of earth. While an engineer with Jeffery Mining and Manufacturing Company (later part of Dresser Industries) of Columbus, Ohio, Dierdorff developed insulation that could be packed"
"as the Felling mine disaster of 1812 near Newcastle, in which 92 men were killed, not only caused great loss of life among miners but also meant that their widows and children had to be supported by the public purse. The Revd Gray and a fellow clergyman also working in a north-east mining area, the Revd John Hodgson of Jarrow, were keen that action should be taken to improve underground lighting and especially the lamps used by miners. Davy conceived of using an iron gauze to enclose a lamp's flame, and so prevent the methane burning inside the lamp from"
"William Greener William Greener (1806–1869) was an English inventor and gunmaker. He developed a self-expanding bullet in 1835, an electric lamp in 1846 (patent specification 11076 of that year) some 33 years before Thomas Edison's patent in 1879. William Greener also invented the percussion system for firing cannon, made improvements to the miner's safety lamp and won a prize for designing a mechanical device by which four gates at railway/road level crossings could be opened or closed simultaneously. He also invented a self-righting lifeboat, which was exhibited with a rocket gun and several of his famous percussion muzzle-loading shotguns and"