Safety lamp, Pelton no.2, Clanny type, Ritson and Bell design, from the Royal Commission on Accidents in Mines 1879-86, maker: J. Mills and Sons, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, marking: makers name, 1867-1883

Presented by the Royal Commission on Accidents in Mines.

This is an oil lamp of the Clanny type, introduced in 1867 by Messrs. Ritson and Bell, of Pelton Colliery, Durham, hence its name. Instead of a bonnet it has a double shield inside the gauze. The feed air is admitted through the latter, through perforations in the outer shield, and down channels formed by corrugations in the inner shield. There are two glasses, but the annular space between them is not utilized. A lead lock is fitted. The Commissioners ' experiments proved the lamp to be unsafe in an explosive mixture exceeding in velocity 1,500 ft. per min.