Safety lamp

Safety lamp, Howat no.1, Eloin type, from the Royal Commission on Accidents in Mines 1879-86, maker: Johnson, Clapham and Morris, Manchester marking: makers name and Howat's patent, 1879-81

This is of the Eloin type, and was patented in 1879 by Mr. A. Howat. Air is admitted through 16 bent tubes passing through the reservoir into a gauze protected space below the wick. The products of combustion pass through 9 tubes 3 in. long and deliver into a space covered by a dome of gauze. lock is fitted.

In the Commissioners' experiments these lamps failed in explosive mixtures at velocities of 1,000 to 1,500 ft. per min.