Safety lamp

Safety devices were increasingly employed to prevent accidents arising from careless or improper use of safety lamps in mines, one of the most frequent temptations being for the miner to relight his own lamp in the working place. This is of the Westphalian Clanny type, with modifications patented by Messrs. C. Wolf and H. Friemann, of Zwickau, Saxony, in 1883-1885; it is for burning petroleum spirit, the reservoir being filled with absorbent material. In a well in the reservoir a mechanism (also shown separately) is provided, whereby a paper strip containing a row of detonators can be fed upward, by pushing a button in the base; this also actuates a hammer, the flash produced igniting the spirit vapour. The lamp is locked by a pawl on the end of a spring, engaging with ratchet teeth in the screw of the reservoir. The pawl is withheld by the attraction of a magnet when unscrewing.

Safety devices were increasingly employed to prevent accidents arising from careless or improper use of safety lamps in mines, one of the most frequent temptations being for the miner to relight his own lamp in the working place. This is of the Westphalian Clanny type, with modifications patented by Messrs. C. Wolf and H. Friemann, of Zwickau, Saxony, in 1883-1885; it is for burning petroleum spirit, the reservoir being filled with absorbent material. In a well in the reservoir a mechanism (also shown separately) is provided, whereby a paper strip containing a row of detonators can be fed upward, by pushing a button in the base; this also actuates a hammer, the flash produced igniting the spirit vapour. The lamp is locked by a pawl on the end of a spring, engaging with ratchet teeth in the screw of the reservoir. The pawl is withheld by the attraction of a magnet when unscrewing.