Davy Safety Lamp
notes: label: Description
content: This Davy-style safety lamp was made by the Hughes Brothers of Scranton, Pennsylvania during the late 19th or early 20th century. The lamp is called a safety lamp because it can be used safely in the presence of flammable gas. The lamp has a domed metal top that bears the inscription “ALDEN COAL CO.” It is similar in style to the flame safety lamp developed by Sir Humphry Davy in 1815. Davy discovered that surrounding the flame with a fine wire gauze would cool the flame to such an extent that it could not ignite the flammable gas surrounding the lamp. The lamp was used by the Alden Coal Company during the early 20th century, and presented to Grant Wheat by the Alden Coal Company in 1920.
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content: Work and Industry: Mining
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content: Mining Lamps
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content: Work
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content: Industry & Manufacturing
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content: Grant Wheat Collection
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Pohs, Henry A.. Early Underground Lamps
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Mary R. Wheat
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: AG.MHI-MN-8133
label: accession number
content: 239148
label: catalog number
content: MHI-MN-8133
objectType: label: Object Name
content: lamp, oil, safety, mining
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 8 1/2 in; 21.59 cm