Humphry Davy's miners' safety lamp | The Royal Institution: Science Lives Here Davy lamp → Humphry Davy's miners' safety lamp The first ever prototype of Davy’s miner’s safety lamp. Created in 1815, it was designed to be lit safely for miners to use without allowing the heat from the flame to explode the concentration of methane gas often found as miners dug deeper. Humphry Davy miners' lamps. Basement Laboratory of the Ri Alternative name Mining, Humphry Davy, coal, gauze, safety lamp, firedamp, light, invention Description Following a number of serious explosions in North East coal mines due to pockets of flammable gas known as 'firedamp', Humphry Davy was asked by the Rector of Bishopwearmouth (near Newcastle) to find a means of lighting coal mines safely. In an intense period of work from mid-October to December 1815, Davy made various prototype lamps. The final design was very simple: a basic lamp with a wire gauze chimney enclosing the flame. The holes let light pass through, but the metal of the gauze absorbs the heat.

The lamp is safe to use because the flame can't heat enough flammable gas to cause an explosion, although the flame itself will change colour. The lamp was successfully tested in Hebburn colliery in January 1816 and quickly went into production. The introduction of the lamp had an immediate effect, decreasing the number of fatalities per million tons of coal produced enormously and also increased the amount of coal produced as it allowed miners to mine deeper seams of coal. In this way it made a fundamental contribution to the continuing industrialisation of Britain and to many other mining countries, during the nineteeth century. At precisely the same time however George Stephenson, a mining engineer at Killingworth Colliery, was also working on the problem. He independently invented a remarkably similar lamp and soon the two inventors were locked in a bitter dispute over priority. Davy needed to differentiate his lamp from Stephenson’s and therefore claimed that his invention was the product of scientific research, despite there being very little science in it - indeed the only science in the lamp is the discovery (made independently by Davy, Stephenson and Smithson Tennant) that explosions would not pass through narrow tubes.

Davy won this battle of words going on to become President of the Royal Society, while Stephenson went on to invent the first steam powered locomotive for the railroad. To help rubbish Stephenson’s claims Davy acquired some of his lamps to try to demonstrate how useless they were. These can be found on display alongside Davy’s prototypes in the Light Corridor area of our exhibition, on the lower ground floor. Where can I view this? This object is currently on display in the lower ground floor of the Royal Institution in the Faraday Museum . More images Humphry Davy's miners safety lamp Credit: Royal Institution Welsh miners cambrian flame safety brass lamps ABERDARE, MID GLAMORGAN Safety Lamps - Past and Present In the early days of mining in this United Kingdom, bunches of resinous were used for lighting the outcrop workings. In these early days there was little, if any, circulation of air in the workings so the dangers from explosions, due to firedamp, were not great owing to the fact that marsh gas requires a certain proportion of air before it becomes explosive.

On the continent earthen oil lamps were used at first, until the fear of explosions led to the use of dried fish skins from which a faint phosphorescence was emitted. It is obvious, however, that such a method must have led to mining work being carried on practically without light. Tallow candles were subsequently used both for the works and for searching out gas. A small candle (30 to 40 to the lb.) was carried in a wet lump of clay - the flame reduced in size by placing clay at its lower extremity near the exposed portion of the wick according to Caleb Pamely's “Colliery Managers’ Handbook”. The candle was raised from the floor very gradually in an upright position with one hand of the observer held palm outwards towards the light to shield it entirely from view except the very tip of the flame. As it was raised an appearance of 'top' or 'cap' of blue flame above the candle flame indicated the presence of gas in the air. As soon as this appeared the candle would be gently lowered, the searcher would withdraw with as little disturbance as possible, and the gaseous mixture dispersed as safely as possible.

Where the quantity of gas was small it might be waved away with a coat or piece of brattice cloth. Before com­mencing to do this, the man would retire to a distance, away from the outgoing currents, his candle left out of the passing firedamp. Another method of eliminating a small quantity of gas was to set fire to it. A special operator or ‘fireman’ with tremendous nerve did this at night. Protective attire might consist of wool, or leather, well damped, with the man’s face and head protected by a mask or hood. Using a long stick with a lighted candle attached to the end, he would crawl the last few yards toward the explosive gas, his head and body close to the floor. Immediately afterwards he would stand upright (or as much as the space would allow) to avoid the carbonic acid gas left by the explosion. The name 'fireman' has been retained to the present day for the man who searches for gas. In some countries he was called the 'penitent', on account of the resemblance of his dress to certain religious orders in the Roman Catholic Church. In many instances, in spite of all precautions, the fireman did not survive the explosion.

The first apparatus for producing light was Spedding's ‘Steel Mill’, patented in 1760. It consisted of a spur wheel and steel disc placed in a small steel frame, at the end of which the operator held a piece of flint. The continuous succession of sparks emitted by the rotation of the disc against the flint gave warning of danger by indicating the presence of firedamp. The faith in the ‘Mill’ was immediately shattered by a serious explosion at the Wallsend Colliery in 1785. About this time attempts were made to light collieries by sunlight reflected by mirrors down the shaft. The first attempt to use a lamp was made by Humboldt in 1798, but it would not burn in the presence of impure air and was therefore of no use in a coal mine. The first person to demonstrate that a steady light could be employed in coal mines without the danger of external explosion, was Dr. William Reid Clanny, of Sunderland. On May 20th, 1813, he announced his discovery at a meeting at the Royal Society of Arts in London, when he presented the Society with the first miner's 'Safety Lamp'.

The first colliery in which a safety lamp was used was the Herrington Mill Pit, now the property of the Earl of Durham. The date was October 16th, 1815. It was Dr. Clanny's modification of his first safety lamp. For this lamp he was awarded a medal by the Society of Arts in May 1816. In 1848, two years before his death, he was presented with a public testimonial in recognition of his services as the constructor and inventor of the very first safety lamp. This lamp consisted of a metal case containing a candle. It was fitted with a semicircular glass, and the air was fed by a pair of bellows. The first oil-burning, safety lamp, utilizing gauze cylinders, was invented by Sir Humphrey Davy. He never claimed to be the inventor of the Miners' Safety Lamp. In fact, on November 9th, 1815, when announcing to the Royal Society his discoveries on the nature and properties of firedamp, he gave a description of Clanny's lamp, which he had seen in use at a northern colliery.

He described it as 'an ingenious arrangement for burning a candle supplied with atmospherical air by a bellows through water'. The first Davy Lamp was tried at Hebburn Colliery, January lst, 1816. Strictly speaking, the 'Davy' is not a lamp but a scientific instrument for detecting the presence of firedamp. All lamps of the present day embrace the principles of the Clanny and the Davy. The first lamp made for George Stephenson was tried at Killing­worth Colliery, Northumberland, October 21st, 1815. It was a com­parative failure. Stephenson's third lamp was more successful, and on December 21st, 1815, he exhibited it to a number of colliery owners and officials at the Literary and Philosophical Institute, Newcastle upon Tyne. Gratification at this success was checked when he learned that Davy had also entered the field. Davy was the competitor he feared. Stephenson did not hesitate to adopt Davy's idea of the gauze cylinder nor did he regard it as piracy.

In his pamphlet entitled 'A Description of the Safety Lamp invented by George Stephenson', published in 1817, he states that he regarded the substitution of a 'gauze cylinder for a perforated case' as 'merely a variation in construction'. Nor was he inclined to give Davy much credit for his discovery, declaring that 'the person who first constructed the perforated tin can lanthron in common use may, with great justice, claim the merit of having surrounded flame with a substance less liable to injury than glass', which he subsequently produced as the 'Improved Stephenson', or 'Geordie'. This lamp was practically a Davy Lamp with a glass cylinder inside the gauze. Indeed, the Royal Commissioners, in their report dated March 15th, 1896, stated, 'if the glass breaks the Stephenson Lamp becomes a Davy'. The 'Davy' and 'Geordie' have long since been relegated to the list of obsolete lamps. Stephenson, however, frankly admitted his indebtedness to Dr. Clanny. In his pamphlet already referred to, he states, 'There can be no question upon the merit of the discovery, as there is no doubt that Dr.

Clanny directed his talents to the subject and had constructed his original lamp, before I had reduced my ideas into practice.' Continuing his experiments, and following up Davy's discoveries, Dr. Clanny, in conjunction with the late John Mills, to whom he granted the sole right of manufacture, eventually produced his 'lmproved Clanny Lamp'. He adopted gauze cylinders but made them 2 inches shorter than Davy's. He used a circular glass for surrounding the flame, but made it 3 inches shorter than Stephenson's. Improved scientific methods of ventilation so greatly increased the velocity of air currents in coal mines, that in course of time, neither the Davy, Clanny, nor Stephenson lamps proved of practical ability in currents exceeding 400 to 800 feet per minute. In some cases their employment provided an element of danger, for among miners and officials there prevailed considerable ignorance on the question of noxious gas and the principles of the safety lamp. Thus it happened that for several years after the introduction of safety lamps explosions in coal mines were more frequent and more disastrous than they had ever been before.

In Belgium and France, where the mines are deep and fiery, Governments made the use of safety lamps a question for the state, and they appointed Commissioners to decide the merits of the various lamps then in use. Both Governments decided in favor of the Mueseler, and the use of other kinds was prohibited. This, how­ever, did not prevent the recurrence of appalling disasters, and the Mueseler, it was found, was in certain circumstances, a more dangerous lamp than some of those it superseded. The Mueseler is a form of the Clanny with a chimney inside the gauze. In 1884, the British Government appointed a Royal Commission, 'To inquire into accidents in mines, and the possible means of preventing their recurrence or limiting their disastrous consequences'. In the course of their investigation, they found that 'at least 60 per cent of the average of the deaths resulting from accidents in connection with coal mines were caused by explosions of firedamp and from falls from the roof and sides'. It was clearly proved that, to a large extent, these disasters were due to the inefficiency, or to the defective construction of safety lamps.

The committee, therefore, 'considered it their duty to give special attention to the subject of safety lamps'. The Commissioners resolved, to test, practically, every form of safety lamp then in use, and to decide which, in their opinion, most nearly fulfilled the essential qualifications. For this purpose they invited makers, inventors, and users of safety lamps in the United Kingdom, Belgium, France, and Germany to send them lamps to be tested and reported on. In response, more than 250 lamps were sent in. Mr. Ellis Lever, realizing the importance of the task which the Commissioners had undertaken, offered a prize of 500 Pds Stlg for 'the best safety lamp', the tests to be conducted at Woolwich Arsenal by a specially selected committee which included several members of the Royal Commission. The principle which guided the Royal Commission was that adopted by the Belgian and French Governments - viz., that the safest lamp was that which would most effectually withstand the influence of a strong current of explosive air. Before the Commissioners, or the Woolwich Arsenal Committee, had concluded their tests, a French mining engineer (M. J. B. Marsuat) proved, by a series of elaborate experiments, that the principle was entirely wrong.

He clearly demonstrated that, as there was no uniform velocity in the air-currents of a mine, a lamp constructed to burn safely in a strong current was a source of extreme danger when used in a stagnant atmosphere of explosive gas. His experiments proved that the gas entered the lamp, and remained there till the lamp was again brought in to a current sufficiently strong to force it through. The confined volume of gas then ignited and caused an explosion. This, M. Marsuat stated, 'is an important key to certain accidents, hitherto ignored, assuredly very disquieting and which gives a key to certain accidents which have been difficult to explain'. The Royal Commissioners frankly admitted their mistake. In their report (page 87) they stated: 'The experiments conducted by M. Marsuat were so complete and so thoroughly established the truth of his observations that we thought it unnecessary to undertake a fresh investigation of the subject on an extended scale. We have, however, repeated a few of his experiments, and the results are in general accord with those obtained by him.' Thus the Royal Commission and the Woolwich Arsenal Committee found no lamp then in use entirely fulfilled the essential qualifications they had established. The 500 Pds Stlg was not awarded.

The Royal Commissioners, however, finally decided in favor of four lamps, 'in which the quality of safety, in a preeminent degree, is combined with simplicity of construction, and with illuminating power at least fully equal to that of the lamps hitherto in general use. These four lamps were: Gray's Lamp, Evan Thomas No. 7, Marsuat, and Meuseler Bonneted. In our experiments the No. 7 has given, upon the whole, the best results.' They reported, however, that the use of the 'Mueseler' was attended with a certain amount of danger so ‘care must be taken to avoid a considerable inclination from the vertical direction, …. but with the Marsuat' they stated, 'there is no probability of the flame being ex­tinguished under any circumstances attending ordinary use'. These statements were fully substantiated by the Woolwich Arsenal Com­mittee. On the recommendation of the Royal Commissioners certain improvements were made in the 'Marsuat' Lamps, viz., in the locking of the lamp's bottom and in fixing of the case. The illuminating power of the 'Marsuat' exceeds that of other kinds burning animal or vegetable oil.

An analysis of the Commissioners' report shows that, though 250-300 lamps were tested, they had all, in a greater or a lesser degree, essential points of resemblance. They classified the oil burning lamps under six types, three English and three Belgian. The English types were the 'Davy', 'Stephenson' and 'Clanny'; the Belgian types were the 'Mueseler', 'Boty' and 'Eloin'. Of the 'Eloin' (patented in 1850), they reported 'it is closely allied to the 'Stephenson' Lamp; of the original 'Boty' (adopted in 1 881 by the Belgian Government) they stated 'it is a Clanny Lamp in general form'; and of the 'Mueseler' they reported 'it is derived from the 'Clanny". Thus the safety lamps used so extensively on the Continent, at that time, were all adaptations of the three original English types. A thoroughly efficient safety lamp is not a mere mechanical contrivance for giving light in a coal mine. It is an instrument con­structed in accordance with established laws of physical science.

It ensures the burning of a protected flame in the presence of explosive gas, by regulating the necessary supply of atmospheric air, and by allowing the products of combustion to pass through without igniting the gaseous atmosphere. If the atmosphere is so heavily charged that noxious gas enters the lamp, its presence will be indicated by a change in the length and color of the flame, and (unless there are exceptional circumstances), the miner has sufficient warning to secure his safety. The principles on which a thoroughly efficient safety lamp is constructed are practical, not theoretical. The component parts must all be in direct ratio. This ratio has been so accurately determined by practical tests, that any deviation from the established standards will adversely affect either the illuminating capacity of the lamp or its value as an indicator of danger. The reports of the Royal Commissioners on 'Accidents in Mines' (1886) and the Woolwich Arsenal Committee, show, however, that several inventors, and makers, who sent safety lamps for testing, or in competition, were either wholly ignorant of this fact and of the laws of physical science, or they did not regard them as of any importance.

The most flagrant deviation from established standards was in the case of the 'Scotch Davy', a lamp made in direct violation of the laws of physical science. Sir Humphrey Davy stated, as the result of pro­tracted experiments, that 'when a cylindrical gauze is used, it should not be more than 2 inches in diameter, for a larger cylinder the com­bustion of the firedamp renders the top inconveniently hot'. The 'Scotch Davy', however, was made from 2.9 in. to 3.3 in. in diameter. Davy restricted the height of his gauze to 7 inches; in the 'Scotch Davy' the height was 10 inches, exclusive of cap or top. Mining Lights and Hats | National Museum of American History Object Groups Mining Lights and Hats The depth, the dark, and the dangers inherent in mining created a uniquely dangerous working environment for the miner. Miners faced death from collapsing mines, oxygen deprivation, and haulage accidents, with the specter of fatal lung disease remaining even after the miner had left the mines. But the most instantaneous and catastrophic loss of life was caused by explosions due to miner’s lamps igniting methane gas.

20th c. Canvas Mining Cap & Lamp Bracket A miner’s light was essential to their labor. Without light there was no sight, no work, and no wages. But this essential light was also lethal. Open flames could ignite the inflammable gas especially prevalent in coal mines and mining explosions with hundreds of casualties was a common occurrence in the late 19th and early 20th century. Miners often carried open flames into the mines in the form of candles and hanging lamps, and later wore the open flames of carbide lamps and oil-wick lamps on their caps and helmets. Before 1850, miners would use candles or small lamps that were hung from crevices or hammered into timbers near their work. From 1850 until around 1915, miner’s headgear generally consisted of cloth or canvas hats with leather brims and metal lamp brackets on the forehead that allowed them to hang a source of light on the front of their cap. Caps served the ancillary use of protecting the miner’s eyes from smoke or soot and their head from small bumps, but its main purpose was as a mount for their lamps. Dunlap's Oil-Wick Cap Lamp,ca.

1840-1890 Around 1850, the oil-wick cap lamp was invented in Scotland. Oil-wick cap lamps were shaped like small kettles—a small font that contained oil fueled a wick that was stuffed into the spout. The oil-wick cap lamp issued a bare flame, giving off enough light for miners to see what was in front of their face, but not much further. The oil-fueled flame was exceedingly smoky , and could easily ignite flammable gasses (mainly methane) found in coal mines. These lamps were worn on soft caps that offered little in the way of protection and were mainly worn for the convenience of having a light source in front of the miner's face. Simmons Carbide Lamp, ca. 1915 Carbide lamps were also worn on soft caps. Invented around 1910, the small carbide cap lamp had several advantages over an oil-wick cap lamp. The acetylene gas that powered the flame burned cleanly, relieving the miner from the smoke and soot from oil lamps. Also, the flame from the acetylene gas burned brighter than oil-wick cap lamps.

Carbide lamps often came with a reflector, allowing this brighter flame to be directed and giving the miner a wider range of light. The drawback of the carbide lamp was that its open flame was still capable of igniting methane gas in mines. Used in conjunction with oil-wick and carbide cap lamps was the safety lamp , a much larger lamp that could not be worn, but had the advantage of a sheltered flame that would not ignite any flammable mine gasses. In the early 1820s Sir Humphry Davy discovered that a flame enclosed in mesh would not ignite flammable gasses. The fine metal mesh served to cool the flame so that it no longer had the energy required to ignite the flammable gas in a mine. Mine safety lights eventually developed to include a glass enclosure around the flame for better lighting and metal bonnet to better protect the flame. Miner's with Edison Battery-powered Lamps and Safety Lamp,Warwick Mine, Pennsylvania ca. 1955 Even though it was developed in the 19th century, the safety lamp was not enthusiastically adopted by miners.

Many miners objected to using safety lamps because they were cumbersome, could not be worn on the cap, and gave a poor light, all serving to reduce a miner’s efficiency. Since most miners were paid by the pound a reduction in efficiency amounted to a reduction in pay, and so the risk of an explosion was worth the reward to many miners. The early 20th century was the deadliest time for miners in the history of the United States. In 1907, Monongah mines number 6 and number 8 exploded, killing 362 miners. A fire in Cherry Mine in Cherry, Illinois killed 259 miners in 1909. In 1913 Stag Canon Mine number 2 in Dawson, New Mexico exploded killing 263 miners. These were the three worst coal mine disasters in the U.S. history, prompting Congress to establish the U.S. Bureau of Mines in 1910. The Bureau turned their attention to the new technology of electric lamps in an effort to curtail accidents through the elimination of flames and an improvement in lighting.

In 1915 the Bureau approved the MSA Edison Flameless Electric Miners’ Cap Lamp , beginning the age of electric mine illumination that correlated with a steady decrease in mining accidents from the high reached in 1907. Just like the soft mining caps that were used to hold oil-wick or carbide mining lamps, mining helmets were used to hold the new electric cap lamp. The lamp sat in a bracket at the front of the helmet, with the cord running along the helmet's crown, guided by a cord holder in the back of the helmet to route the cable directly to the battery pack worn on the miner’s belt. MSA Skullgard Helmet ca. 1930s The protective helmets in the collection of the Division of Work and Industry of the National Museum of American History generally consists of two helmet types. Either the “Hard Boiled” brand of helmet made by E.D. Bullard Company in San Francisco, California, or the plastic Skullgard or Comfo-Cap manufactured by the Mine Safety Appliances Company of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Carbide lamps were still used with hard protective helmets, but helmets that used electric lamps often had a cord holder to keep the cord out of the miner’s way.

A form of this helmet and electric lamp combination is still worn today. Contemporary lamps include improvements in battery life and weight, a change to LED bulbs, and breakaway or segmented cords to allow the miner to be less inhibited by his battery pack. Collections Search safety lamp | coal mining | Britannica.com Safety lamp wick Safety lamp, lighting device used in places, such as mines, in which there is danger from the explosion of flammable gas or dust. In the late 18th century a demand arose in England for a miner’s lamp that would not ignite the gas methane ( firedamp ), a common hazard of English coal mines. W. Reid Clanny , an Irish physician, invented a lamp about 1813 in which the oil-fuelled flame was separated from the atmosphere by water seals; it required continual pumping for operation. In 1815 the English engineer George Stephenson invented a lamp that kept explosive gases out by pressure of the flame’s exhaust and held the flame in by drawing in air at high speed. In 1815 Sir Humphry Davy invented the lamp that bears his name.

Davy used a two-layer metal gauze chimney to surround and confine the flame and to conduct the heat of the flame away. Electric hand and cap lamps were introduced in mines in the early 1900s and by the middle of the 20th century were used almost exclusively in mines. A safety device in the headpiece of the electric lamps shuts off the current if a bulb is broken. Double-filament bulbs may be used, so the light can remain on when a filament fails. The flame of a safety lamp elongates in the presence of firedamp, but electric lamps give no warning of noxious gases or lack of oxygen. Consequently, a flame safety lamp must be kept burning within easy view of the workers, or frequent inspections must be made, using a flame lamp or other form of warning device. Learn More in these related articles: Humphry Davy and the “safety lamp controversy” | Andrew Lacey | Science | The Guardian The H word Humphry Davy and the “safety lamp controversy” This year marks the bicentenary of the invention of the Davy Lamp. But should credit for the first miners’ safety lamp be shared?

Stephenson’s lamp (left) and Davy’s wire gauze lamp (right). On 25 January 1816, Davy reported to the Royal Society that prototypes of his gauze lamp had been tested “in two of the most dangerous mines near Newcastle, with perfect success”. From George Clementson Greenwell, A Practical Treatise on Mine Engineering (1869). Andrew Lacey Share on Messenger Close Almost two hundred years ago, on 9 November 1815, Humphry Davy, formerly Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Institution, presented to the Royal Society the paper he later published as ‘On the Fire-damp of Coal Mines, and on Methods of Lighting the Mines so as to Prevent its Explosion’. In it, Davy described his researches into the chemical composition of “fire-damp” – the common name given to the naturally occurring mixture of flammable gases, mostly methane, that had caused several horrific mining disasters – and outlined several designs of lamp that might be used safely in the presence of the gas. Less than a month later, the Tyne Mercury published a hostile letter from a J. H. H.

Holmes, prompted by “Several statements … in the London, Edinburgh, and different provincial papers of this district, relating to a lamp, or lamps, invented, or said to be invented, by Sir Humphry Davy, for preventing explosion in coal mines”. In it, Holmes accused Davy of “borrow[ing the] principles” of William Reid Clanny, a Sunderland-based physician who, in 1813, had also presented to the Royal Society a paper outlining his own design of safety lamp. Had Davy actually “borrowed” – or, more plainly, plagiarised – anything of Clanny’s? We know that, on a fact-finding visit to the north-east, Davy had been lent an example of Clanny’s lamp by the inventor himself. Davy studied it, and returned it the next day. The key feature of Davy’s so-called “safe lamp” of October 1815 was a series of narrow ventilation tubes, within which, Davy found, fire-damp would not explode. Clanny’s lamp made use of bellows and a pair of water cisterns to maintain an isolated flame.

As a private letter to James Perry of 13 December 1815 ( now held at Yale University Library ) attests, Davy was adamant that his lamp (described second) was sufficiently different in principle to Clanny’s lamp (described first) to explain away Holmes’s objection, which he considered a “libel”: You will judge what analogy there is between a lamp burning between two columns of water & supplied with air by a bellows worked by hand or machinery; & a simple close lantern supplied with air by canals through which explosions cannot pass. The claims made against Davy throughout 1816-17 by supporters of George Stephenson, a Northumberland-born engineer, proved more difficult to counter. On 21 October 1815, Stephenson had successfully tested a safety lamp of his own design, which, like Davy’s, operated on the principle of restricting the flow of air being drawn into it. On 30 October, Davy had communicated several designs of lamp, including his “safe lamp” with narrow ventilation tubes, to friends by private letter. By 4 November, Stephenson was testing a lamp which had three narrow ventilation tubes in the base.

Stephenson, the largely self-educated mechanic, arrived at his design of lamp by what has been called “practical empiricism”: a combination of, as David Knight has observed , intuition and common sense, involving a fair amount of trial and error. Davy, on the other hand, the established and well-connected man of science, understood the principle by which his lamp worked: he spent hours experimenting on samples of fire-damp, sent in sealed bottles from the north-east, in the laboratory of the Royal Institution, then used his research findings to shape his design. Davy and Stephenson had worked independently, and there is no persuasive evidence of any kind of “borrowing” on either side in 1815. Davy had had the benefit of seeing a working example of Clanny’s lamp, but his own “safe lamp” with narrow ventilation tubes was a very different machine to Clanny’s. The improved lamp Davy designed in the final days of December, which replaced the tubes with a wire gauze cylinder enclosing the flame, was, again, a different machine to Stephenson’s. Evidently, attempting to recognise the inventor of the miners’ safety lamp is problematic.

It was such reductiveness that ignited and then fuelled the “safety lamp controversy”, which was played out – on newspaper letters pages, at public meetings, and in private correspondence – for months. Several different lamps, produced in response to a common problem by several different inventors, were in co-existence in the 1810s. The drawn-out quarrelling between opposing camps meant that that co-existence was rarely peaceful, though. Clanny’s early lamp, being unwieldy and requiring continuous pumping of the bellows, saw only minimal use; he did, however, receive recognition from the Society of Arts for it. Stephenson’s and Davy’s lamps, which were more compact and more practical than Clanny’s, operated on a different principle. And, although Stephenson was the first to test his lamp in a working mine, Davy was the first to understand the science behind his lamp in the laboratory. Clanny, Stephenson, and Davy can each attach priority – or the condition of being first – to their lamps, but of a different type in each case.

As the case of Davy’s and Stephenson’s safety lamps demonstrates, it is possible to arrive, contemporaneously, at very similar ideas or designs independently and by different means, which serves as a reminder that claims to absolute priority should be treated with caution. The initial invention and subsequent development of Davy’s and Stephenson’s lamps in the autumn and winter of 1815 appears to be an occurrence of “multiple independent discovery”, as commented on by Robert K. Merton , amongst others. When Davy presented his improved lamp, featuring gauze rather than narrow ventilation tubes, Stephenson would not allow that the use of gauze was anything other than “a variation in construction”. So, even when Davy had pushed his design forward in a way that Stephenson never really did, the latter’s charge of plagiarism against the former remained. Stephenson’s unwillingness to concede ground to Davy is understandable: the winner in the race to establish priority, as Michael Strevens has noted , takes all. The “prize” for all runners-up is the nullification of hours – or years – of honest labour.

Some of Davy’s most extraordinary letters, most of which remain unpublished, relate to Stephenson and the safety lamp controversy. When The Collected Letters of Sir Humphry Davy is published in 2018, marking the culmination of the decade-long Davy Letters Project , the most complete and detailed account to date of Davy’s work on this most contested of inventions, as well as many other previously obscure details of his life and work, will be brought to light. Andrew Lacey is a Senior Research Associate at Lancaster University, working on the Davy Letters Project . Humphry Davy - Inventor of the First Electic Lamp By Mary Bellis Updated February 02, 2016. Sir Humphry Davy was a famous British inventor, the leading chemist of his day, and a philosopher. Quote from Humphry Davy "Fortunately science, like that nature to which it belongs, is neither limited by time nor by space. It belongs to the world, and is of no country and no age.

The more we know, the more we feel our ignorance; the more we feel how much remains unknown..." November 30, 1825 Work Pure sodium was first isolated by Humphry Davy in 1807 through the electrolysis of caustic soda (NaOH). Barium was first isolated by Humphry Davy in 1808 through the electrolysis of molten baryta (BaO). Cool flames were accidentally discovered in 1817 by Humphry Davy, at temperatures as low as 120 °C, fuel-air mixtures react chemically and produce very weak flames called cool flames. In 1809, Humphry Davy invented the first electric light. Davy connected two wires to a battery and attached a charcoal strip betwween the other ends of the wires. The charged carbon glowed making the first arc lamp. continue reading below our video How to Make a Monthly Budget That Works Davy later invented the miner's safety lamp in 1815. The lamp called firedamp or minedamp, allowed for the mining of deep seams despite the presence of methane and other flammable gases.

Humphry Davy's laboratory assistant was Michael Faraday , who went on to extend Davy's work and became famous in his own right. Humphry Davy - Achievements Proved that it was not using two different metals that made the Voltaic Pile work. Discovered the medical properties of nitrous oxide or laughing gas. Boron compounds have been known for thousands of years, but the element was not discovered until 1808 by Sir Humphry Davy, Gay-Lussac and Thenard. Performed the first electrochemical decompositions, isolating potassium, sodium, barium, strontium, calcium, and magnesium. Invented the first electric light. Invented the miner's safety lamp. Who Invented the Flame Safety Lamp Who Invented the Flame Safety Lamp? The invention of the flame safety lamp is often attributed to Sir Humphrey Davy, the renowned Cornish scientist and scholar. There is no doubt of his contribution, but it is also unfair to lay all the credit at his door; there are as many supporters for George Stephenson's claim, and others hold that it was William Clanny who developed the first truly useful safety lamp.

Perhaps the fairest thing that can be said is that all three contributed to the initial development of the flame safety lamp. Fairly typically, the contribution of non-english speaking scientists is ignored, and few have ever heard of Alexander von Humboldt, the German polymath who demonstrated the safe use of a flame light in an underground coal mine many years before the British establishment sought the help of Sir Humphrey Davy. Clanny's first lamp was possibly derived from this early, but hardly portable, example. So the prize for the first successful underground demonstration of safe flame lighting must go to von Humboldt, a Prussian mine inspector who, after only a few years, abandoned the mining industry and went on to explore South America and document much of the continent's flora and fauna. But this was only the beginning of the development of the safety lamp. Although none of the original developers claimed a patent on their ideas, leaving manufactures free to provide safe lighting for miners (at a price, of course!), many others patented devices and modifications to improve the basic design.

Over the years, patents have been issued in many countries for burners, locking mechanisms, relighting mechanisms and heat dissipating bonnets, as well as methods for increasing the reliability and accuracy of lamps used to detect the levels of methane in the mine air. The constant development of flame safety lamps to meet the changing needs of miners for safe, effective lighting, and the detection of dangerous mine atmospheres has resulted in a huge diversity in lamp design and construction, which makes their collection such a satisfying pastime. Davy attempted at least three designs of safety lamp, and reported his early results to the Royal Institution on November 9, 1815. The manuscript lecture (still available for reference in the archives of the Royal institution) makes no reference to the use of wire gauze. The original, hand drawn figures prepared by Michael Faraday do not show a wire gauze lamp. Interestingly, the published version of this lecture includes a drawing of a gauze-enclosed lamp, and mentions the use of gauze in the text. The first definitive description of his lamp was made on December 31, 1815 in "Philosophical Magazine". He made no reference to previous mention of the design.

Both Stephenson's and Davy's lamps enclosed the flame. William Clanny introduced the glass globe, allowing more light to work by, although at first the durability of the glass was questioned, and some colliery officials forswore glass-globed lamps in favour of traditional Stephenson / Davy types for many years. Clanny's first lamp, which he developed in 1813 and presented to the Royal Society in a lecture, used a water trap at the inlet and outlet to the lamp, and a set of bellows was used to force air through the lamp to keep the flame alight. The lamp was not parctical for general use, but was of enough significance for Clanny to be awarded a Siver medal from the Royal Sociey of Arts in 1816. Alexander von Humboldt There is no doubt that Stephenson began work on his safety lamp in August, 1815, about the same time that Davy received a request from the Society for Preventing Accidents in Mines in Sunderland to consider ways of providing safe underground lighting. Stephenson was working at Killingworth Pit in Northumberland at the time, and asserted to his "viewer" that he could make an automatic safety lamp.

Nicholas Wood, a local tinsmith, visted Stephenson that evening and they roughed out the design of his first lamp. He showed his lamp publicly on December 5th, 1815, demonstrating its effectiveness with pigs bladders full of methane gas. Stephenson's lamp protected the general body of mine air from the enclosed flame with both narrow tubes and a perforated metal screen, the latter having much the same effect as the wire gauzes subsequently used by Davy. Stephenson's Safety Lamp (after NCB, 1981) Davy's Safety Lamp (after NCB, 1981) Clanny's Safety Lamp (after NCB, 1981) BBC - History - Sir Humphry Davy z Sir Humphry Davy © Davy was a British chemist best known for his experiments in electro-chemistry and his invention of a miner's safety lamp. Humphry Davy was born on 17 December 1778 in Penzance in Cornwall. He was apprenticed to a surgeon and aged 19 went to Bristol to study science. There he investigated gases.

He prepared and inhaled nitrous oxide (laughing gas) and in 1800 published the results of his work in 'Researches, Chemical and Philosophical'. This made his reputation and the following year he was hired as an assistant lecturer in chemistry at the Royal Institution. There he was a great success, with his lectures soon becoming a draw for fashionable London society. He became a fellow of the Royal Society in 1803 and was awarded its Copley Medal in 1805. In 1800, the Italian scientist Alessandro Volta had introduced the first battery. Davy used this for what is now called electrolysis and was able to isolate a series of substances for the first time - potassium and sodium in 1807 and calcium, strontium, barium and magnesium the following year. He also studied the forces involved in these separations, inventing the new field of electrochemistry. Davy was now considered one of Britain's leading scientists and was knighted in 1812. In 1813, Davy set off on a two year trip to Europe.

He visited Paris - even though Britain and France were at war - where he collected a medal awarded to him by Napoleon, and identified the element iodine for the first time. In 1815, he received a letter from some Newcastle miners which told of the dangers they faced from methane gas. The gas often filled the mines, and could be sparked off by the candles they had in their helmets to light their work. The resulting fires and explosions caused many deaths. Davy separated the flame from the gas, and his 'Davy' lamp later became widely used. The same year George Stephenson, the railway engineer, also invented a safety lamp. Davy was made a baronet in 1818 and from 1820 - 1827 was president of the Royal Society. He died on 29 May 1829 in Switzerland. His assistant, Michael Faraday, went on to establish an even more prestigious reputation than Davy.

Miner&#39s Safety Lamp,Miner&#39s Safety Lamp inventors | edubilla.com : Electrical & Electronics About Invention 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 electric lights. History and development Within months of Clanny's demonstration of his first lamp, two improved designs had been announced: one by George Stephenson, which later became the Geordie lamp, and the Davy lamp, invented by Sir Humphry Davy. Subsequently, Clanny incorporated aspects of both lamps and produced the ancestor of all modern oil safety lamps. George Stephenson came from a mining family and by 1804 had secured the post of brakesman at Killingworth colliery.

He was present at both the 1806 and 1809 explosions in the pit. By 1810, he was engineman and responsible for machinery both above and below ground.The pit was a gassy pit and Stephenson took the lead in work to extinguish a fire in 1814. For some years prior to 1815 he had been experimenting on the blowers or fissures from which gas erupted. He reasoned that a lamp in a chimney 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 Humphrey 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 him to determine the correct size and fineness for a miner's lamp.

Davy was awarded the Rumford Medal and £1,000 by the Royal Society in 1816 and a £2,000 prize by the country's colliery owners,who also awarded 100 guineas (£105) to Stephenson. However, the Newcastle committee also awarded Stephenson a £1,000 prize collected by subscription.Dr. Clanny was awarded a medal by the Royal Society of Arts in 1816. Both the Davy and Stephenson lamps were fragile. The gauze in the Davy lamp rusted in the damp air of a coal pit and became unsafe, while the glass in the Stephenson lamp was easily broken, and allowed the flame to ignite firedamp in the mine. Later Stephenson designs also incorporated a gauze screen as a protection against glass breakage.Developments, including the Gray, Mueseler and Marsaut lamps, tried to overcome these problems by using multiple gauze cylinders, but glass remained a problem until toughened glass became available. Were the flame to go out in a lamp, then there was a temptation for the collier to relight it.

Some opened the lamps to light tobacco pipes underground.Both of these practices were strictly forbidden; they clearly negated the whole point 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 the Mueseler, Landau and Yates lamps below. Such a lamp was known as a protector lamp, a term picked up and used as a company name.Only on the return to the bank could the lamp man open the lamp for refilling and service. Various different locking mechanisms were developed; miners tended to be ingenious in finding ways of circumventing them. A number of additional lamps were supposed to accompany each gang of men, but restricting the number was an obvious economy for the pit owners.

The light given out by these lamps was poor (particularly the Davy where it passed through the gauze); indeed, in early lamps worse than candles.The problem not solved until the introduction of electric lighting around 1900 and the introduction of battery-powered helmet lamps in 1930. The poor light provided yet another reason for miners to try to circumvent the locks. Early lamps (the Davy, Geordie and Clanny) had the gauze exposed to air currents. It was quickly discovered that an air current could cause the flame to pass through the gauze. The flame playing directly on the gauze heats it faster than the heat can be conducted away, eventually igniting the gas outside the lamp. Following accidents such as Wallsend (1818), Trimdon Grange (1882) and the Bedford Colliery Disaster (1886), lamps had to be shielded against such currents. In the case of the Davy, a "Tin-can Davy" was developed which had a metal cylinder with perforations at the bottom and a glass window for the light from the gauze.

Clanny derived lamps had a metal shield (typically tinned iron) in the shape of a truncated cone, called a bonnet covering the gauze above the glass cylinder.The important principle is that no direct current of air can impinge on the gauze. The shield had the disadvantage of not allowing the collier or the deputy to check that the gauze was in place and clean. Lamps were therefore made so that they could be inspected and then the bonnet placed on and locked. Davy lamp In the Davy lamp a standard oil lamp is surrounded by fine wire gauze, the top being closed by a double layer of gauze. If firedamp is drawn into the flame it will burn more brightly and if the proportions are correct may even detonate. The flame on reaching the gauze fails to pass through and so the mine atmosphere is not ignited. However, if the flame is allowed to play on the gauze for a significant period, then it will heat up, sometimes as far as red heat. At this point it is effective, but in a dangerous state. Any further increase in temperature to white heat will ignite the external atmosphere.

A sudden draught will case a localised hot spot and the flame will pass through. At a draught of between 4 and 6 feet per second the lamp becomes unsafe.At Wallsend in 1818 lamps were burning red hot (indicating significant firedamp). A boy (Thomas Elliott) was employed to carry hot lamps to the fresh air and bring cool lamps back. For some reason he stumbled or moved the lamp too quickly and triggered the explosion.At Trimdon Grange (1882) a roof fall caused a sudden blast of air and the flame passed through the gauze with fatal results (69 killed). Poor copies and ill-advised "improvements" were known, but changing dimensions either reduced the illumination or the safety.The poor light compared to either the Geordie or Clanny eventually led to the Davy being regarded as not a lamp but a scientific instrument for detecting the presence of firedamp.Some pits continued to use candles for illumination, relying on the Davy to warn men when to extinguish them.

Question: Who invented the Miner’s Safety Lamp?
Answer: Humphry Davy