Accession Number

2009.005

Alternate Name

safety lamp

Description

A brass and enameled zinc-plated steel miner's safety lamp, the closed fuel container at bottom separated by a glass cylinder from the metal air-vent screen at the top which has an attached metal ring for carrying and hanging the lamp.

Narrative

The Davy Lamp, also known as a safety lamp, is designed to prevent injury and death in underground mines.  Light is provided by a flame located inside the lamp. Fine screening allows oxygen and other gases into the lamp, but the mesh screen is too fine to allow the flame to pass through to outside of the lamp. If the air in a coal mine has unsafe levels of explosive methane (also known as firedamp), the lamp will burn brighter, thus warning the miner of the danger, but the flame will not pass through the mesh, thereby preventing an explosion. In cases where there is a dangerously low level of oxygen and instead, a dangerous concentration of carbon monoxide (also known as afterdamp), the lamp will burn dimly, thus warning the miner of potential poisoning and asphyxiation.

This particular safety lamp made by Wolf of Germany was of better quality and more expensive than other brands because it burned naphtha, resulting in a brighter flame to see and work by.

History of Use

During the 1950's, this lamp was given to the donor's father in Nanaimo by a man who said it had been used in coal mines in the Nanaimo area. The specific Nanaimo collieries in which this lamp was used are not known. It can be assumed that it was used in either the Vancouver Coal Mining Company colliery or in one of the Dunsmuir mines at or near Wellington, or possibly both.
 

Date

after 1893

Dimensions

28 x 9 cm

Material

Metal, brass; Metal, steel; Metal, zinc; Glass

Technique

Plated

Country of Origin

Germany