Who invented safety lamp

Find out more here. Created in , 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.

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 , 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. This design allowed the Davy lamp to serve as a test for the presences of certain gasses. While flammable gasses were the most prominent threat in mines, asphyxiant gasses also presented a danger. Although safety lamps addressed the issue of mining explosions, they did not become as numerous as other mining lights for a variety of reasons.

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 a chance miners were willing to take.

Additionally, many miners objected to the false confidence instilled in many who used a safety lamp, and claimed that safety lamps obscured the real issue of unsafe working conditions and would hinder the development of improved ventilation needed in mines. Safety lamps had one unique advantage—they could safely burn off methane in mines which kept them in use by mine bosses even after the invention of battery-powered lamps.

Safety lamps were manufactured by a variety of companies from around until the s, and incorporated elements of their design from Clanny, Stephenson, and Davy. Mining Lights and Hats Safety Lamps.

Several different lamps, produced in response to a common problem by several different inventors, were in co-existence in the s. The drawn-out quarrelling between opposing camps meant that that co-existence was rarely peaceful, though. 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.

An inventor called Sir Humphrey Davy also invented a safety lamp around about the same time known as the Davy lamp , which caused arguments between the two men. Today, the safety lamp has been replaced by electric torches. George Stephenson was born near Newcastle upon Tyne in and was an English engineer. He also developed steam locomotives steam powered trains for the very first railways.

The Rocket was very successful and many other steam trains were modelled after it. The industrial revolution was the transition to new technologies and manufacturing processes from about For example, coal and engines powered the mills, whereas before human, animal and water power were used. However, Stephenson was accused of stealing the idea from Davy who was better known than Stephenson and a highly respected scientist.