Suggestions arising from Inspections of JVire-gauze Lamps, 197 



establishment, and having my name and credit more immedi- 

 ately connected with the works than any other proprietor, I feel 

 myself called on to disclaim participation in any experiments con- 

 ducted there by Mr. Holmes, with results so opposite to those of 

 other persons, who with liberal motives have felt anxious to prove 

 the security which Sir H. Davy's discovery promises, and with 

 the benevolent hope of its application to the safety of the mem- 

 bers of a valuable class of society. After what 1 have seen and 

 heard of Sir H. Davy's lamp, my conviction of its security is 

 not shaken by Mr. liolmes's report, which looks more like an 

 endeavour to serve his friend Dr. Clanny than the public. 



Any means vvhich our works in Dorset Street can afford to 

 scientific and liberal men, of investigating further the applica- 

 tion of Sir H. Davy's or any other discovery, will be granted 

 with pleabure by. Sir, 



Your obedient humble servant, 

 City Gas Works, Dorset-street, Salisbury-sq. Wm. KniGHT. 



London, 20th August, 1816. 



XL. Suggestions arising from Inspections of Wire-gauze 

 Lamps, in their working State, in Mines. By Sir H. Davy. 



JL HE inspectionof a number of wire-gauze safe-lamps, that have 

 been long in common use in coal mines, and the examination 

 of the effects of different explosive atmospheres of fire-damp 

 upon them, enable me to offer a few suggestions, which } hope 

 will be of use to the miner. 



The wire-gauze cylinders ought never to be taken out of the 

 screw-piece in which they are fixed ; and in the lamps con-^ 

 structed at Newcastle, which have not the same rim of wire- 

 gauze as those of Newman's construction, the wire-g<auze ought 

 to be soldered to the screw-piece, or fixed to it by rivets. 



The wire-gauze is easily cleaned without being detached, by 

 a brush of the same kind as that used for cleaning bottles, and 

 one of these brushes ought to be furnished with every lamp. 



The wire-gauze in several lamps in the collieries, which had 

 been in use six months, and cleaned by careful workmen with- 

 out being removed, was as good as new ; whereas the gau*e in 

 some, tliat had been used for a much shorter time, and taken 

 out of the lamp and cleaned roughly, was injured at the bottom, 

 and, if not actuallv unsafe, becoming so. 



In one instance, I found a lamp which had been furnished to 

 a workman without a second lop. Tliis is a gross and un])ar- 

 donable instance of carelessness in the maker, who, if any accir 

 olcnt had happened, would have been guilty of homicide. 



M3 AH 



