330 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[NoVEMBKB, 



tliat tlie tube might be made a quarter of an inch in diameter, hut 

 Mr. Ilotfe: liaving suggested that it pmhahly wouhl not burn, it 

 was made half an inch in diameter, and a slide attached to it in 

 order to lessen it if need were. 



This first lamp liad an open top and conical shape, and was given 

 to Stephenson on the 21st of October, 1K15. This was on a Satur- 

 day, and in the dusk, Stephenson, AV'ood, and Mr. John Moodie, 

 an' undcr-viewer, went down to the A pit to try it. Stephenson 

 lig];tcd the lamp and went to a blower of tire-dam]) in the roof, going 

 to it from the windward, and keeping the candle about twenty yards 

 off. By some deals, they made a part of the mine foul, for the 

 purpose of having a trial witli tlie lamp'. About an hour after- 

 wards, Moodie went into the part so made fo\il, and found by the 

 smell, &c. (of which, from knowledge, he was a sound judge) that 

 the air was in such a state, that if a candle had been taken in, the 

 place would have caught fire, which would have l)een very fearful. 

 Moodie told Stephenson it was foul, and hinted at the danger ; 

 nevertheless, Stephenson would ti-y the lamp, trusting in its safety. 



Stephenson took the lamp and went with it to the spot in which 

 Moodie had been, and Nicholas Wom\ and Moodie, fearful, went 

 further off. Stephenson tried the lamp, and it went out without 

 making any e.xplosion — on which, Ste])henson again held forth the 

 safety of h'is lamp. It has been said, before now, that there is as 

 much bravery in the engineer as in the seaman or the warrior — 

 aye, and as much call for it, too ; and often in the common work- 

 man will there be as stout and bold a heart in the greatest 

 straits, and in the utmost fear of life and limb, as there is in 

 the leader who storms a breach, or heads the bloodiest fight. 

 Stephenson was as fond a husband as a father, but he did not want 

 daring when he thought the call was on him ; and although death 

 loomed before him, he did not turn back from what he felt to be 

 his duty. Here we have the witness of those who were with him, 

 and we may stand by him in this time of trial, and watch his every 

 step. 



" Stephenson," says Moodie, " again lighted the lamp, and Wood, 

 who had now more trust in it, went with him to the former spot, 

 and even held the lamp — they tried it again, and with tlie same 

 end. AV'hen the lamp was put lighted in the gas, thei-e was a 

 great flame, the lamp was almost full of fire, and then it smothered 

 out. Stephenson then said that he could so shift it, that he could 

 make it burn better." 



This first lamp was made with a slide, to regulate the opening of 

 the pipe through which air was sent into the lamp. The slide was 

 partly shut before the lamp was brought near the blast of the 

 blower — indeed, it was so far shut, that the lamp burned but weakly 

 in good air ; and when the lamp was brought to the blower, the 

 flame grew bigger, as already said, and then went out." An ex- 

 plosion, indeed, took place within, but it did not pass outwards. 

 The slide was several times shifted, and trials made afterwards 

 with bladders filled with air from the blowers. The first trial was 

 with the pipe quite open, and the explosion passed downwards. 

 Trials were thereafter made with tlie slide so shifted, that at length 

 the opening was so small, the explosion no longer passed down- 

 wards, and the lamp kept alight ; but it was so weak, that it easily 

 went out by being moved. It was therefore thought, that by 

 making more pipes of this smallness, air enough for burning and 

 for keeping up the light might be let in ; and yet the hcdes or 

 openings be so small, as still to stop the explosion from going down- 

 wards." 



The lamp was now sent to Matthews, a tinman, in Newcastle, 

 and the tliree pipes put to it, but outside the burner. On Satur- 

 day, tlie Ith of November, this was tried in the pit, and found to 

 burn better than the other, but still not well. Nevertheless, the 

 explosion did not go downwards. A spot in the mine had been 

 again made foul by Moodie, and Stephenson, Nicholas Wood, John 

 Moodie, his son of the same name, an overman, and George Wailes, 

 an overman, went down and made further trials, «hich, as they all 

 tliought, turned out better than the first. Moodie here says,'° 

 that three months before the first lamp was tried, Stephenson was 

 often making trials with a candle near the blowers, for which 

 Moodie, who was fearful, reproved him. Stephenson then told 

 Moodie that he thought a lanthorn could be made so as to be taken 

 in safely amongst the foul air ; but Moodie did not think it could 

 be done.' ' 



After this, two lamps of the second pattern were made and 

 given to the waistmen in Killingworth pit. A few days after — 

 namely, on the 9th of November, a boy was killed in the A pit, at 

 Killingworth, on the spot where the trials were made with the 



' Rfport, Moodle's witness, p. 18. 8 StephcnsoD, in tlie Report, p. 1.5. 



9 Wood's witnen, iu the Report, p. 17. »" Repoit, p. W. 



1 1 VVituess of Richard Thomp«OD, au overmao. Keport, f. SI. 



first lamp. Stephenson said, on that daj', if the boy had had his 

 lamp, he would not have been burned. '- 



John M'Crie, a sinker, tells the same tale. He says, that in the 

 summer of 181.5, Stephenson was setting up sloping planes under- 

 ground, and often as he was coming out, he set the blower on fire, 

 and by lighted candles put to windward, put the blower out. 

 Stephenson said that lie could make it useful to save men's lives. 

 This he said, when M'Crie spoke against what he was doing as 

 hurtful. 



Up to this time, Stephenson knew nothing of what Sir Hum- 

 phrey Davy had fiuind out or done, or of what he had written to 

 the coal trade thereupon. He now made his third lamp, which had 

 more pipes, so as to get a better draught of air. He afterwards 

 thought, '= that if he cut off the middle of the pipes, or made 

 holes in metal plates, set some way from each other, as far as 

 the pipes, that the air would get in better, and that there would 

 be the same safety against explosion. Another lamp was therefore 

 made and tried. 



This third lamp did so well, that it was long used in Killingworth 

 pits, and workmen were bound to it under a fine of lialf-a-crown 

 for using a candle. This lamp was tried alongside with Davy's, 

 and found to do as well. 



The first trimmer was a wire down the chimney of the lamp ; 

 hut afterwards. Sir Humphrey Davy's trimmer was used. Nicho- 

 las AVood wrote on this in the Tyne Mercury. 



On the 24th of November, 1815, Stephenson showed his lamp 

 to Mr. Robert AV'illiam Brandling, and to Mr. Murray of Sunder- 

 land, both well able to give a judgment upon it. 



On Tuesday, the Sth of December, 1815, Stephenson's lamp 

 was brought before the meeting of the Literary and Philosophical 

 Society of Newcastle, the same evening that Dr. John Murray's 

 paper about his own lamp was read. Ti-ials were made of 

 Stephenson's lamp with liladders, holding the fire-damp, put below, 

 and the fire-damp let into the lamp. ' * 



The difference between Stephenson's lamp and Sir Humphrey 

 Davy's was, that Stephenson used a plate in which holes were cut, 

 and Davy hit upon the happy thought of using a wire gauze 

 screen ; but Stephenson seems to have been the first who found 

 that the exjilosion would not pass outwards, and upon this all 

 depended, — for wire gauze instead of a metal plate was a mere 

 change of shape, though for the better. 



Whether Stephenson's lamp is still used, we do not know ; but, 

 as shown above, it was kept in use till 1818, and very likely till 

 long after, for Stephenson's friends were so steadfast they would 

 not give in to what they said was a copy of their lamp. 



V. THE GIFT. 



In 181G, those who had called in Sir Humphrey Davy, thought 

 it time to give him some reward, and therefore called a meeting of 

 coalowners, at Newcastle, on the 31st of October, when Mr. Na- 

 thaniel Clayton took the chair. The meeting was to reward Sir 

 Humphrey Davy, " for the Invention of the Safety Lamp."" By 

 this time, a paper war had arisen, and while Bishop Gray and Mr. 

 Buddie felt called upon to stand by Sir Humphrey Davy, a great 

 number held to George Stephenson, and much bitterness of feeling 

 was shown. Neither were there wanting those who upheld Dr. 

 Clanny, Dr. Murray of Edinburgh, Mr. John Murray of Hull, and 

 Mr. Robert William Brandling. Dr. Clanny was 'the first — Sir 

 Humphrey Davy and Stephenson acknowledged this ; but the 

 lamps of the two latter had been brought into work, and the 

 struggle lay between them. Dr. Clanny helped Sir Humphrey 

 Davy, and Mr. Brandling'" sided with Stephenson. Davy was so 

 much the stronger than Stephenson, that he was better known, 

 and had all the men of learning on his side, while Stephenson was 

 backed by the Killingworth men, and all those who thought highly 

 of what tiie self-taught workman had done with the locomotive and 

 the safety lamp. Sir Humphrey's friends were angry that one so 

 lowly should be set up against him — Stephenson's, that one so lowly 

 should be put down, and kept out of his fair share of the work, to 

 bolster up a great name. Both sides went great lengths, both 

 went too far, and now it is easy to do right by all. 



Perhaps AVatt took a part, for he was an early patron of Davy, 

 who was employed in the Pneumatic Institution, at Bristol, under 

 Dr. Beddoes, in which Watt took a great share. 



So much was said and doneby George Stephenson's friends, they 

 fought so hard for him, and against Davy, that the meeting on the 



12 Report, p. 21. i' Report, p. 16. 



1-1 Witness of Mr. Henry Edmonstou, Secretary, and of Mr. Henry Atkinson and 

 Mr. Anthony Clupham. Report, p. '22. 



1 5 The whole of tills is well given iu the Gateshead Observer, of August 19, 184!i, 

 from which the above is taken. 



16 Da?y, Ml the Safety Lamp, 



