WIRE-GAUZE SAFETY. LAMP. 



May i8i2, the inflammable air exploded in two difcharges 

 from one of the pita, which was fhortly followed by a third 

 from anotlier pit. 



The depth of thefe explofions under the furface ob- 

 tunded the found of the reports ; but for half a mile round 

 the vibrations of the earth announced the occurrence of the 

 accident before the noife cfcaped, and an alarm was created 

 four or five miles round by low and hollow rumblings m 

 the air. Immenfe volumes of denfe vapour and coal-duft, 

 with pieces of wood and coal, were driven high into the 

 atmofphere ; and the mangled bodies of feveral men and 

 boys were abfolutely thrown out of the fliaft. The country 

 in the immediate vicinity was enveloped in darknefs, and 

 every kind of machinery near the mouths of the pits was 

 blown to pieces, or fet fire to. Out of a hundred and 

 twenty men and iDoys employed in the mine only thirty -two 

 were faved, three of whom afterwards died. The coal 

 being fet fire to, and the fubterranean works blown down or 

 dettroyed, the owners were compelled to clofe the mouths 

 of the pits in order to extinguirti the fire ; and it was not till 

 the feventh or eighth of the following month that it could 

 be re-opened to extraft the bodies, which were, many of 

 them, too much mangled, and in too putrefcent a ftate, to be 

 identified by the relatives. A feries of fimilar difafters, m 

 each of which from twenty to thirty-five human beings were 

 deftroyed, occurred foon afterwards in the fame dillrifts, 

 and even in the Felling mine another explofion took place m 

 December 1813, by which twenty-three men and boys and 

 twelve horfes were killed. The only method that had been 

 adopted to prevent explofions, befides the ufual modes of 

 ventilation for clearing the mine, was the fubftitution of 

 fteel-mills for candles. 



The iteel-mill is an inftruraent for producing light by the 

 coUifion of flint and fteel : it confifts of a brafs wheel about 

 five inches in diameter, with fifty-two teeth, which works a 

 pmion with eleven teeth. On the axis of the pinion is fitted a 

 thin jagged fteel wheel, from five to fix inches in diameter ; 

 againft the circumference of this wheel the fharp edge of a 

 flint is fixed, and the toothed wheel has a handle, which is 

 turned by a boy ; the whole machine being fixed in an iron 

 frame fufpended by a leather belt. The fteel wheel revolves 

 with great velocity, and eUcits a ftream of fcintillations, which 

 give a confiderable light. Where the mines were fufpefted 

 to contain inflammable air, thefe machines were ufed ; but 

 befides aff'ording only an unfteady light, and being difficult 

 to manage, many inftances had occurred of the air igniting 

 from the fcintillations of fteel-mills. For the purpofe of 

 exploring the unworked and more dangerous parts of the 

 mine, the fteel-miU was both an inconvenient and incomplete 

 inftrument ; but until the year 1809 no method of lighting 

 had been attempted which might fuperfede its ufe. 



Aboutthat lime Dr. Reid Clanny, a fcientific and ingenious 

 phyfician at Sunderland, commenced a feries of experiments, 

 with a view to infulate the gas which might explode in a 

 lamp, and cut off its communication with the furrounding 

 air in the mine. With this intent, he conftrufted a lamp 

 in which the combuftion of the oil or tallow is fupported by 

 the ordinary air of the coal-mine fupplied by a pair of bel- 

 lows, and pafling through a ftratum or refervoir of water 

 below the light ; at the fame time, a portion of the air already 

 in the lamp is driven through another refervoir in the upper 

 part above the light, and thus the air fupplied may explode 

 within the body of the lamp without communicating the 

 flame to the external air, however highly it may be charged 

 with carburetted hydrogen gas. The moment the air en- 

 ters the lamp it comes in contaft with the flame, and con- 

 fequently only a fmall portion of it can be exploded, inftead 



of the whole contents of the lamp ; by this means feveral 

 obvious advantages are fecured. The air paffing in a briflc 

 current clofe by the flame carries the fnuff with it, fo that 

 the light is always clear and fteady. The other parts of the 

 lamp were air-tight, and the whole made very ftrong, with 

 a glafs nearly half an inch thick to prevent it from being 

 broken by any common accident. It is capable of being 

 managed by a boy at a much lefs expence than the fteel- 

 mill. This lamp, wliich, for ftrength and for fecurity from 

 explofions and accidents, exceeds any other that has fmce 

 been invented, excited little attention among the coal-workers 

 wliere it was firft made known. Had not the prejudices 

 againil improvements prevented its general introduttion, more 

 than one thoufand lives might have been preferved, which 

 were deftroyed in tlie mining diftriftsof the Tyne and Wear 

 in a few years after its difcovery. In its firft form, the 

 lamp, though fecure, was not made fufficiently light to be 

 portable without being placed on a barrow ; but Dr. Clanny 

 afterwards improved it in this refpeft, by fubilituting a fmall 

 pair of bellows to be worked under the right arm ; the lamp, 

 being fufpended by a leather belt from the left fide of the 

 boy who carried it, might in this way be moved into the 

 narroweft or moft dangerous parts of the mine. A defcrip- 

 tion of Dr. Clanny's fafety-lamp, with a plate, was firft 

 given in the Philofophical Tranfaftions of the Royal Society 

 for 18 1 3, part ii. p. 200. In this lamp, however ftrong may 

 be the currents of air in the mine, the flame cannot be af- 

 fefted by them, and the moft dangerous blower may be ap- 

 proached in perfeft fafety. When an explofion takes place 

 in the lamp it extends no farther, and the flame is inftantly 

 extinguiftied ; and wherever there is fufficient atmofpheric 

 air to fupport life, this lamp will afford a fafe and abundant 

 light. The conftruftion of the lamp was rendered more 

 fimple by paffing the air thi'ough the oil, by which the necef- 

 fity of the lower refervoir of water was avoided. 



In Plate I. Jig. 2. Geology, is given an outline of the lamp 

 on its original principle, which, though lefs portable, is, we 

 confider, the fafeft that has yet been employed. A is the 

 body of the lamp, conftrufted of copper or block-tin ; B, 

 the upper part of the lamp, ending in a conical bent tube, 

 by which the air is difcharged after fupporting combuftion 

 through the water-ciftern C and D, the part D being filled 

 with water to keep the lamp cool; if neceflary ; E, the 

 window of the lamp, made of very thick glafs ; F, the 

 candle, fupported on a tin ftand ; G, a ciftern containing 

 water, through whicli the air is forced by the bellows ; H, 

 a tube from the bellows, which conveys air to the lamp. 

 A flexible leather tube may be fixed to the valve of the 

 bellows, to fend atmofplieric air from a diltance, if neceflary. 

 If the lamp be in order, it is fcarcely poffible to conceive 

 any infulation of the flame more perfeft than it prefents ; and 

 to Dr. Clanny muft be allowed the undoubted claim of 

 priority in having firft direfted the attention of miners to a 

 method of avoiding danger before unknown, and of ftiew- 

 ing praftically how it might be effeAed. In the improve- 

 ment which Dr. Clanny made in this lamp afterwards, to 

 render it more portable, [fee Jig. 3. in the fame plate,) a is 

 the tube fixed to the lamp, and which conveys the air ; i, 

 the oil-ciftern ; c, the air aperture, under the burner of the 

 oil ; d, the flexible tube connefted with the bellows ; e,f, 

 the glafs. In both thefe lamps, the air being fupphed by 

 bellows, required the conftant attention of a boy ; this, how- 

 ever, was the cafe with the iteel-mills, which were in general 1 

 ufe before. A lamp that would fupply itfelf with atmo- 

 fpheric air was ilill a defideratum ; when Dr. Clanny dif- 

 covered, in November 1815, as he was making experiments 

 with the original fafety-lamp in an atmofphere of fire-damp 



