268 
ON SAFETY LAMPS. BY ARNOLD LUPTON, ESQ., C.E., F.G.S., 
PROFESSOR OF COAL MINING, YORKSHIRE COLLEGE. 
An unusual amount of attention has been given to safety lamps 
during the last two years, not only by mining engineers, lamp makers, 
and other inventors, but by the general public; and, as a consequence 
of public interest, by the Government through the Inspectors of 
Mines, and the Accidents Commission ; it occurred to me that some 
brief summary of the results of the experience gained in reference to 
safety lamps by general usage, by mining institutes, by Royal Com- 
missions, and by individual investigations might not b3 uninteresting 
and might possibly afford some instruction. Few things are more 
striking in engineering history than the occurrence of great inven- 
tions just at the moment when the progress in other departments of the 
arts and manufactures makes such an invention of prime importance, 
and then the invention, once made, it seems to be complete, and as if 
no further inventions could supersede it. This is the case with regard 
to the safety lamp. It was just when the war with France was ended, 
and we directed the whole of our national energies to the pursuits 
of peace, when the improvements in the steam engine, and the 
developement of the factory system and the resulting increase of 
trade and population called for a large production of coal for iron- 
making, manufacturing, and domestic purposes, and this large pro- 
duction of coal could only be obtained at a terrible risk and gTeat 
sacrifice of human life ; then it was that the safety lamp was invented 
and first practically used, just 70 years ago, in 1816. The lamp 
invented by Sir Humphrey Davy remains to-day in large and 
general use; thousands of clever men have spent time and money 
since then in the endeavour to invent a novel safety lamp, but with 
two exceptions, to which I shall afterwards refer, not one has suc- 
ceeded; and of these two exceptions, one is] only fit for occasional 
use, and the other has not yet received a practical trial. Many 
improvements have been made, but these have been in matters of 
detail, and there is not one single lamp in practical use which is not 
