SUGGESTIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS IN THE SAFETY LAMP. 
185 
mittee conceive that no employer of miners 
can be justified in allowing caprice, or incon- 
venience to certain individuals, to interfere 
with a due protection to the lives of his work- 
people. In some mines, now lighted by the 
ordinary means, the use of the lamp, ought, 
in the judgment of your committee, to be 
compelled by the owners. 
Many improvements, calculated to lessen 
the number of dangerous contingencies alrea- 
dy alluded to, have been suggested, all these 
may be considered asextensions of the princi- 
ple ; such are the lamps produced by Messrs. 
Upton and Roberts, Mr. Newman, Mr. 
Martin. Mr, Douglas, Mr. Wood, and Mr. 
Dillon.* The lamps of Dr, Clanny and Mr. 
Ayres are provided with additional mechani- 
cal contrivances, intended to exclude danger, 
which might overcome the safety principle ; 
and at once warn the miner of the insecurity 
ofhis situation, by the extinction of his light. 
All these are described in the evidence, except 
Mr. W, Martin’s ; a drawing which ac- 
companies will serve that object ; and Mr, 
Ayres’s, whtch is a suspended extinguisher, 
descending on the flame immediately the gas 
inside the gauze is ignited ; this lamp cannot 
be opened or interfered with without prc iu- 
cing such extinction. Your committee have 
not ascertained how far the extinction of the 
lighted wick would also be acorn panied by the 
extinction of the burning gas surrounding it. 
In the experiments made before your com- 
mittee at the London University, it may possi- 
bly be remarked, that the tests applied were 
such in nature or mode of application, as 
the known actual condition of the mines'b 
would point out as satisfactory. It must not 
be forgotten that the object of those experi- 
ments was to ascertain which, of all the lamps 
produced, was, when exposed to the severest 
trial, best entitled to the name of “ Safety- 
lamp.” In these experiments the explosion 
of the gases within the lamp was effected in 
every one, and similar explosions produced 
externally, save Messrs. Upton and Roberts's. 
Your committee are, therefore, decidedly 
convinced that its construction possesses pa- 
ramount merit. Your committee cannot ad- 
mit that these experiments had any tendency 
to detract from the character of 6’ir H. Davy, 
or todisparage the fair value placed by himself 
upon his invention. The improvements are 
probably those which longer life and addi- 
tional facts would have induced him to con- 
template as desirable, and of which, had he 
not been the inventor, he might have become 
the patron. With the sole exception of unex- 
pected destruction of the instrument, Messrs. 
Upton and Roberts’s lamp appear ’s to your 
committee to provide against all, or nearly 
all, the contingencies attending the Davy- 
lamp. Ml . Buddie states, that tin shields];, 
and a partial concealment of the lamp under 
their dress, constitute the prudential precau- 
tions taken by the miners in dangerous situa- 
tions to prevent the flame passing the gauze 
when the lamp is agitated. The glass chamber 
does all this with greater certainty ; its sudden 
364 371.815.821.1332. 
X 2229.3481.739. 
fracture leaves the instrument a perfect lamp 
on Sir H. Davy’s construction.* The intro- 
duction of the glass is not new ; the novelties 
are, the shape of the glass, the collar which 
regulates the admission of air or gas to the 
cotton wick, and the double tissue of gauze 
beneath the wick, which prevents firing back- 
wards.! If no practical objections are dis- 
covered], and your committee do not contem- 
plate any which may not be readily overcome, 
iVIessrs. Upton and Roberts’s lamp will sup- 
ply a grand desideratum, especially if exten- 
sive experience should prove that the lamp and 
area of the gauze may be so increased as to 
allow of more light with safety. 
On the necessity of having correct maps and 
plans, your committee have already reported. 
The long catalogue of casualties to which the 
miner is subject will be found detailed in the 
evidence. Mr. Roberts, one of the witnesses, 
produced to your committee his safety-hood, 
to enable persons to enter drains, wells, and 
mines charged with carbonic acid gas. Your 
committee report with pleasure their opinion 
of its great value, and of the merit of the 
inventor. The advantages to be obtained by 
having the safety-hood always ready for use 
are by no means hypothetical§, interesting 
proofs of what may be effected by its use have 
been received, and the practicability of saving 
life after explosions, when no hope remained, 
hasbeendemonstrated.il 
On a review of their labours, your committee 
cannot but feel apprehensive that they have in 
great measure failed in devising adequate 
remedies for the painful calamities they have to 
investigate ; they entertain, notwithstanding, 
a sangrrine expectation that the attention of 
the public will be availingly turned to this 
interesting subject.^ The aid they have received 
from many scientific and philanthropic 
characters in the course of this inquiry, and 
the didnterested zeal the parties have mani- 
fested, warrant these hopes. How far legis- 
lative enactments** might come fairly in aid 
of the miner, has had the serious considera- 
tion of your committee. The great dissimi- 
larity of the mineral stratifications of the 
kingdom, the constantly varying circumstance 
of particular minesfL, render it in their opi- 
nion impossible, at present, to lay down any 
precise directions, or to form any rules of uni- 
versal application]:];- Your committee agree 
with many intelligent witnesses, that great 
benefit might be fairly and sanguinely antici- 
pated from men of known ability being encou- 
raged to visit the mines, whether in the 
character of distinguished chemists, mecha- 
nists, or philanthropists. Your committee are 
assured that these visits would be received with 
pleasure by the mine owners, and that every 
assi3tance§§ in the way of experimenting would 
h i promptly afFoided. They retain a grateful 
recollection of the results which followed the 
visits of Sir Humphry Davy. 
On considering what may be due to the 
comfort and welfare of a class of men, who. 
♦ 1903.3319 897.1048. + 1923.1946.3096. ] 1941 » 
3963. ^ 1853.3521.3545. || 2935. 5 766 775. 
+ * 1813.4131.4166. ++ 1806.1814. ]] 
^ 2415,2509. 
+4061. 
