In fact on november 9th 1815 when announcing to the royal society his discoveries on the nature and properties of firedamp he gave a description of clanny s lamp which he had seen in use at a northern colliery. Also known as the geordie lamp the safety lamp was invented by george stephenson in 1815 for miners to use down the coal mines to help prevent explosions due to firedamp flammable gases found in coal mines.

The Miners Safety Lamp Eric Edwards Collected Works

The three main progenitors of early safety lamps were dr.

Inventor of miners safety lamp. The first oil burning safety lamp utilizing gauze cylinders was invented by sir humphrey davy. It was created for use in coal mines to reduce the danger of explosions due to the presence of methane and other flammable gases called firedamp or minedamp. Created in 1815 it was designed to be lit safely for miners to use without allowing the heat from the flame to explode the concentration of methane gas often found as miners dug deeper.

The two inventors were humphry davy professor of chemistry at the royal institution between 1801 and 1812 and george stephenson. The lamp was highly praised and many manufacturers went on to produce their own variations on what became the blueprint for the modern mining lamp. The davy lamp is a safety lamp for use in flammable atmospheres invented in 1815 by sir humphry davy.

It was a simple lamp where a flame was covered with glass and was placed near to the ground to detect gases. It consists of a wick lamp with the flame enclosed inside a mesh screen. In 1882 jean marsaut a french mining engineer adapted a mueseler lamp by replacing the internal chimney with a second conical gauze and added a full bonnet to protect the gauze.

Frank james recounts the tale behind the invention of the mining safety lamp 200 years ago. T owards the end of 2015 we will be marking the bicentenary of the simultaneous and almost certainly independent inventions of two versions of the miners safety lamp. He is credited by some as the inventor of the miners safety lamp this lamp is of his design and he was a founder member of the society for the prevention of accidents in coal mines.

A need was seen to provide a safe light for miners to use in gaseous mines and several inventors set upon the task independently. Humphry davy s miners safety lamp the first ever prototype of davy s miner s safety lamp. William reid clanny sir humphry davy and george stephenson.

The clowes hydrogen lamp. He never claimed to be the inventor of the miners safety lamp.