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Mine Locomotive Carbide Safety Lamp.  Made by Wilhelm Sieppel, Bochum, Germany. Circa 1910. Click photo for more images.

Buy, Sell, or Trade.  Will buy one specimen, or entire collection. Free Appraisals 

Hello!!  My name is Dave Gresko, and welcome to my homepage.  I have been buying, selling, trading, and collecting antique miner’s lighting devices for the past 25 years.  Presently, I mainly focus on rare and unusual miner’s safety lamps.  Do you have any?  If so, I would like to hear about them.  Just send me an email with a photo, and I will see if I can provide information on your lamp!

1915 JUSTRITE METAL ADVERTISEMENT SIGN

A few years ago, I was lucky to find an original 1915 Justrite metal advertisement sign that was hung in hardware stores where Justrite miner’s carbide lamps were sold.  There are so few of the originals left, so I decided to reproduce the sign in a limited quantity. Produced under an agreement with Justrite Co. (which is still in business, although not making mine lamps anymore!), this sign is a beautiful, fully embossed metal, three-color lithograph.  It measures 11 1/2″ by 16 1/2″ and is suitable for framing.

This sign will compliment any mining artifact collection!!!!

(click sign to enlarge)

The cost of the sign is $49, which includes postage.  To order, E-mail me at davegresko@minerslamps.net.

“Red Edge Shovels“

Hardware Store Advertisement Metal Sign

The “Red Edge” shovel was made by the Wyoming Shovel Works, in the heart of coal country, in Wyoming, PA.  Wyoming Shovel Works made several types of shovels and picks, and painted
the edges of their tools red to differentiate from competitors. 

This sign is quite rare, since there are few metal advertisement signs that depict an underground miner. Since the sign was intended for display in  hardware stores back when miner’s had to purchase their own tools, the vintage is probably 1920’s. 

I have reproduced a limited number of these signs for collectors of mining

 artifacts. Utilizing computer aided imaging and high-quality silk-screening, it is almost identical to the original.  It measures 18″ X 12″, and would be an excellent display item for any mine artifact collection.

The cost of the sign is $35 plus $5 postage.  You can email me at davegresko@minerslamps.net to order yours.  Satisfaction is guaranteed.

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Brief History of the Miner’s Flame Safety Lamp

While the introduction of the steam engine for dewatering and hoisting had led to the deepening of the collieries in England, the ventilation technology to control the increased dangers of methane fell behind. In the early 1800’s, several large colliery explosions in the North of England had killed many pit men.  Attention was called for the need of a flame lamp that would not ignite “firedamp”.

Although there is a dispute to  who invented the “first” miner’s flame  lamp that was safe to use in fiery mines, the success of the flame safety lamp was a culmination of the principles discovered by Dr. William R. Clanny, Sir Humphrey Davy, and George Stephenson.  All three men worked independently on the problem at about the same time, and all had some knowledge of the other’s work.

The principle of isolating the flame of the lamp was evolved by Dr. Clanny in 1813.  Clanny’s first lamp designs involved enclosing the flame, and pressurizing the lamp via bellows that would use water reservoirs to isolate the flame.  The lamp was rather clumsy, and saw no practical use in the mines.  But the feature of a glass window would be later a common feature on safety lamps.

At about the same time, Sir Humphrey Davy was performing several experiments of his own for the development of a safety lamp.  In 1815, Davy discovered that if two vessels were filled with explosive gas, they might be connected together by a narrow tube, and the gas in one of the chambers could be exploded without transmitting the explosion to the adjoining chamber.  This meant that a flame in a lamp, fed mine air through small orifices, would not ignite the surrounding air of the mine. 

Davy’s further experiments found that mesh-holes of fine metallic gauze acted the same way as narrow tubes.  The adjacent drawing depicts Davy’s principle utilizing a Bunsen-burner.  The flame will burn on one side of the gauze without igniting the gas on the under side of the gauze.  This is because the gauze will dissipate heat fast enough that the temperature of the gas beneath is unable to rise to the point of ignition. 

Davy built a lamp that totally enclosed the flame with a cylinder of gauze.  While it did not give off much light, it was success in minimizing, although not eliminating, explosions from flame lamps.  Davy’s wire gauze principle was used in almost every type of flame safety lamp that was developed for near 200 years. 

While Clanny and Davy were working on their safety lamps, George Stephenson (who would later go on to invent the steam locomotive) was working on his safety lamp.  In 1815 , Stephenson was an enginewright at the Killingworth colliery near New Castle.  Stephenson started developing and testing lamps designed on 2 principles: 1)”burnt air” (carbonic gas, CO2) would prevent transmission of explosions. 2) The velocity of burning firedamp was slow.   So, if  an air draft opposite to the direction of combustion of great enough velocity could be created, transmission of explosion would not occur. Stephenson’s third lamp was a success, and with modifications was successfully used in coal mines mainly in the North of England.

There has been a long dispute to as who really invented the first “safety lamp”.  Clanny, Davy, and Stephenson each contributed to the evolution of the safety lamp.  To summarize their contributions:

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Mine Locomotive Carbide Safety Lamp,  Wilhelm Seippel

Marked “Wilhelm Sieppel, Bochum” (Germany).  This particular model must of been a favorite of the manufacture because it is one of only three models of safety lamps pictured on the cover of Sieppel’s 1908 50yr. Anniversary Special Catalog.  The  igniter assembly, in the middle of the lower picture, takes the old paper caps. The water vessel in this lamp is actually submerged in the carbide canister.  The water control is regulated through back pressure of acetylene gas. On the bottom of the lamp, there is a knob that is part of a regulating device that controls the flow of gas to the burner.  Magnetic lock.  Circa 1910.  This specimen is unfired.  

Click image below for benzene locomotive lamp:

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Mine Locomotive Benzene Safety Lamp, Wilhelm Seippel

Early mine locomotive benzene safety lamp.  Made by Wilhelm Seippel, Bochum, Germany.  This early lamp is fitted with a model 1897 Friemann & Wolf igniter.  Notice the glass lens is beveled.  Circa 1900.

Click on the image below to see a carbide mine locomotive safety lamp:

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Wolf’s Dahlmann Lamp

Click on picture to enlarge

The Friemann & Wolf Company of Zwickau, Germany made many unusual styles of safety lamps prior to 1900.  One of the more unusual lamps, and short lived, was a lamp  known as the Dahlmann.  Wolf must of thought a lot of the lamp, because it appeared as a centerpiece in some pre-1900 advertisements.  But the lamp disappeared from the advertisements and Wolf’s catalogues going into the 20th century.  In fact, very few have survived.

The Dahlmann was first patented on May 23, 1894 and was designed for gas testing/measuring. Basically, the design is a Museler chimney system with a damping system to control the air intake.  The damper consists of a brass sheet metal cylinder with a wire gauze top.  It works by sliding the cylinder up or down, which adjusted the amount of intake gauze area that is exposed to the atmosphere. A device on one of the standards  gages the adjustment of the damper.  There are essentially three positions for the damper: 1) fully open, 2) half open, and 3) fully closed (lamp will extinguish).  Mounted on two of the lower standards is a sighting device for measuring the flame.

Click on picture to enlarge

 The example pictured has an early 1893 spring loaded type striker.  The serial number is 194,442, which puts the lamp circa 1895 or 1896.  Another example exists in the German Mining Museum in Bochum.  Interestingly, the one at Bochum is only ten (10) serial numbers off th example shown.

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The Chesneau Lamp

The Chesneau lamp was introduced in 1892 by M. Chesneau, president of the French Fire Damp Commission.  Essentially, Chesneau’s invention was a Pieler lamp with many improvements to overcome the weaknesses and hazards of Pieler’s design. 

 Chesneau’s lamp is made heavier duty for rough service, and has a fixed bonnet that allows it to perform safely in air currents up to 2000 ft. per minute.  Like the Pieler, the lamp burns alcohol and has a tall gauze surrounding the burner.  Instead of using a conical shield around the burner, the Chesneau use a cylinder as a standard for adjusting the flame.  Unlike a Pieler, the Chesneau has a shutter to control the underflow of air to the burner. (Click here for assembly drawing of Arras Chesneau)

Gas measuring is identical to the Pieler. The elongation of the flame while in a firedamp atmosphere is observed through a mica window, and measured with scale attached to the bonnet.  The lamp is also fixed with a sliding shield that can be adjusted to the exact height of the cap, which permits a more accurate reading.  To more easily read the caps, copper nitrate and ethylene chloride are dissolved in the wood alcohol to give the flame a greenish tint.

In the Chesneau, as in the PieIer, the accuracy of the test result is depended on the condition of the cotton being the same as when the lamp was standardized.  A great improvement  is that the Chesneau only requires 30 to 90 seconds to cool down between tests, where the Pieler requires 20 to 30 minutes to eliminate the artificial  atmosphere of alcohol vapor.

Click on the thumbnail below to view a Chesneau from my collection!!

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Chesneau Lamp

This Chesneau lamp is of German make and marked “Wilhelm Seippel  Gruben-Sicherheitslampen & Maschinenfabrik  BOCHUM i.W.”  This particular example is unfired. The main difference between  French  and  German built Chesneaus is that the German lamps have a fabricated font, while the French lamps have a heavy cast font.  Dating this lamp is difficult.  It was probably made between 1910-1930, but even post W.W.II might be possible. 

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Mine Locomotive Safety Lamps

Some of the rarest miner’s safety lamps are those that were made for underground mine locomotives.  Although both Friemann & Wolf and Wilhelm Seippel made various models, only a few exist in collections and museums today.  Because these lamps were fairly large, and put on a moving piece of machinery, no doubt  they had a short life span.  Judging from manufactures’ catalogues, locomotive safety lamps do not appeared to have made it past 1920.  This was when safer, more reliable, and heavy-duty electric accumulator lamps were becoming popular.

The lamps above were made by Wilhelm Seippel, Bochum, Germany.  The one to the left used benzine for fuel, while the one to the right was fueled by carbide.  Both are pre-1910.

For a closer look, click on the images below: