Mine Locomotive Safety Lamps

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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: