Re: Miner\'s Lamps
Hey, I've seen these.
The lamp in the photo is a miners safety lamp. This lamp is not primarily used for illumination, but as a gas detector. It is the most reliable way to know if you have an oxygen or methane problem in the mine. Miners used to be required carry them in the US, in coal mines. If the flame changes a certain way, goes out or flares up - then you have a problem. You quickly go into "no spark mode", and get out.
For illumination, miners use fantastic electric headlamps mounted on the top front of their helmets, powered by (in 1990 anyway) a wet sealed lead acid battery. They used wet cells because they're reliable. The battery compartment is translucent, so you can see the electrolyte level, and the charer station for each lamp have voltmeters.
The safety lamp in US service was being phased out in favor of an electronic "canary" - a handheld explosive gas detector. Miners in the 90's hated them, because they were far less reliable than the safety lamp. They may have fixed them by now, but at the time I was around the mines, the miners were required by MSHA regulation to have the electronic canary, and by their foremans (who had a vested interest in getting back out) to carry safety lamps.
The electronic detectors were called canaries because the old system was to use a live canary. When the canary died, you had a problem. In US mines, the safety lamp has probably been around since WWII, but I believe the British used canaries (the bird) for quite a bit longer.
The safety lamps, in any event, don't put out much light. They are, however, explosion proof and nearly indestructable.
