Davy lamp
The miner’s safety lamp, in which a wire gauze stops the flame igniting the gas.
The chemist Humphry Davy (1778–1829) invented the lamp in 1815 after several disastrous mine explosions in the north of England. He never patented it. Lamps are in the Science Museum in London and the Royal Institution.
Materials: Brass, iron and iron-wire gauze
Manufacture: The flame is surrounded by a cylinder of fine wire gauze that cools the gas so it cannot ignite outside.
The cylinder of gauze round the flame, with a brass top.
The flame grew bluer and taller when firedamp was present – the lamp was also a warning.