Coal Mining Safety Lamps (1901)

Used throughout the coal mines of Pennsylvania, these Clanny style safety lamps significantly reduced the danger of ignition of methane gas present in the mines. These oil-burning safety lamps manufactured by American Safety Lamp & M.S. Co. and J. Davis & Son Ltd. both employed the use of wire mesh around the body of the lamp. This common internal design successfully breaks up the burning gases into tiny streamlets which are so cooled by contact with the metal of the mesh that the flame is extinguished.