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(Speding Flint wheel) - Emails on the subject

Opening Wolf Safety Lamp


Larry Ford.

Dear Fionn
My wife was born in Wales and remembers her uncle coming home from the pit. She recently bought this lamp, above left, as it reminded her of her childhood. It is very well engineered and is a lovely article.
It has an arrangement which presumably accepts some type of lock. What would be the purpose of locking it? Would it be to lock the lamphousing to the base, or to lock the whole lamp to some fixture? It is ten and a half inches tall. There is no Colliery badge on it. The wording around the brass bottom of the lamp housing reads: THE WOLF SAFETY LAMP CO. (Wm. MAURICE) Ltd SHEFFIELD WOLF PATTERSON LAMP No. 7.S. There are two inserts in the brass which mystify me, they look like they are made of iron. One of them can be seen in the picture. I would be grateful for any information.
Regards
Larry Ford.

Spark
Brian Robinson Replies: -
I.Min.E, ISRP.Mining Consultant, Breathing Apparatus and Rescue Consultant

I have one in my collection. I also know for definate that Chesterfield station (and probably all of the midlands stations) used this type of lamp up till the mid 60's. The Wolf safety lamp company still exists in Sheffield making battery lamps and torches for firemen. The lock is a legal device that had to be on every lamp, to prevent anyone opening it when underground, so the flame could not be exposed to possible flammable gasses. It is still illegal for anyone to carry a device to open safety lamps underground.

Magnet for opening safety lamp


From Bill Parker **

A) The magnetic reservoir opener can get a bit sticky if it hasn't been used for some time. I found that (not very) gently banging the lamp whilst wriggling a magnet around eventually got it to give.

B) Talking of magnets, the strongest and cheapest I could find came from some beat up old computer disk drives - they each contain two very powerful rare earth magnets - it's well worth attending a boot sale to pick up some ancient 10Gb HDD drives or similar ancient stuff from the nearest computer geek. Be warned however, they are a bit brittle (it's only the chrome covering that keeps 'em together) and they are slippery little brutes. Once stuck to a flat sheet of metal, they're prob'ly going to stay there! :-)


Spark

Lighter Flints

I use standard lighter flints that you can get in a tobacconist, they are slightly smaller diameter, but work perfectly well. I will see if I can get some genuine ones as I do some work with a couple of local mines here.

Brian Robinson. Breathing Apparatus and Rescue Consultant


Spark

From:     Eric Jessop
Sent:
    20 October 2008
Subject:
Eccles Safety Lamp Type 6 - How Do I Re-new The Flint?

I have a type 6 in my possession and although I can remove the bottom and get to the wick and to fill it if I wished but I can't figure out how to re-new the flint. Is there some way of removing the glass? If not how do I get to the flint housing?

Thanks for any help you may give.

Eric Jessop

Spark

From:     Kevin Shaw
Sent:
    21 August 2011
Subject:
How Do I Open An Eccles Safety Lamp Type 6?


Hi. Could you help me please?

I am trying to open an Eccles No 6 M & Q It's just that I am wanting to clean it.  I used to know but iv forgotten.  I hope you can find time to help.

My Dad was a miner and proud of it, my mams uncles sank the shaft at Dawdon pit, and both were killed. So as you can see I have history too.

Many thanks
Kevin Shaw

 

 


Spark

From: Brian Robinson
Sent: 22 October 2008 17:39
Subject: Protector safety lamp - Flint Renewal


Greetings both, Eric, Fionn has posed your problem to me.

In case you havn't managed to do it yet, I'll go through it step by step, I'm away from home without a flame lamp but from memory should be ok.

a.. If its a straight type 6, it should not have a magnetic lock holding the base on (where the fuel goes in), unscrew this.

b.. around the glass where the bars are, there are 2 bars close together, one is a locking bar, you should now be able to slide one down through a hole below the glass, this then unlocks the bonnet (top portion)

c.. once the bar is down, grasp around the glass portion with one hand, bonnet with other hand, and screw anti clockwise until the bonnet comes off.

d.. there should be 2 gauzes in the bonnet, a washer on top of the glass (be careful, these washers are asbestos), and simply take the glass upwards.

e.. The flint is in the protrusion, this is a screw cap with a spring in it. Unscrew the cap, take out the spring, flint in, spring in, screw cap back on, and reverse the procedure.

f.. allow around 2 hours after putting fuel in before trying to light it, Ronson lighter fuel is fine.

If you have any problem just email me again and I'll do pictures to help.

Regards
Brian Robinson. Breathing Apparatus and Rescue Consultant


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