Date

Materials

Description

Cylindrical metal miners lamp with a hook on the top. The top of the lamp is a relatively thin metal sheet with five pegs holding it up from the bonnet. Attached to the domed portion of the top is a large hook. Around the edge there are several inscriptions. Attached to one of the pegs is a round, brass-coloured tag with a number. The portion underneath the top, the bonnet, makes up most of the lamp and has small, dark, rectangular impressions aligned in rows covering the surface. Underneath the bonnet is a smaller glass chamber surrounded by five brass pillars. The glass has three thin white lines running around the circumference. The base is quite plain, with only a slight flare outwards at the very bottom. The lock appears to be on the underside of the lamp.

In 1910, the U.S. Bureau of Mines (USBM) was established. As part of their goal to make mining more safe, one of their prime responsibilities was studying flame safety lamps. In 1914 when the patents for the Wolf safety lamp expired, the Koehler MFG Co. started making safety lamps modelled very closely after the Wolf lamp with improvements aimed at generating more light and producing clearer results when testing the air in a mine. The following year, the USBM issued its first schedule on safety lamp testing, and the Koehler bonneted steel lamp was the first approved under this schedule. With the suspension on the imports of safety lamps from Germany between 1914 and 1918, Koehler had a strong hold on the market for safety lamps in North America during WWI. An identical version of the 1914 lamp was approved in 1918.  However, this version had a round wick as opposed to a flat one. Based on the presence of a flat wick in the glass chamber, this lamp is one of earlier versions based on the 1914 style. These kinds of flame-based safety lamps were manufactured well into the 1930s until they were phased out with newer and safer alternatives like carbide lamps and, eventually, electric lamps.

When a miner went down into the mine, they would hand over their identifying tag and be issued a flame safety lamp engraved with their assigned number, which is found on the round brass tag attached to a peg. When a miner ended their shift, they would give the lamp back and their identifying tag would be returned. This process was a safety measure that helped keep track of miners going in and out of the mine, and if there was a tag left on the board at the end of the day, a search would typically commence for the missing miner.

Marks/Labels

On the top of the lamp around the edge is “ISSUED TO THE KOEHLER MFG.CO”

On top of the “ISSUED TO THE” part is a large “227” stamped into the metal.

“MARLBORO

MADE IN THE U.S.A.” is engraved around the edge of the top.

“APPROVAL NO. 203” is engraved around the edge of the top in a larger font than the other inscriptions besides the “227.”

“181” engraved into the round brass tag.

“TOP” is written faintly near the top of the glass to the left of the brass tag.

“80.5.831” written in black pen on the base.

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