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A History lesson
Posted by Norman on 18/10/2024, 18:44:45
Hebburn & Sir Humphrey Davy’s Safety Lamp
Hebburn’s first Colliery was ‘A’ Pit that opened in 1792. Soon afterwards there was a ’B’ Pit & ‘C’ pit. ‘A’ Pit was located between Wagonway Rd & Auckland Rd at the east end of Argyle St. ‘B’ Pit was east of Black Rd (Black Lane in those days) and south of St Oswald’s Church. The ‘C’ Pit was close to the Lyon St / Ellison St junction, on land which in later years was used by Hawthorn Leslie’s as a steel stock yard. I 1812 after a massive explosion at Felling Colliery, a local Clergyman John Hodgson along with Hebburn Hall’s Cuthbert Ellison, John Buddle, Mining Engineer and Matthias Dunn a ‘Viewer’ in the mines, got in touch with the great Chemist Sir Humphrey Davey to ask if he could invent a lamp that can be safely used underground in coal mines. Ever since coal was mined, thousands of men and boys had died underground in ‘fire damp’ explosions. (‘Fire Damp’ is methane gas). Sir Humphrey took up the challenge and used wine bottles full of methane gas taken from Hebburn 'B' pit for testing in his Laboratory`. A while later, Clergyman Mr John Hodgson received a parcel from Sir Humphrey with 2 of the newly invented lamps, ready for testing. Mine official Matthias Dunn a ‘Viewer’ at the pit took one underground on Jan 1st 1816 at Hebburn ‘A’ Pit which was close to where in 1870 the foundation stone was laid for a Scottish Presbyterian Church. St Andrew’s. The lamp tested successfully so on the 9th Jan the Rev John Hodgson took the lamp down ‘B’ Pit located close to where St Oswald’s Church is today. St Oswald’s wasn’t there at the time, as it was was built in the 1880s. . When Clergyman John Hodgson took the lamp down ‘B’ Pit the pitmen hadn’t been informed so the first miner that saw him walking towards him shouted ‘Put that candle out’ . Hodgson stupidly didn’t reply and just kept walking towards the man so the man shouted again saying ‘If you don’t put that candle out I will put this Pick/shovel through you’. That poor pitman thought his life was in danger because our local mines were very gassy and as he hadn’t been told they were going to test this new lamp he assumed it was light from a candle. Rev Hodgson later admitted it was a mistake not inform workers. That first safety lamp was a marvellous invention and became more efficient in later years when a glass tube was used with less metal gauze. Before the glass tubes were used Sir Humphrey’s version didn’t give out as much light as an ordinary candle because the light had to pass through fine mesh. That poor pitman who threatened Rev Hodgson had been using what was called a ‘steel mill’ to illuminate his work place . It was a hand held device where a wheel was rotated manually and a shower of sparks from flint was created as long as you kept winding the handle. That shower of sparks was the only light available and they weren’t hot enough to ignite ‘fire damp’. The pitman needed to do his job so he’d have had to use the ‘steel mill’, remember the view, put the device down and carry out his work in complete darkness until he needed to operate the device again to see ‘the job’.. Sir Humphrey’s Lamp was welcomed everywhere coal was mined coal and it was so safe it actually gave off extra light if 'firedamp' entered through the gauze. The flame was contained inside the gauze. Mine officials used these lamps for the next 150 years even though battery operated lamps that clipped onto their Pit Helmets became the norm in the 1900s. Mining Officials even now still use these Safety lamps to determine the percentage of methane in the air, simply by lifting it high up in the mine roadways where the much lighter Methane gas collects . They then check the size of the white arc on top of the blue flame against a chart that shows various percentages for the shape of the arc.. Hope you enjoyed this little History lesson. Norman Dunn 2024
Re: A History lesson
Posted by Geordieboy ns on 18/10/2024, 19:21:07, in reply to "A History lesson"
Thank you Norman, interesting articule.,
Re: A History lesson
Posted by Stan Wears on 18/10/2024, 19:27:08, in reply to "Re: A History lesson"
Rules! No Party Politics,swearing,derogatory remarks or we will delete. Anyone sharing our content on Face Book must credit 'Hebburn and our Neighbours'.
