Wednesday, July 25, 2007

OLYMPIC TORCH RELAY ARRIVES AT JFK


paul horner from DHL -EMA
-you would never have guessed wearing that jacket and on a big yellow plane-
carrying the flame for the special olympics to JFK airport.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

FLAME OF HOPE ARRIVES AT JFK

AT 05.44HRS THE FLAME OF HOPE FOR THE SPECIAL OLYMPICS ARRIVED AT JOHN F KENNEDY AIRPORT NEW YORK ON ROUTE FROM EAST MIDLANDS AIRPORT ON A LUFTHANSA FREIGHTER COURTESY OF DHL

Friday, July 13, 2007

SL lamp information

hi ola,
the SL for side lit or workmans lamp was used alongside the relighters. workman were not allowed to relight underground.they started phasing them out in the late 70's.
the SL was lit by a low voltage electric current in the lamp room.
the principle of the davy gauze is that the flame will burn inside the gauze but the size of the mild steel gauze ie; 28swg wire with 28 holes per inch sufficiently dissipates the heat so as not to ignite methane or firedamp outside the gauze. so when methane is present it burns in a flame on top of the lamp flame and the height gives the percentage of methane present and thus warns of an explosive atmosphere.
re lighting underground if you relight a lamp in an explosive atmosphere it will detonate and cause an explosion.
re the fuel tank or vessel, the felts inside are designed to soak up the fuel. the filling technique is to fill to the top leave 5 minutes then stand the vessel upside down to drain off the excess fuel. whats left will be sufficient to last 8-12 hours ie a normal shift.
most older pit lamps leak ad it is very difficult to reseal. but if you follow the above you should be ok.
regards david

Thank you VERY much for the quick and thorough answer David. I really appreciate it!

Mine is the one with the platinum wire lighter - were those in use before or after the flint ones?

Also - I was wondering a bit about what actually made the lamps safe in gas - is it because the gauzes makes for an increae of nitrogen making the mixture of gases inside the lamp less flameable?

I have failed to find a really good explanation for how the lamp actually works among all info on the net.

One last thing about my lamp; There seems to be a small leak in the bottom soldering on the tank - Do you think I could blow-torch it to seal it again? Or should I use some chemical seal ? I wouldn?t want to burn the felt inside...

Thanks again for the answer!

Regards,

Ola

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

TYPE 6 LAMP HELP

SOME QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT A LAMP

hi ola,
the type 6 is a deputies relighter lamp which we supplied in bulk from nationalisation in 1947 to the ministry of power subsequently the national coal board and then british coal.the type 6 began to be replaced by the garforth/GR6S lamp from 1965.
the number 61 stamped on the bonnet is the miner check number. checks are handed in at the lift gate so they know who is underground.
50/ is for made in 1950.
the fuel tank or vessel is packed with felt pads to absorb the fuel,colzalene or relighter spirit which is similar to petrol. you can use petrol or ronson or zippo lighter fuel. in addition there is a long section of wick coming up to the bottom of the wick tube. this must not be removed. on top of this fits the trimming wick approx 1" long which is replaced regularly in the pits.
the felt pads and wick dry out with lack of use.
best policy is to leave it submerged in a can of petrol for a day or two.
the reason paraffin is not used is it will not light with the spark ignition, it needs a naked flame. as the lamp is a flame trap and self extinguishing if dismantled a flame cannot be introduced.
the cracks in the wick tube will not help but it shiuld still burn.
it is called a mag lock bceause it needs magnet to pull down the sprung metal pin.

the innstruction manual comes in the service pack which you can buy online at www.protectorlamp.co.uk
good luck.
regards david mather

Ola Dahlbom wrote:
Hi!
I realize you probably get a bunch of these questions but I´d very much appreciate it if you might help me out a bit:
Firts of all the age.
My lamp is stamped no. 61 on the bonnet - I gather this is just a serial?
On the bottom plate just beside the sixth locker pin which goes up in the bonnet and locks it, is stamped: 50/4026G does this tell you anything?
About the tank:
Is it filled with cotton? If I look down the wick-tube, after removing the wick, it looks like another wick is stuck some 3/4 down. I put a small screwdriver down the tube and pushed and it´s very hard.
I filled the tank with parafine and it runs for a few minutes then it seems it´s not getting enough fuel and starts burning the wick. Is it the fuel that´s wrong?
I also noted that the wick tube is broken; two small cracks runs at each side from the top to near the bottom - does this make for bad capillary force in the wick?
And last: How ist the lock suppose to work? Is it merely a push-spring bolt that´s supposed to go through the hole in the lock? If so - Why is it called a magnet lock?
Again, I hope you don´t mind these questions - I really want my beautiful lamp to work!
Thanks and regards,
Ola Dahlbom
P.S.
Is the a manual for this type of lamp? On the web?


Thursday, July 05, 2007

International Mining Memorabilia Fair France


International
Mining Memorabilia Fair
October 14 2007 From 8am to 5pm
Bully les mines France

Miner's lamps, Taillettes, Medals, Tools, Clothing,
Bars, Minerals, Gaillettes, Postcards, Stamps,
Documents, Photographs, films etc.

OLYMPIC TORCH RELAY ARRIVES IN UK



THE OLYMPIC FLAME OF THE SPECIAL OLYMPICS TORCH RELAY LANDED AT EAST MIDLANDS AIRPORT THIS MORNING ON A LUFTHANSA MD11 ON ROUTE FROM COLOGNE. THE FLAME CARRIED IN 2 PROTECTOR TORCH RELAY LAMPS WAS THEN BEING DRIVEN TO LONDON TO BE PRESENTED TO THE MAYOR KEN LIVINGSTONE.
FOR MORE INFO ON THE TORCH RUN CLICK ON THE PHOTO