Guy's Dropper: Carbide Miner's Headlamp

Object/Artifact

West Virginia Mine Wars Museum

Name/Title

Guy's Dropper: Carbide Miner's Headlamp

Entry/Object ID

MW.0035

Description

Full assembly of carbide fuel/acetylene flame miner's headlamp, including hat mounting clip.

Use

Used for illumination in underground mines. Developed after oil wick lamps to include reflector dish, still an open flame.

Collection

Coal Mining Tools

Made/Created

Manufacturer

Shanklin Manufacturing Company

Date made

1913 - 1932

Edition

Guy's Dropper

Materials

Material

Metal

Material Notes

Brass

Exhibition

A World at War

Research Notes

Research Type

Curator

Person

Shaun Slifer

Date

Nov 18, 2020

Notes

(from halslamppost.com) The Shanklin Manufacturing Co. of Springfield, IL was a prominent producer of miner's carbide lamps with its famous "Guy's Dropper" carbide cap lamp. Designed by Frank Guy, he obtained his first patent in 1910 (#974,054 of Oct. 25, 1910) and two additional patents (#1,097,716 of May 26, 1914 and #1,198,537 of Sept. 19, 1916) while developing a business arrangement with brothers George and Edgar Shanklin to manufacture the lamps. In 1913, the brothers formed the Shanklin Manufacturing Co. to mass produce the Guy's Dropper lamp. The war years of 1917-18 substantially increased the demand for carbide lamps as the need for coal and minerals peaked. The Guy's Dropper benefited with this demand with increased production of both the cap and hand lamps. As with other carbide lamp manufacturers, the 1920s brought a decline in the demand for acetylene lamps and problems for the Shanklin company. In 1932, the Shanklin Manufacturing Co. was sold to the Universal Lamp Co. where the Guy's Dropper continued in production as a best-selling Universal product until the company ceased manufacturing carbide lamps in 1960. (See Clemmer, American Miner's Carbide Lamps, pp 85-88 and Thorpe, Eureka #9, pp 2-13 for the definitive article on Guy's Dropper cap lamp variations)