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

KK.0040

Description

Corroded top of carbide fuel/acetylene flame miner's headlamp.

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

Relationships

Related Person or Organization

Person or Organization

Kenny King

Provenance

Provenance Detail

Archaeological Find

Notes

found in Ethel/Blair area

Exhibitions

Exhibition

Life in the Coal Camps

Notes

in a case with other lamps and cloth cap w/ oil wick lamp

Interpretative Labels

Label Type

Usage Label

Label

Carbide Headlamps, Calcium Carbide containers “Invented around 1910, the small carbide cap lamp had several advantages over an oil-wick cap lamp. The acetylene gas that powered the flame burned cleanly, relieving the miner from the smoke and soot from oil lamps. Also, the flame from the acetylene gas burned brighter than oil-wick cap lamps. Carbide lamps often came with a reflector, allowing this brighter flame to be directed and giving the miner a wider range of light. The drawback of the carbide lamp was that its open flame was still capable of igniting methane gas in mines.” - Smithsonian National Museum of American History

Research Notes

Research Type

Curator

Person

Shaun Slifer

Date

Nov 18, 2020

Notes

A mining or caving lamp has calcium carbide placed in a lower chamber, the generator. The upper reservoir is then filled with water. A threaded valve or other mechanism is used to control the rate at which the water is allowed to drip into the chamber containing the calcium carbide. By controlling the rate of water flow, the production of acetylene gas is controlled. This, in turn, controls the flow rate of the gas and the size of the flame at the burner, and thus the amount of light it produces.

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)

Research Type

Curator

Person

Shaun Slifer

Date

Nov 18, 2020

Notes

Clemmer's Rarity: 2 (https://caves.org/member/mfraley/rarety.htm)