How an old miner's lamp works - GIF

**Jon** · Jul 28, 2020, 01:18 PM

How an old miner's lamp works.

Previously:

1938 lightbulb brightness testing machine - photo
12th century three-spouted oil lamp - photo
Homemade extendable scissor lamp - video
1910 street lamp trimmer - photos
Coal miner poma lift - GIF
Underground mining cart toilets - photo

**nova_robotics** · Aug 1, 2020, 05:41 PM

I love old solutions to problems. Throwing microcontrollers and electronics at problems is great, but it's so lazy. There are no really elegant solutions anymore.

**Ronj** · Aug 1, 2020, 10:51 PM

The wheel on the front of the shield is a striker for lighting the lantern. It uses a flint like a Zippo lighter and lights the same way. The cap on the back side screws on to hold a spring and a flint.

**baja** · Aug 2, 2020, 08:49 AM

I still have a couple of these, one the same as this but the other was a taillight for a mine car. Nickle plated with a red glass lens. The problem with carbide is that it crumbles in the can and powdered carbide doesn`t produce acetylene, it has to be chunky. A dab of carbide in a small container under a three lbs. coffee can with a nail hole near the open end will get about 100' up if it`s done right, lol.