Safety Lamps/Davis

Safety Lamps

Davis.JPG - J DAVIS & SON CLANNY - Clanny style safety lamp, bottom all brass with iron gauze and top, marked on base J DAVIS & SON LTD and BALTIMORE MD, 9 in. tall to top of hook ring with 3 1/2 in. base dia., marked with number 26 above key lock on base, 5 brass pillars on base arranged to provide clear viewing area of flame above key lock for use as lightingtarget for underground surveying, complete with flat wick, wick lifter and hook (John Davis was born in 1810 in the village of Thame, Oxfordshire, England. John was the nephew of Gabriel Davis who in 1779 had established the family business of Davis Derby in Leeds as a manufacturer of optical, surveying and mathematical instruments. After completing his apprenticeship, John joined his uncle’s family business and by 1830 had established a shop in Derby at a less than auspicious sounding location named Rotten Row where he was selling the company’s products. By 1833, it was clear that John had broken away from the family business and had established his own business listing himself as an optician and manufacturer of optical and philosophical instruments in an early October 1831 ad in the local Derby newspaper. His business flourished and eventually he fathered 10 children including seven sons. He was now manufacturing a variety of surveying equipment, some very similar in design to the products of Gabriel’s business in Leeds. Around 1840 John Davis began manufacturing mining equipment such as safety lamps based on the designs invented by Sir Humphrey Davy in 1815. Production of miners’ lamps continued for more than 100 years, reaching 10,000 per year by the turn of the century. In 1845 Davis & Son announced the first production of Benjamin Biram’s invention which could measure the amount of air entering a mine which he called an anemometer. John Davis died in 1873 at the age of 63. His son Henry took over the business keeping its name John Davis & Son, expanding the product line and eventually moving its workshop facility in 1875 to All Saints Works, Amen Alley in Derby. Miners’ safety lamps manufactured and listed in a Davis catalog from 1887 include a Clanny, Bonneted Clanny with Stoke’s Shut-off, Mueseler and Marsaut (a scan of this 1877 catalog is included in my catalog section). The company was very active in overseas markets with agents in Australia, Canada, China, Japan and South Africa. In 1900 Henry’s brother, Herbert, was given a 4-year contract to sell the company’s products in the US through a branch office in Baltimore, MD. The Clanny lamp shown here was a product of that US expansion. The US branch office was so successful, that in 1912 Herbert Davis resigned and formed his own company Davis Instruments of Baltimore that continued to manufacture many Davis Derby products including anemometers which are still manufactured by that company today. Herbert Davis was succeeded by his son Alfred who died in the late 1960s. Upon his death, the company was sold to its present owners and is still a world leader in instrumentation technology. See David J. Hind, Davis Derby-A History of Engineering, Mining History: The Bulletin of the Peak Mines Historical Society, Vol. 14, No. 2, Winter 1999)

Davis | J DAVIS & SON CLANNY - Clanny style safety lamp, bottom all brass with iron gauze and top, marked on base J DAVIS & SON LTD and BALTIMORE MD, 9 in. tall to top of hook ring with 3 1/2 in. base dia., marked with number 26 above key lock on base, 5 brass pillars on base arranged to provide clear viewing area of flame above key lock for use as lighting target for underground surveying, complete with flat wick, wick lifter and hook (John Davis was born in 1810 in the village of Thame, Oxfordshire, England. John was the nephew of Gabriel Davis who in 1779 had established the family business of Davis Derby in Leeds as a manufacturer of optical, surveying and mathematical instruments. After completing his apprenticeship, John joined his uncle’s family business and by 1830 had established a shop in Derby at a less than auspicious sounding location named Rotten Row where he was selling the company’s products. By 1833, it was clear that John had broken away from the family business and had established his own business listing himself as an optician and manufacturer of optical and philosophical instruments in an early October 1831 ad in the local Derby newspaper. His business flourished and eventually he fathered 10 children including seven sons. He was now manufacturing a variety of surveying equipment, some very similar in design to the products of Gabriel’s business in Leeds. Around 1840 John Davis began manufacturing mining equipment such as safety lamps based on the designs invented by Sir Humphrey Davy in 1815. Production of miners’ lamps continued for more than 100 years, reaching 10,000 per year by the turn of the century. In 1845 Davis & Son announced the first production of Benjamin Biram’s invention which could measure the amount of air entering a mine which he called an anemometer. John Davis died in 1873 at the age of 63. His son Henry took over the business keeping its name John Davis & Son, expanding the product line and eventually moving its workshop facility in 1875 to All Saints Works, Amen Alley in Derby. Miners’ safety lamps manufactured and listed in a Davis catalog from 1887 include a Clanny, Bonneted Clanny with Stoke’s Shut-off, Mueseler and Marsaut (a scan of this 1877 catalog is included in my catalog section). The company was very active in overseas markets with agents in Australia, Canada, China, Japan and South Africa. In 1900 Henry’s brother, Herbert, was given a 4-year contract to sell the company’s products in the US through a branch office in Baltimore, MD. The Clanny lamp shown here was a product of that US expansion. The US branch office was so successful, that in 1912 Herbert Davis resigned and formed his own company Davis Instruments of Baltimore that continued to manufacture many Davis Derby products including anemometers which are still manufactured by that company today. Herbert Davis was succeeded by his son Alfred who died in the late 1960s. Upon his death, the company was sold to its present owners and is still a world leader in instrumentation technology. See David J. Hind, Davis Derby-A History of Engineering, Mining History: The Bulletin of the Peak Mines Historical Society, Vol. 14, No. 2, Winter 1999)

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