Safety Lamps/Hailwood Lamp Ackroyd & Best Marking

Safety Lamps

Hailwood Lamp Ackroyd & Best Marking.jpg - HAILWOOD LAMP ACKROYD & BEST - Ackroyd & Best steel and brass lamp, 10 1/2 in. tall to top of hook ring, 3 1/8 in. base dia., with hook and original glass globe marked ACKY BEST A-I, marked on brasstag on steel bonnet ACKROYD & BEST LTD MAKERS NO. (blank) HAILWOOD’S IMPROVED LAMP ADDRESS: ARROT POWER BUILDING BARKER PLACE PITTSBURGH P.A. with OWNERS, FRONT and 119 on top of base brass ring, lamp features a porcelain (Hailwood patent) burner, a vertical magnetic lock that is operated from the underside of the lamp, and an electric relighter that requires a machine fitted with storage batteries and an induction coil to light the lamp, the lamp is equipped with one main iron gauze and a special inner gauze cone, glass combustion tube and flat wick (The interesting aspects of this lamp have to do with the testing and approval of permissible safety lamps in mines where there may be gas by the US Bureau of Mines. The USBM issued its first schedule on safety lamp testing, Schedule 7, “Procedure for Establishing a List of Permissible Miners’ Safety Lamps” in 1915 to answer significant problems with explosions in gaseous coal mines. The only foreign made lamp submitted for testing is the Hailwood lamp manufactured by Ackroyd & Best and identical to the lamp shown. Prior to World War I, Ackroyd & Best, a long-time manufacturer located in Morley, Leeds, England, decided to enter the US market for safety lamps and established an office in Pittsburgh, PA to sell their lamps. An ad shown elsewhere in the pics in the July 1915 Colliery Engineer presents a description of the products available through the Pittsburgh office. To compete in the US market place after 1915, manufacturers by necessity had to carry safety lamps with USBM approval for underground use. Without approval, there was no market. Three manufacturers obtained approvals for their lamps over the next 50 years including Koehler Manufacturing Co. of Marlboro, MA who obtained the first approval No. 201 on August 21, 1915; Ackroyd & Best Ltd. of Pittsburgh, PA who obtained approval No. 202 on January 8, 1917; and Wolf Safety Lamp Co. of America of Brooklyn, NY who received approval No. 204 on July 18, 1921. Although Koehler and Wolf went on to dominate the safety lamp market in the US, it’s unclear what happened with the Ackroyd & Best lamp’s use in the US. It is known that the Hailwood lamp was susceptible to blow outs in low air currents, more so than other lamps. The electrical relighter mechanism required a somewhat complex underground relighter station equipped with storage battery and induction coil chambers, perhaps too cumbersome for miners familiar with the Koehler and Wolf lamps’ simpler relighting options. The Ackroyd & Best name was changed in 1927 to Hailwood and Ackroyd and lamps after that date are so marked. It is unknown how long Ackroyd & Best maintained their office in Pittsburgh but footnotes in USBM publications showing safety lamp approval lists indicate that Ackroyd & Best ‘s Hailwood lamp was not used in the US, perhaps because the market here would not support their sales. See J. W. Paul, L. C. Ilsley and E. J. Gleim, Flame Safety Lamps, US Bureau of Mines Bulletin No. 227, 1924)

Hailwood Lamp Ackroyd & Best Marking | HAILWOOD LAMP ACKROYD & BEST - Ackroyd & Best steel and brass lamp, 10 1/2 in. tall to top of hook ring, 3 1/8 in. base dia., with hook and original glass globe marked ACKY BEST A-I, marked on brass tag on steel bonnet ACKROYD & BEST LTD MAKERS NO. (blank) HAILWOOD’S IMPROVED LAMP ADDRESS: ARROT POWER BUILDING BARKER PLACE PITTSBURGH P.A. with OWNERS, FRONT and 119 on top of base brass ring, lamp features a porcelain (Hailwood patent) burner, a vertical magnetic lock that is operated from the underside of the lamp, and an electric relighter that requires a machine fitted with storage batteries and an induction coil to light the lamp, the lamp is equipped with one main iron gauze and a special inner gauze cone, glass combustion tube and flat wick (The interesting aspects of this lamp have to do with the testing and approval of permissible safety lamps in mines where there may be gas by the US Bureau of Mines. The USBM issued its first schedule on safety lamp testing, Schedule 7, “Procedure for Establishing a List of Permissible Miners’ Safety Lamps” in 1915 to answer significant problems with explosions in gaseous coal mines. The only foreign made lamp submitted for testing is the Hailwood lamp manufactured by Ackroyd & Best and identical to the lamp shown. Prior to World War I, Ackroyd & Best, a long-time manufacturer located in Morley, Leeds, England, decided to enter the US market for safety lamps and established an office in Pittsburgh, PA to sell their lamps. An ad shown elsewhere in the pics in the July 1915 Colliery Engineer presents a description of the products available through the Pittsburgh office. To compete in the US market place after 1915, manufacturers by necessity had to carry safety lamps with USBM approval for underground use. Without approval, there was no market. Three manufacturers obtained approvals for their lamps over the next 50 years including Koehler Manufacturing Co. of Marlboro, MA who obtained the first approval No. 201 on August 21, 1915; Ackroyd & Best Ltd. of Pittsburgh, PA who obtained approval No. 202 on January 8, 1917; and Wolf Safety Lamp Co. of America of Brooklyn, NY who received approval No. 204 on July 18, 1921. Although Koehler and Wolf went on to dominate the safety lamp market in the US, it’s unclear what happened with the Ackroyd & Best lamp’s use in the US. It is known that the Hailwood lamp was susceptible to blow outs in low air currents, more so than other lamps. The electrical relighter mechanism required a somewhat complex underground relighter station equipped with storage battery and induction coil chambers, perhaps too cumbersome for miners familiar with the Koehler and Wolf lamps’ simpler relighting options. The Ackroyd & Best name was changed in 1927 to Hailwood and Ackroyd and lamps after that date are so marked. It is unknown how long Ackroyd & Best maintained their office in Pittsburgh but footnotes in USBM publications showing safety lamp approval lists indicate that Ackroyd & Best ‘s Hailwood lamp was not used in the US, perhaps because the market here would not support their sales. See J. W. Paul, L. C. Ilsley and E. J. Gleim, Flame Safety Lamps, US Bureau of Mines Bulletin No. 227, 1924)

Original Image

Total images: 148 | Last update: 9/3/22 1:29 PM | Help