Safety Lamps/Queen

Safety Lamps

Queen.JPG - J. W. QUEEN - Brass Clanny-style Queen safety lamp, marked J. W. QUEEN & Co. PHILA. on hood, 10 ¼ in. tall to hook ring [The James W. Queen Co. of Philadelphia was a premier maker of scientific instruments during the mid to latter part of the 19th century. The best known products manufactured by Queen are the highly-sought after microscopes and transits which were sold worldwide. Queen also supplied anemometers, thermometers, aneroid barometers and drawing instruments among a large variety of other scientific products. However, the rarest of the Queen products are their miners’ safety lamps. Very few are known. The one shown here was advertised in an early Queen catalog as item no. 14,526 along with two other miners’ safety lamps and described as “best English make.” It is probable that Queen privately labeled their lamps which were manufactured by others, possibly of English origin. At least one of their lamps may have been manufactured here in the US, possibly by the Everhart Brass Works of Scranton, PA. James W. Queen was born to Irish immigrant parents in Philadelphia, PA in 1811. In his early teens, he apprenticed under John McAllister who was the leading scientific instrument dealer in Philadelphia at the time. By 1836 he joined McAllister as a partner in the firm. He remained so till he went into business for himself in 1853 advertising his business as optician, importer and dealer in optical, mathematical and philosophical instruments. In 1859 he partnered with Samuel Fox and named the new business James W. Queen & Company. James Queen retired from the business in 1870 and died on July 14, 1890. Fox continued the business taking on new partners and by 1877, he had expanded the company into a department store of quality scientific instruments. Items from this period are marked J. (or Jas.) W. Queen and Co. as shown here on this safety lamp. The signature Queen and Co. began to appear on company products in the late 1880s. The company continued in business under the names of several changed owners into the 1900s. See Mitchell, Eureka #10, pp 26-28]

Queen | J. W. QUEEN - Brass Clanny-style Queen safety lamp, marked J. W. QUEEN & Co. PHILA. on hood, 10 ¼ in. tall to hook ring [The James W. Queen Co. of Philadelphia was a premier maker of scientific instruments during the mid to latter part of the 19th century. The best known products manufactured by Queen are the highly-sought after microscopes and transits which were sold worldwide. Queen also supplied anemometers, thermometers, aneroid barometers and drawing instruments among a large variety of other scientific products. However, the rarest of the Queen products are their miners’ safety lamps. Very few are known. The one shown here was advertised in an early Queen catalog as item no. 14,526 along with two other miners’ safety lamps and described as “best English make.” It is probable that Queen privately labeled their lamps which were manufactured by others, possibly of English origin. At least one of their lamps may have been manufactured here in the US, possibly by the Everhart Brass Works of Scranton, PA. James W. Queen was born to Irish immigrant parents in Philadelphia, PA in 1811. In his early teens, he apprenticed under John McAllister who was the leading scientific instrument dealer in Philadelphia at the time. By 1836 he joined McAllister as a partner in the firm. He remained so till he went into business for himself in 1853 advertising his business as optician, importer and dealer in optical, mathematical and philosophical instruments. In 1859 he partnered with Samuel Fox and named the new business James W. Queen & Company. James Queen retired from the business in 1870 and died on July 14, 1890. Fox continued the business taking on new partners and by 1877, he had expanded the company into a department store of quality scientific instruments. Items from this period are marked J. (or Jas.) W. Queen and Co. as shown here on this safety lamp. The signature Queen and Co. began to appear on company products in the late 1880s. The company continued in business under the names of several changed owners into the 1900s. See Mitchell, Eureka #10, pp 26-28]

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