Coal Miner's
Dedication Page Thirty Nine
Coal Miner’s Carbide Cap Lamp
These lamps were used in the mines before the mines had electricity. These lamps were replaced with battery operated lamps. The lamps were placed on the miners’ caps when they were working in the mines. The carbide lamps were pretty simple to use. The lamp has two chambers. The upper chamber was filled with water and the lower chamber was filled with Carbide. There is a valve on the top, which regulates the amount of water being released into the lower chamber. The lower chamber is pressure resistant and air proof. Carbide (aka Calcium Carbide) is limestone, which is chemically altered by burning it with coke in a specific process. When water is added an exothermic (releasing rather than absorbing heat) reaction starts, which produces limestone and acetylene gas. The acetylene flows out the only possible way, through a burner. The lamp is started by opening the water valve, and when the pressure is there, the valve is closed nearly completely and then you hit the striker to light the lamp. The brightness of the light is regulated by opening the valve a little bit, but the result of the change can only be seen after several minutes. To turn off the light, the valve is closed completely and then the flame gets smaller and smaller until it goes out.
Submitted by Kim Jones Dean
My Kinfolks of Kentucky & Beyond
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