3487

Miner's Safety Lamp Locking Device Magnet

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Mining Start Price:150.00 USD Estimated At:300.00 - 1,000.00 USD
Miner's Safety Lamp Locking Device Magnet
SOLD
150.00USD+ (34.50) buyer's premium + applicable fees & taxes.
This item SOLD at 2015 Sep 27 @ 16:26UTC-7 : PDT/MST
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We haven't seen anything like this in 40 years. It is a magnetic device to lock and unlock miner's safety lamps. After a series of serious deadly mining accidents due to open flames of miner's lamps, the safety lamp came into use. It could only be opened by a strong magnet which was yielded by the shift boss or his deputy. This one is stamped, "Friedrich Heuver, Recklinghausen, I. W." (Germany) with an "H 34." Safety lamps were purposefully made difficult to open so that miners couldn’t open them to relight them if they went out underground. This would have exposed the naked flame to dangerous gasses that were the cause of so many of the early disasters. Only the Shift boss or deputies who were responsible for safety had a lamp that could be re-lit underground.

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HWAC#: : 33019