Picked this up, which I beleive to be a Premier lamp but the name badge is obscured/defaced. I have seen these advertised as miners lamps as well as railway inspection lamps. I suspect that they were a universal body with different configurations of handles and reflectors. It burned for 6 1/2 hours on about 100g of carbide last night. Spectators over the garden wall suitably impressed..
Very nice! Hardly a railway lamp, but miner lamp is correct. It's the classical looks of one of those, and they pretty much always look like that, regardless who made them. The reflector is often missing, and not just nowadays. You see in old pictures from the early 20th century from mines that some lamps miss them already during "real use", so perhaps the workers wanted a more spread light in some cases and removed it themselves?
You’re right Firexit, and Carlsson is too insofar as in that configuration it’s in its ‘mining’ application ... but with a handle/clamp swap and an enclosed/glazed reflector here it is as a railway inspection lamp. British Rail (Midland region). Premier brand, manufacturer Crestella Engineering Co. Ltd., Leeds.
Surprised me to see a BR carbide lamp. I would have thought the type to be long obsolete before BR. It is right though because that 878136 reg number is from about 1956. ::Neil::
I believe that BR used carbide lamps as inspection lamps or work lights by engineers, especialy at remore depots that lacked electricity. The absence of an electricity supply not only suggested rather poor general lighting, but also precluded the charging of handlamps or similar that used rechargeable batteries. Lighter in weight than a pressure lamp and less fragile. Cheaper to run and brighter than a torch that used disposable batteries. The exposed flame was handy to light other lamps, candles, fires, and ciggarettes without endless use of more matches. Never very widespread. Generaly replaced by rechargeable lamps, once electricity was available.
