“Early Morning — Giving Out Lamps” from the 1878 “Graphic”

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Early Morning — Giving Out Lamps

The Graphic 12 October 1878: 381

Source: Internet Archive web version of a copy in the University of Illinois Library.

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Commentary from The Graphic

Each lamp is stamped with a number, and reserved for the special use of one particular workman, against whose name the number is registered in a book. At the conclusion of the day's work the men take the top portion and gauze of their lamps away with them to clean at home, leaving the reservoirs in the lamp-cabin to be re-filled and trimmed by the man in charge. When they return to work the lamps arc all ready upon shelves, upon which are painted their corresponding numbers. The fireman carefully examines each lamp, screws it together, and locks it, so that it cannot be reopened until the men leave the pit. If a lamp goes out during the lime the man is at work, it can only lie relit at certain appointed places in the mine, and by specially appointed men. The old man in the foreground of the sketch, who has just brought his picks from his shoulder to the ground, has around his neck a coil of safety fuse for the day's use. The large tin in his pocket, and those carried by some of the other men, contain cartridges.

Bibliography

Work at a Coal Mine, IV.” The Graphic (12 October 1878): 381. Internet Archive online version of a copy in the Library of the University of Illinois at Urbana. Web. 25 July 2021.

Last modified 26 July 2021