Felling mine disaster was one of the first major Mining accidents or mine disasters in Britain, claiming 92 lives on 25 May 1812.
The disaster became famous because it stimulated an unknown engineer, one George Stephenson, to design a safety lamp with air fed through narrow tubes, down which a flame could not move. It also led and an eminent scientist (Humphry Davy) to devise another safety lamp where the flame was surrounded by iron gauze. The gauze had to have small spaces so that a flame could not pass through, but could admit methane, which then burned harmlessly inside the lamp. The height of the luminous cone above the flame gave a measure of the methane concentration in the general atmosphere. The disaster is thus remembered for stimulating inventive minds to tackle the problem and save lives as well as maintain productivity and confidence in a growing industry.
History:
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