Hi Group..
I was going to conceal my ignorance and keep quiet... but as no one else has
answered... I will to put my pennyworth in.
My guess (and a guess only) with a price like this, that the "Friend" was
one of those engine-driven mult brush cleaners for safety lamp gauzes...
I have seen illustrations of them installed in 19th century colliery lamp
rooms and I suppose when you have a thousand or so safety lamps per shift to
clean, something like this is a necessity.
Regards
John
----- Original Message -----
From: simon <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, April 04, 2002 7:10 PM
Subject: Re: Lamp Trimmer's Friend
> You'd expect me to know this wouldn't you? Right, my best guess for this
> one would be nothing to do with miners safety lamps. We are all familiar
> with the scenes in victorian Britain of street "Lamplighters". I suppose
> the surface of collieries must have had similar "street" lamps and
therefore
> they would need to be lit and kept trimmed. I therefore suspect that it
is
> either some telescopic device or indeed a sort of ladder which could be
> climbed in order to "Trim" the lamp wicks.
>
> simon
> www.etw-ltd.co.uk
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: David Kitching <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Friday, March 29, 2002 4:57 PM
> Subject: Lamp Trimmer's Friend
>
>
> Whilst browsing through the accounts for Poynton Collieries in 1889 I
found
> an entry for one "Lamp Trimmer's Friend" at 5 guineas. Does anyone have
any
> idea just what this fine sounding device did and whether there are any
> illustrations to be seen?
>
> At 5 guineas I would expect it to be a substantial item rather than a
small
> hand tool.
>
> Cheers,
> --
> fearrmeox adlaž bręgen
>
> )| David Kitching _____|______|_ ____
> ___|_______________________________[]|_|88|__TCO__|____/
> \---- http://www.brocross.com ----)
>
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