On Thu 04 Apr, John Shoebridge wrote:
> 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.
> ----- 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.
Thanks for the suggestions so far, I was certainly thinking that it would be
a device to simplify the management of a large number of safety lamps but
had no idea what it might be. I think I am inclined to go for the the gauze
brushing device in the absence of any other ideas and would love to see an
ilustration. Can anyone point me at a picture?
Cheers,
--
fearrmeox adlaž bręgen
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