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The Davy lamp is a safety lamp for use in flammable atmospheres, invented in 1815 by Sir Humphry Davy. It consists of a wick lamp with the flame enclosed inside a mesh screen. It was created for use in coal mines, to reduce the danger of explosions due to the presence of methane and other flammable gases, called firedamp or minedamp.
Spontaneous human combustion (SHC) is the pseudoscientific concept of the spontaneous combustion of a living human body without an apparent external source of ignition. In addition to reported cases, descriptions of the alleged phenomenon appear in literature, and both types have been observed to share common characteristics in terms of circumstances and the remains of the victim.
Firedamp is any flammable gas found in coal mines, typically coalbed methane. It is particularly found in areas where the coal is bituminous. The gas accumulates in pockets in the coal and adjacent strata and when they are penetrated the release can trigger explosions. Historically, if such a pocket was highly pressurized, it was termed a "bag of foulness".
Mount Kembla is a suburb and a mountain in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia.
The wick effect is the partial or total destruction of a human body by fire, when the clothing of the victim soaks up melted human fat and acts like the wick of a candle. The wick effect is a phenomenon that is found to occur under certain conditions, and has been thoroughly observed.
The New York State Capitol, the seat of the New York state government, is located in Albany, the capital city of the U.S. state of New York. The capitol building is part of the Empire State Plaza complex on State Street in Capitol Park. Housing the New York State Legislature, the building was completed in 1899 at a cost of US$25 million, making it the most expensive government building of its time. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971, then included as a contributing property when the Lafayette Park Historic District was listed in 1978. The New York State Capitol was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1979.
The Felling Colliery in Britain, suffered four disasters in the 19th century, in 1812, 1813, 1821 and 1847. By far the worst of the four was the 1812 disaster which claimed 91 lives on 25 May 1812. The loss of life in the 1812 disaster was one of the motivators for the development of miners' safety lamps such as the Geordie lamp and the Davy lamp.
The Bath School disaster, also known as the Bath School massacre, was a series of violent attacks perpetrated by Andrew Kehoe upon the Bath Consolidated School in Bath Charter Township, Michigan, United States, on May 18, 1927. The attacks killed 38 elementary schoolchildren and 6 adults, and injured at least 58 other people. Prior to the explosions at the school, Kehoe had murdered his wife, Nellie Price Kehoe, and firebombed his farm. Arriving at the site of the school explosion, Kehoe died when he set off explosives concealed in his truck.
The Windsor Hotel was located at 575 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, New York. The seven-story hotel opened in 1873, at a time when hotel residency was becoming popular with the wealthy, and was advertised as "the most comfortable and homelike hotel in New York." It burned down in 1899 with great loss of life.
The Astley Deep Pit disaster was a mining accident at the Astley Deep Pit, in Dukinfield, Cheshire, England, that took place on 14 April 1874, killing 54 men and boys. Astley Deep Pit was a coal mine started around 1845 to work the seam of coal known as the "Lancashire Black Mine". When finished, it was supposedly the deepest coal-mine in Britain and cost £100,000 to sink.
The Avondale Mine disaster was a massive fire at the Avondale Colliery near Plymouth Township, Pennsylvania, on September 6, 1869. It caused the death of 110 workers. It started when the wooden lining of the mine shaft caught fire and ignited the coal breaker built directly overhead. The shaft was the only entrance and exit to the mine, and the fire trapped and suffocated 108 of the workers. It was the greatest mine disaster to that point in American history.
The Savoy-Plaza Hotel was a 33-story hotel overlooking Central Park at Fifth Avenue and East 59th Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It opened in 1927 and was demolished in 1965.
The Peckfield pit disaster was a mining accident at the Peckfield Colliery in Micklefield, West Yorkshire, England, which occurred on Thursday 30 April 1896, killing 63 men and boys out of 105 who were in the pit, plus 19 out of 23 pit ponies.
The Lundhill Colliery explosion was a coal mining accident which took place on 19 February 1857 in Wombwell, Yorkshire, UK in which 189 men and boys aged between 10 and 59 died. It is one of the biggest industrial disasters in the country's history and it was caused by a firedamp explosion. It was the first disaster to appear on the front page of the Illustrated London News.
The Great Snaefell Mine, also referred to as the East Snaefell Mine, was a zinc mine located high in the Laxey Valley on the slopes of Snaefell Mountain, in the parish of Lonan, Isle of Man. The mine reached a depth of 1,188 ft (362 m) and is remembered as the scene of the Isle of Man's worst mining disaster in 1897.
The Park Place disaster occurred on August 22, 1891, in New York City when benzene vapor from a bronze powder manufacturer ignited, causing an explosion that resulted in the collapse of the five-story Taylor Building that housed the manufacturer along with other businesses. Two fires then broke out, one in the ruins of the manufacturer and the other in a restaurant that was caused by a natural gas leak. The disaster killed 61 people, while local residents were admonished in the press for rubbernecking and general insensitivity. A grand jury declined to indict any of the owners or occupants of the building, however legislation was introduced in the New York State Assembly that sought to tighten the building code in light of this disaster and the 1892 Hotel Royal fire.
The Granite Mill fire occurred on September 19, 1874 at the Granite Mills in Fall River, Massachusetts. The blaze killed 23 employees, most of them children.
References
- ↑ Hellmann, Paul T. (2006). Historical Gazetteer of the United States. Routledge. p. 776. ISBN 9781135948597.
- ↑ "BURNED IN A DEATH TRAP: TERRIBLE AND FATAL FIRE IN A SIXTH AVENUE HOTEL THE HOTEL ROYAL DESTROYED IN THE EARLY MORNING FIVE GUESTS KNOWN TO BE BURNED TO DEATH, WHILE OVER FORTY ARE MISSING FIFTEEN OTHERS HURT THE ONLY STAIRCASE CUT OFF FROM THE INMATES-- THRILLING SCENES AND NARROW ESCAPES-- GALLANT WORK OF THE FIREMEN AND POLICE". The New York Times . February 8, 1892. p. 1.
- ↑ "HOW THE FIRE STARTED.: MARSHAL MITCHEL'S REPORT ON THE HOTEL ROYAL DISASTER". The New York Times . February 14, 1892. p. 8.
- ↑ "THE HOTEL ROYAL FIRE.: AN INCONSEQUENTIAL VERDICT BY THE CORONER'S JURY". The New York Times . February 25, 1892. p. 2.
- ↑ "TO PROTECT HUMAN LIFE: A NEW BUILDING LAW PROPOSED IN THE ASSEMBLY PRECAUTIONS SUGGESTED BY THE PARK PLACE AND HOTEL ROYAL DISASTERS-- INSPECTORS TO BE PUNISHED FOR NEGLECT OF DUTY". The New York Times . February 16, 1892. p. 2.