Easington Colliery

Miscellaneous Notes and Incidents

An unusual accident, fortunately not a serious one, although it involved the loss of considerable property, happened to a man in charge of the safety lamps at the Easington Colliery, Durham.

This man was burnt about the arms while attempting to extinguish the flames from the burning celluloid cases of electric safety lamp accumulators. The origin of the fire is not definitely known, but it is suggested that in the process of charging, liquid may boil out of one cell and creep down the sides and across to the outside of an adjacent cell, thereby causing a short circuit and an arc. As may be imagined, with such a material as celluloid, unless immediate attention is at hand, a conflagration of considerable dimensions is soon inevitable. In this case the batteries of some 1,200 lamps were rapidly involved; in fact, the celluloid was consumed in about 10 minutes or less. The fittings in the lamp room were chiefly of wood; the roof also was partly of wood, so that the whore interior including the roof was rapidly gutted. Work was resumed at the mine after a stoppage of one day only, as, owing to so many men having left the neighbouring collieries, a sufficient number of oil safety lamps were available.

If liquid cells are charged with strong acid it may boil out during the re-charging process. With proper attention and supervision, however, it is quite possible to charge these batteries properly without danger arising in the manner indicated above.

Source: 1915 Mines Inspectors Report