Evan Thomas (inventor)

Evan Thomas (died after 1881) was a Welsh ironmonger who became an inventor and manufacturer of safety lamps for miners. He was the original proprietor of the Cambrian Lamp Works, established in Aberdare in 1860.[1]

In 1867, Thomas patented an improvement to the design of the safety lamp that would prevent the glass in the lamp from becoming loose by using india rubber. In 1868, he obtained a patent for "an improvement in the construction of miners' safety lamps, in such a manner as to enable petroleum or other mineral oils to be consumed therein".[2] Thomas's best-selling lamp, the "no. 7", improved on a lamp invented in 1816 by William Reid Clanny, and was successful in passing tests set in 1886 by the Royal Commission on Accidents in Mines; it was selected as one of the four recommended types of lamp.[3]

In 1879, Evan Thomas was reported to have gone into partnership with John Davies in the ironmongery he ran in Ferndale.[4] This partnership was separate to the lamp business, and Thomas exhibited under his own name at the 1881 International Electric Exhibition at Crystal Palace.[5] At some stage, Thomas went into partnership with a Mr Williams, to create the company known as Evan Thomas & Williams.[6][1]

After 1978, the firm continued to trade from an address in Robertstown Industrial Estate, Aberdare.[7] Evan Thomas & Williams were believed to be the oldest surviving firm of safety lamp manufacturers in the world,[8] and continued to make replica lamps after the closure of the last mines in the South Wales Coalfield.

References
  1. Stephen R. Hughes (1994). Collieries of Wales: Engineering and Architecture. Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments in Wales. p. 39. ISBN 978-1-871184-11-2.
  2. Patent office (1869). Chronological index of patents applied for and patents granted [afterw.] of patentees and applicants for patents of invention, by B. Woodcroft. pp. 17.
  3. James Washington Paul; Lee Clyde Ilsley; Ernest J. Gleim (1924). Flame Safety Lamps. U.S. Government Printing Office. pp. 18–24.
  4. Farm Implement & Machinery Review. Morgan-Grampian. 1878. p. 2038.
  5. International electric exhibition (1881). Crystal palace. International electric exhibition, 1881-82. Official catalogue, ed. by W. Grist. p. 85.
  6. The Electrical Engineer. Biggs & Company. 1903. p. 789.
  7. "Aberdare - Cambrian Lamp Works". Rhondda Cynon Taf Library Service. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  8. "Site launch lights up mining past". BBC News Wales. 6 September 2001. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
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