A wheat lamp is a type of incandescent light designed for use in underground mining, named for inventor Grant Wheat and manufactured by Koehler Lighting Products in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, United States, a region known for extensive mining activity.
A safety lamp designed for use in potentially hazardous atmospheres such as firedamp and coal dust, the lamp is mounted on the front of the miner's helmet and powered by a wet cell battery worn on the miner's belt. The average wheat lamp uses a 3-5 watt bulb which will typically operate for 5 to 16 hours depending on the amp-hour capacity of the battery and the current draw of the bulb being used.
A grain of wheat lamp is an unrelated, very small incandescent lamp used in medical and optical instruments, as well as for illuminating miniature railroad and similar models.
Famous quotes containing the words wheat and/or lamp:
“The miller believes that all the wheat grows so that his mill keeps running.”
—Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749–1832)
“Writing is to descend like a miner to the depths of the mine with a lamp on your forehead, a light whose dubious brightness falsifies everything, whose wick is in permanent danger of explosion, whose blinking illumination in the coal dust exhausts and corrodes your eyes.”
—Blaise Cendrars (1887–1961)