The development of the coal industry1) LightIn the beginning, workers had problems with lighting while working. Various methods were used, none of them particularly attractive. It was not safe to light a mine. First they used rotten fish, which gave off a phosphorescent glow (in addition to the terrible smell). Candles, which detonated methane flint mills, which produced sparks of light but could also ignite methane. After 1815, the Davy lamp was available, but it cost money and employers were reluctant to purchase it. The risk of explosion was reduced by Sir Humphrey Davy's invention of a safety lamp in 1815, which meant that a miner could have light underground but without having to use the exposed flame of a candle. The lamp became known as "The Miners' Friend". It freed itself, but a metal mesh acted as a barrier between the heat released and the gas it may have come into contact with. 2) Ventilation The main problem in ventilation was to get the bad/used air out and the good air in. There were problems with ventilation, especially that of the asthmatics, it became deeper. Gas was an eternal problem in mines and included: methane, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide. For the miners, ventilation was a matter of life and death. Some solutions have been found such as: Bring the canaries into the mine. If the canary died, there was gas and the miners had to get out of the pit. · cutting two shafts and lighting a fire at the base of one of them, to draw fresh air from the other. This could have caused the methane to explode. John Buddle invented an air pump, but it was expensive and mine owners were reluctant to pay for a pump. To clear the mines of gas, a crude ventilation system was used. Small children called trappers sat underground opening and closing trap doors that spanned a mine. This allowed coal trucks to pass, but also created a draft and could displace a cloud of gas. However, it was very ineffective.