Lighting my old Calcium Carbide Mining Lamp! (1930s Autolite) - How it works and History! + Testing!

Ben Wilson
Ben Wilson
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Published 2023-10-23
In this video I go over my old antique Calcium Carbide mining or caving lamp which I believe is from the 1930s. This Carbide Miners lamp is made by Autolite and was produced in the period of 1918 to around 1950 and is made in America. These carbide lamps were used in commercial mining during that period and are still used by cavers to this day! I go over how the Carbide lantern works physically and then go over the chemical reaction that takes the Calcium Carbide and water and turns it into Acetylene gas (C2H2) and Hydrated Lime or Calcium Hydroxide (Ca(OH)2). I then go over some brief history about Calcium Carbide lamps used in Coal mining and Caving and how they are still a great option for certain cave expeditions even to this day! The Acetylene produces a very bright, beautiful flame that is a higher quality light an any LED. Then we get to lighting the Lamp and you get to see it in action and finally I compare it with a modern LED flahslight and I am very suprised with the results. I love this old lamp and I think it really will surprise you at how bright it is!

Thanks for Watching !!!
All Comments (14)
  • @himjusjo
    You came up in my algorithm and I really enjoyed this! You're a small channel now but I can see you getting tons of followers soon!!
  • @BroHeartTTV
    Awesome video, thank you for sharing all this! Wish I had this when hiking back from prospecting around Denver.
  • @BenWilsonJewelry
    Thanks for watching! Let me know if you want to see another video on the Carbide lamp. My ideas are either a video showing how to restore an old not-working one or a video mounting it to a modern construction helmet, what would you like to see next?
  • @thatdudeca
    That it awesome! A video about repairing one like you did would be interesting
  • @texascelt8363
    Just wish carbide didn't cost a fortune now i used to buy a big can of it 40 years ago for like 8 dollars
  • @cowboy6591
    One thing I can't get with a search is: "How Long Does A Fill Up Last"? I'm thinking in terms of a hurricane or tornado long term power failure lighting.
  • @GoldSrc_
    That o'ring sounded like it was hard, hard o'rings are pretty much useless at sealing anything. No idea what type of o'ring you were using, but check its temperature rating.
  • @maphyous228
    Pretty cool, have you timed it? To see how long it lasts.
  • @Qldgarbo55
    In Australia you can own a carbide lamp but not allowed to light it and use it because calcium carbide is illegal in Australia.
  • @cr0cket01
    hen i was a kid e had carbide bike lamps on pushbikes