History of chemistry iodine first, but both scientists acknowledged Courtois as the first to isolate the element. In 1815, Humphry Davy invented the Davy lamp, which allowed miners within coal mines to work safely in the presence of flammable gases. There had been many mining explosions caused by firedamp or methane often ignited by open flames of the lamps then used by miners. Davy conceived of using an iron gauze to enclose a lamp's flame, and so prevent the methane burning inside the lamp from passing out to the general atmosphere. Although the idea of the safety lamp had already been demonstrated by
Safety lamp of air. The Marsaut was one of the first lamps to be fitted with a shield, in the illustration (right) the bonnet can be seen surrounding the gauzes. A shielded Marsaut lamp can resist a current of 30 feet per second. The Bainbridge is a development of the Stephenson. A tapered glass cylinder surrounds the flame, and above that the body is a brass tube. The top of the tube is closed by a horizontal gauze attached to the body of the lamp by small bars to conduct heat away. Air enters through a series of small holes drilled in