Safety lamp could create a sufficient updraft that firedamp would not penetrate down the chimney. Further observations of the speed of flame fronts in fissures and passageways led him to design a lamp with fine tubes admitting the air. Sir Humphry Davy was asked to consider the problems of a safety lamp following the Felling explosion. Previous experimenters had used coal gas (chiefly carbon monoxide) incorrectly, believing it to be the same as firedamp. Davy however performed his experiments with samples of firedamp collected from pits. As an experimental chemist, he was familiar with flames not passing through gauze; his experiments enabled
Charles W. Miner early twenties, Miner moved to Fort Wayne, where he resided for the remainder of his life and continued his career as a photographer. Miner married Mary S. Criswell, an Ohio native and resident of Fort Wayne, on November 28, 1905. The couple had two daughters, Sarah, who was born around 1908, and Mildred, born around 1912. After his move to Fort Wayne around 1887, Miner spent a few years working in the photography studio of Felix Schanz, "an established and influential Fort Wayne photographer," whose studio was located at 112 Calhoun Street. (The address was later changed to 922 Calhoun