OK now there is supposedly a diffrrence, what is the diffrence of a flat wick and round wick in a safety lamp, i always thought they were the same (functioning) but i guess your supposed to use them for diffrent reasons. any advice

I'm just speculating. But I wouldn't think you could swap them, because of mechanical problems. I would think that at flat wick in a round hole would not vaporize as much fuel as a round one.

Round in a flat might be a tight fit.

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no i dont mean to switch them..... i mean for function, i read something like a your supposed to use a safety lamp with a round wick for this reason and your supposed to use a flat wick lamp for this reason. i was wondering what the diffrences were

Hmmmmm. That's a different animal.

Flat will give more light with a low flame. They are used almost exclusively in lanterns and such.

I would venture that a flat wick might be a bit more sensitivity but I'm not sure.

A larger flame would be burning more oxygen, hence would be drawing in more methane at the same time. But I'm not sure that would increase or decrease sensitivity.

In Black damp, more rapid use of oxygen might increase sensitivity.

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yeah but wouldnt a smaller flame be more sensitive

Might be, I'm trying to think it through. I'm just throwing out ideas. Do you know a patent number on a flat wick model? I'd like to read a patent.

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http://books.google.com/books?id=xs4RAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA588&lpg=PA588&dq=flat+wick+mine+safety+lamp&source=bl&ots=lF4EhRqRd5&sig=eVO5G6f2IJivyzE6yNBFEu8EiZA&hl=en&ei=_0NeS7-JH4yVtgeCyeyZDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CBMQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=flat%20wick%20mine%20safety%20lamp&f=false


Round appears in this reference to be a more stable flame. More resistant to the shock of fired shots, etc. While using less fuel.

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Logically, the Koehler Flame Safety lamp has a round hole for the wick. Because the Koehler Flame Safety lamp generally uses a vaporizing fuel, you really wouldn't want to risk using a wick which doesn't fit properly. You don't want any oxygen or flames traveling down into an empty space to the fuel chamber and then having an exploding lamp base. Remember this lamp has a sealed base.

As for the size of a flame, no matter how big the flame is, it should go out at the same oxygen levels. So a larger flame you'd notice dieing out better than a smaller flame. While you don't want too large of a flame, you do want a stable flame.

Miner Greg

Ive owned quite a few safety lamps. Always used to buy and sell them. Both koehler and my fav. Wolf. All the Koehlers Ive owned were round wicks. And so were the Wolfs. With the exception of a full size Wolf. It had a oval or " flat wick". I diddnt notice a difference in them. ( light) But I remember seeing a patent for the oval wick somewhere ? Thee is a reasoning behind it. Just cant remember what it was ?? -Tony

I think it also depends on the fuel your lamp uses. With the Koehler lamp, you generally use Naphtha and Coleman Fuel, but it would work with Gasoline or any other fuel like that. It needs a fuel that vaporizes. You really need a sealed chamber in the lamp to use this type of fuel, as it isn't the liquid that burns, it is the vapors that burn. Any oil lamps wouldn't burn the same way.

Miner Greg