carbide lamp????????????what use is it for

[alexandermclaren]

hi guys
any ideas as to what this is off
i found it in the local garbage /trash skips today
i had a look on line with no luck
as u can see its some sort of carbide lamp with a green glass front
ships navigation light
but they have to show at least 110 degrees wide
this is more like a rear light only in green
Help[frame][/frame][frame][/frame]

[alexandermclaren]

[frame][/frame]

[Matt]

Im wondering if its a late 1800s/early 1900s railway signal lamp? As the signal moves up or down it would obscure it?

[bmcecosse]

Errr - NO! Signal lamps always show one colour or another - so red/blue or yellow/blue. Why blue? Because the yellow flame from the lamp made it appear green.......

[JOWETTJAVELIN]

They were around in the early days of cycling and motoring, before batteries were much good and widely available.

A block of carbide is placed in it somewhere and a continuous drip of water falls on the block, giving off a gas which then burns with a brilliant light.

There are a lot of people who collect these sort of lamps, it might have been off a small river craft, who knows.

[les]

They have been known to go bang!

[Matt]

They have also been used to set fire to the drains around the Royal Albert Hall during a visit from the Queen