Graigwen
Well-known member
There was always the National Milk Bar and the launderette. (People today don't believe what Welsh Sundays used to be like).
Carbide Lamps
- Thread starter JAA
- Start date
Mrs Trellis
Well-known member
.......and the Conservative Club. The pubs were always full on Sunday...............full of coppers boozing illegally.
alanw
Well-known member
I still remember two of us going down Magnetometer in the early 90's, after hiring Oldham lead acid batteries and headlamps from a shop in Settle (Cave and Crag). In a wet crawl, the metal top started to detach from the body, and the light went out.
mrodoc
Well-known member
Well if that guy on ebay gets the price for his texolex and carbide lamp I have several hundred pounds worth of vintage gear stowed in my garage. Perhaps I should hire it out for period caving films or recreations! There is of course a historical diving society - perhaps somebody should set up an historical caving society. My first lights used in a cave when I was a teenager in Chard were those white Price's wax candles by the way.
hyweldavies
Active member
Carbide -pah ! New fangled rubbish. What you want is a flat cap with a tin plate underneath, and a candle stuck on with mud
Graigwen
Well-known member
I remember it was a Prices candle I used to illuminate various sites in the late 60s. Were there any other makes? Every Co-op and Woolworths stocked Prices. They had many advantages. They had great resistance to crushing and bumps, before use. They had an almost infinite storage life. They did not need recharging...and of course "they cast no treacherous shadows".
Graigwen
Well-known member
It was no coincidence that the pub with the longest drinking hours was the Whores Bed on Queen's Road just opposite the police station.
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alanw
Well-known member
Sid Perou's (RIP) video of the BPC's 100'th anniversary recreation of Martell's descent of Gaping Gill
skippy
Active member
This was my Premier lamp that I lent my mate Ian...Because I'd just bought a new, bling Oldham T Cell.
If I recall, this was about 1984 at Layby pot. The only reason we were there was because Mrs Trellis had said we hadn't done enough Grotholes to become members of our club
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If I recall, this was about 1984 at Layby pot. The only reason we were there was because Mrs Trellis had said we hadn't done enough Grotholes to become members of our club
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Mrs Trellis
Well-known member
Large reflector and Texolex helmet as well.....................worth millions today.This was my Premier lamp that I lent my mate Ian...Because I'd just bought a new, bling Oldham T Cell.
If I recall, this was about 1984 at Layby pot. The only reason we were there was because Mrs Trellis had said we hadn't done enough Grotholes to become members of our club
pwhole
Well-known member
Pitlamp
Well-known member
Does anyone remember the really big (slightly gold coloured) 6 inch reflector they made, known to some as the "corn flake bowl"? I used one in the PSM and it was surprisingly good. But they were a bit of a nightmare in most caves here in the Dales. You really also needed a cigarette lighter as the flint was difficult to operate; no chance of the usual method of trapping the gas then sparking up with the palm of your hand.
JAA
Well-known member
I did! It was all of my Christmas money and a trip to Inglesport, my mum bought me a new helmet while we were there.
The big gold colour reflector I think I had for a little while before the petzl thing but as you say the flint was hopeless and I wanted to be one of the cool kids with the piezo ignition
legendrider
Well-known member
A bit o/t I guess but in reply to Graigwen's post; Back in the 1980's when I started my u/g career, one of my mentors, Paul F----- (AKA Paul The Mad Butcher) recounted a tale of how he once took a novice into Windegg mine caverns in Arkengarthdale, just the two of them. Anyone who knows this mine at all will recall that the cave is rifty, tapering downwards from a chimneyable 5-6 feet to about a size 9 welly width. Said novice failed to maintain altitude and soon found himself at the thin end of the wedge, so to speak, and managed to get his foot very firmly stuck. After much fruitless tugging and heaving, Paul decided the sensible thing to do would be to head on out and phone the cavalry. Long story short, Paul made the call and hurried back to his benighted companion, communicating the good news that rescue was on its way, led by none other than Dave C-------. The novice was so terrified at the mere mention of that name that he immediately self-rescued and made a very quick exit! Posterity does not record whether the self-rescuee went on to have a long and fruitful caving career.
Tricky Dicky
Well-known member
I remember laddering with a stinky carbide and burning all the hairs off the back of my hands, at least there was a different smell for a while.................
AlexR
Well-known member
I started caving post-carbide (does that make me a PC caver?), but have briefly owned a carbide lamp out of curiosity.
The advantage of having a warmth generator to hand is considerable, and the warm yellow glow definitely makes for a friendly atmosphere. But that's where my good points end. I would absolutely not have trusted that thing on a wet thrutchy trip, the idea of putting myself in a confined space with a substance which hydrolyses to make a highly flammable gas seems a bit bonkers.
But for me the worst point was actually the smell. My ownership time coincided with me sharing a fumehood with a guy doing very exciting organophosphine chemistry of the reasonably deadly kind, so even a whiff of phosphane really set me on edge. Unfortunately impurities in the carbide give you exactly that, and it is a very distinctive smell. Same reason why even now I struggle to sleep in exped sleeping bags that have been stored with carbide over the winter. [There probably is no real danger from this, phosphane concentrations from calcium carbide are unlikely to be harmful and may even fall within WELs]
The advantage of having a warmth generator to hand is considerable, and the warm yellow glow definitely makes for a friendly atmosphere. But that's where my good points end. I would absolutely not have trusted that thing on a wet thrutchy trip, the idea of putting myself in a confined space with a substance which hydrolyses to make a highly flammable gas seems a bit bonkers.
But for me the worst point was actually the smell. My ownership time coincided with me sharing a fumehood with a guy doing very exciting organophosphine chemistry of the reasonably deadly kind, so even a whiff of phosphane really set me on edge. Unfortunately impurities in the carbide give you exactly that, and it is a very distinctive smell. Same reason why even now I struggle to sleep in exped sleeping bags that have been stored with carbide over the winter. [There probably is no real danger from this, phosphane concentrations from calcium carbide are unlikely to be harmful and may even fall within WELs]
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