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Carbide lamps work by reacting calcium carbide with water to produce acetylene gas, which burns with a very bright white flame. Introduced at the turn of the century, carbide lamps were widely used for home lighting, bicycle and automobile headlamps, miners' lamps, and lighthouses. They are still used today by a dedicated subculture of spelunkers (cave explorers), providing among the highest light-for-weight ratio of any lamp until the development of LEDs.

Miners' Safety Lamp Video:    • Miners' Safety Lamps: Keeping Out the...  

SOURCES

https://legacy.caves.org/member/mfraley/
https://web.archive.org/web/201012060...
https://zenodo.org/record/1428938#.Y5...
http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/willso...