William Reid Clanny

William Reid Clanny (1770 – 10 January 1850) was an Irish inventor.

He was born in Bangor, County Down, Ireland. He moved to Sunderland, England and practised as a physician for 45 years.

In 1813, he invented the Clanny safety lamp for miners. By 1816, when Clanny published "Practical observations on safety lamps for coal mines", he had experimented in person with a safety lamp at the Herrington Mill Pit.^[1] His lamp and other improvements were, after some initial disputes, recognized for their true worth by his contemporaries, including northern coal owners who presented him with a piece of silverware. George Stephenson acknowledged a debt to Clanny's researches and Davy invented his version of a lamp very soon after a visit to Sunderland in August 1815.

Clanny died on 10 January 1850. He is buried at Gill Cemetery in Sunderland. His obituary in the Sunderland Herald singled out his lamp as his greatest achievement.

References

1. ^ "Holmes Safety Association Bulletin". http://www.msha.gov/programs/hsapubs/2001/jan01.pdf. "The first colliery in which a safety lamp was used was the Herrington Mill Pit, now the property of the Earl of Durham." 

Persondata
Name	Clanny, William Reid
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Date of birth	1770
Place of birth
Date of death	10 January 1850
Place of death