Holmes' Marine Life Protection Association
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The '''Holmes' Marine Life Protection Association''' was a [[United Kingdom]] company set up in the 19th century to produce [[Marine (ocean)|marine]] signal lights and [[foghorn]]s. It was founded by Nathaniel John Holmes, a [[telegraphy|telegraph]] engineer from [[Middlesex]]; and it passed to his son Joseph R. Holmes. The company was taken over by [[Albright and Wilson]] in 1919.
==Holmes' patents==
In 1875 Holmes obtained a British [[Patent]] for a marine audible alarm signal (B.P. 2564 of 1875); and in 1877 he bought, for £80 [[Pound Sterling]], a half-share of John Grey's Patent (B.P. 2564 of 1868) for ''Improvements in fog alarms''.
In 1876 he obtained, with J.H. Player as co-applicant, a provisional application for ''Improvements in self-igniting and inextinguishable signal lights for marine and other purposes''; it became British Patent 4215 of 1876.
Further patents were taken out by Holmes in 1885 and 1887; and his company up to 1906.
==Marine markers and signals==
In July 1873 he demonstrated his Patent Signal Light to the [[Liverpool]] shipping company [[P and W Maclellan]] and was awarded a Certificate of Merit. It was based on the use of [[Calcium phosphide]]; which they initially made themselves at [[Feltham]], Middlesex, before moving to [[Barking]]. Up to the end of [[World War I]] the Holmes' Marine Life Protection Association sold [[lifebuoy]] lights and distress lights; and sales increased dramatically during the war.[[Image:Mercator03.jpg|thumb|Lifebuoy. Photo: Georges Jansoone]]
The provision of Lifebuoy lights was mandatory for British seagoing vessels under [[Board of Trade]] Regulations. Holmes' lights were sold under various [[Trade name]]s: '''The Handyman's Light''' for lifebuoys; the '''Manwell-Holmes Marine Light''' distress light for merchant vessels; and a modified '''Handyman Light''' for lifebuoys for the [[Admiralty]]. They also produced a distress signal, the '''Deck Flare'''. They were all charged with [[calcium carbide]], it produced [[acetylene]] gas when water was dripped onto it. They also included a small quantity of [[calcium phosphide]], which in contact with water produced impure [[phosphine]], it spontaneously ignited, thereby igniting the acetylene.
The Handyman lifebuoy light had a [[buoyancy]] chamber filled with air to keep it afloat. It was attached to the lifebuoy with a long cord, and to the boat with a shorter cord. When the lifebuoy was thrown overboard, the short cord pulled away two plugs, one to let sea water in and one to let gas out. For the [[mast (sailing)|mast]]-head distress signal light and the Deck Flare the two plugs were removed by hand and the units placed in a bucket of water.
==Expansion under Albright and Wilson==
Albright and Wilson bought the company after the end of World War I, they had large stocks of produced and sales had dropped substantially.
==References==
*Threlfall, Richard E., (1951). ''The Story of 100 Years of Phosphorus Making: 1851 - 1951''. Oldbury: Albright and Wilson Ltd.
==See also==
*[[Albright and Wilson]]
*[[Calcium carbide]]
*[[Calcium phosphide]]
*[[Foghorn]]
*[[Lifebuoy]]
[[Category:Chemical companies of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Safety equipment]]