A cap lamp is a lamp worn on the head or helmet. It is mostly used in an underground environment, like mines or during

outdoor activities Outdoor recreation or outdoor activity refers to recreation done outside, most commonly in natural settings. The activities that encompass outdoor recreation vary depending on the physical environment they are being carried out in. These activitie ...

, e.g.

climbing Climbing is the activity of using one's hands, feet, or other parts of the body to ascend a steep topographical object that can range from the world's tallest mountains (e.g. the eight thousanders) to small boulders. Climbing is done for locom ...

Patent

A patent for a self-adjusting bracket for use with cap lamps was awarded in 1985.

GEN 4 and GEN 5

The two most recent variants of the cap lamp are the GEN 4 and GEN 5 models. The GEN 4 model, approved for use by the

Mine Safety and Health Administration The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) () is a small agency of the United States Department of Labor which administers the provisions of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 (Mine Act) to enforce compliance with mandatory sa ...

(MHSA), uses the headpiece of existing cap lamps, but retrofitted with new LEDs and electronics. The GEN 5 model is very similar to the GEN 4 model except with a more intense spot beam that can illuminate objects that are more than 40 feet away. Since GEN 5 is very similar to GEN 4, it has not been separately approved by MHSA. These lamps will last up to 50 hours with a six-cell battery pack. Energy-saving variants of these models, GEN 4E and GEN 5E, use a single

lithium-ion battery A lithium-ion or Li-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery that uses the reversible intercalation of Li+ ions into electronically conducting solids to store energy. Li-ion batteries are characterized by higher specific energy, energ ...

. These new cap lamp variants that use LEDs follows research done by the

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH, ) is the List of United States federal agencies, United States federal agency responsible for conducting research and making recommendations for the prevention of work-related occ ...

in the United States, comparing LEDs to traditional

incandescent light bulb An incandescent light bulb, also known as an incandescent lamp or incandescent light globe, is an electric light that produces illumination by Joule heating a #Filament, filament until it incandescence, glows. The filament is enclosed in a ...

s, where they found that the LEDs improved hazard detection.{{Cite journal, last=Sammarco, first=John J., last2=Pollard, first2=Jonisha P., last3=Porter, first3=William L., last4=Dempsey, first4=Patrick G., last5=Moore, first5=Caitlin T., date=2012-07-01, title=The effect of cap lamp lighting on postural control and stability, journal=International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics, volume=42, issue=4, pages=377–383, doi=10.1016/j.ergon.2012.04.001, pmc=4604055, pmid=26472917

References

Types of lamp Mine safety