Skip to content
LexBuild

30 CFR § 19.9 - Performance.

---
identifier: "/us/cfr/t30/s19.9"
source: "ecfr"
legal_status: "authoritative_unofficial"
title: "30 CFR § 19.9 - Performance."
title_number: 30
title_name: "Mineral Resources"
section_number: "19.9"
section_name: "Performance."
chapter_name: "MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR"
subchapter_number: "B"
subchapter_name: "TESTING, EVALUATION, AND APPROVAL OF MINING PRODUCTS"
part_number: "19"
part_name: "ELECTRIC CAP LAMPS"
positive_law: false
currency: "2026-04-05"
last_updated: "2026-04-05"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
authority: "30 U.S.C. 957, 961."
regulatory_source: "Schedule 6D, 4 FR 4003, Sept. 21, 1939, unless otherwise noted."
cfr_part: "19"
---

# 19.9 Performance.

In addition to the general design and the safety features, MSHA considers that a lamp of permissible type should meet certain minimum requirements with respect to performance, as follows:

(a) *Time of burning and candlepower.* Permissible electric cap lamps shall burn for at least 10 consecutive hours on one charge of the battery and shall give during that period a mean candlepower of light beam of not less than 1.

(b) *Bulb life.* The average life of the bulbs shall be not less than 200 hours, and at least 92 percent of the bulbs shall have a life of 150 hours. The life of a bulb is the number of hours its main filament will burn in the cap lamp or its equivalent.

The life of a bulb having main filaments in parallel is considered ended when the first filament ceases to burn; the life of a bulb having independent main filament is considered ended when the last filament ceases to burn.

(c) *Bulb uniformity.* (1) The bulbs submitted shall meet the following minimum requirements for variation in current consumption and candlepower:

(2) The current consumption of at least 94 percent of the bulbs shall not exceed the average current by more than 6 percent. The candlepower (s. cp.) of at least 90 percent of the bulbs shall not fall short of the average candlepower by more than 30 percent.

(d) *Corrosion of contacts.* Battery terminals and leads therefrom, as well as the battery gas vents, shall be designed to minimize corrosion of the electrical contacts.

[Sched. 6D, 4 FR 4003, Sept. 21, 1939, as amended at 47 FR 11369, Mar. 16, 1982]