These lamps look just like "Davey Miners Safety Lamps".
Sir Humphry Davey (1778-1829) invented these lamps in 1815 for use in coal mines and they would not ignite any coal gas found in the mine.
He was a Cornishman - which is where the flame is tonight.
See:-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davy_lamp
There was however one fundamental difference between his lamps and those in use today - Sir Humphry's lamps had a wire gauze that surrounded the flame and, because this was always cold, any gas that got into the lamp was unable to transfer its heat to the gas outside the gauze.
The lamps used for the Olympic flame today had their gauzes missing so the public could better see the flame.
So, if the aircraft had crashed there could have been a fire.
Incidentally the aircraft was named "Firefly" and a gang of workers had taken a fortnight to paint it yellow. Why yellow - no idea but it was a good publicity stunt.
Now we have a gang of hundreds of runners who will run it in relays all round the British Isles for the next 70 days. The intention being to bring it to within ten miles of all the population so they can see it pass if by they feel so inclined.
Last time the flame was in England I saw it go past the end of my road. As a kid I lived very close to Wembley Stadium. That was 1948 - ouch!
BTW - Imagine the dent in our national pride if we let the lights go out!
