Holmes' Marine Life Protection Association

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.

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.

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-head distress signal light and the Deck Flare the two plugs were removed by hand and the units placed in a bucket of water.