Those headlights were actually run on acetylene. The lamp is attached to a carbide generator. The top section holds water, and the bottom calcium carbide granules. If you know what a Big Bang cannon is you know the stuff.
You open the water valve that sets a metered drip onto the carbide below, producing acetylene gas. Open the lamps' door, open the gas valve, and light the jet with a match. They are actually quite bright. Old time miners had this type of lamp on their helmets.
Later on the carbide generator was replaced with a Prest-O-Lite tank, which was a pressurized acetylene cylinder. No muss, no fuss, not nasty carbide crud to have to clean from the generator.
Jim