Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1866-04-28
PROTECTIVE APPARATUs IN a
POISONOUS ATMoSPHEhE.

n. Galibert has lately invented or
rather reconstructed and improved IN ap-
paratus to enable workmen to move about
for a time without danger in air charged
with carbonic acid, carburetted and sui.
phure.ted hydrogen and other poisonous
gases, There are two sets Of apparatus
one having q reservoir for holding fresh
air, the other having q tube which is con-
nec,ed with the outer or pure air. In.
both cases the workman is clothed with q
special dress which covers his face, and is
adapted to the n~os.rils. The apparatus
with the reservoir seems to be the most
useful of the two. The reservoir for the
air is made Of q prepared goat skin, and
to this reservoir, the capacity Of which
varies from so to 100 quarts, is attached II
double vulcanized India-rubber tube from
20 to 40 inches in length, and from half
an inch to three-quarters Of an inch in d.
ameter. The two tubes are united, at one
Of their extremities, to IN oval %mouthpiece,
similar to that mentioned in the descrip-
ton of the tubular apparatus. At the
other extremity they pass down the sides
of the lower part of the reservoir I; one
being made to press from the bottom, the
other from the top Of the leathern bottle.
Thus, BY combining the respiratory move
ments with those Of the tongue, the end Of
which is moved from one hole to the
other, as in the aforementioned appara.
tus, the expired air, or that gone out from
the lungs, is exclusively directed by the
upper tube, and the air inhaled, or drawn
into the lungs, only by the lower tube.
NJ. Guerard. who has reported on this
apparatus, disapproves of the tongue
being employed in the place Of q valve,
and prefers the inspiration and expiration
being made by the two tubes at the same
time. It is also desirable, he thinks,
to make the tubes as short as possible,
90 as to let them both communicate with
the bottom Of the leathern bottle. The
reservoir is furnished with straps to
fasten it on the back, like a SOL
dier's k~napsack. When the apparatus i,
to be arranged, the air tubes pass under
the arms, so as to leave the workman the
free use Of his hands. The nostrils are to
be closed up by nippers, and the eyes pro.
tee,ed by spectscles made OF slGss, inclos.
ed in a piece Of leather, to which |,
attached AT IndiA.ruhber band TO ct them
comfortably 10 the head. Il does not &C.
cupy more than a minute TO initiate the
skin by the aid Of the bellows, and to fix
the apparatus on the workman in readi-
meas for his work.
Many experiments have been made,
most successfully, with the apparatus
thus described, both in she sewers and the
Res works and c~css.pools Of Paris. 1t wac
found 70 be equally eficien. as q protec.
tive for men Who entered rooms filled
with q thick SapOr OF smoke, made, in one
instance. by covering over a Gre, lighted
for the purpose, with tursed rags, bits Of
leather and I~ndia-rubber in another with
camp straw, and in a ,hird by a combus-
ton Of %resinous substances.
An English workman named Roberts,
several years ago, proposed an ~ingeniou,
contrivance TO enable persons to enter into
the rooms of a house on fire, and to re-
main in the suFocaing atmosphere for a
considerable length Of time, The princi.
pie on which this continuance rests is, that
the air in rooms filed with smoke is al.
ways much less vitia;ed ne.r the Aoor
than near the ceiling. The person exposed
breathes through a leather tube, four or
Ave feet long, that proceeds from the
mouth-piece, to which it is secured, and
this hangs down to near the ankles.
There is also q mask, provided with eye
holes, which is put over the head and
secured with a tape around the neck.
This apparatus, with certain notifications,
was so much approved of in Paris, that
every fireman wa provided with it.