The Penn's Grove record., 1888-08-18
Disinfecting Clothes by Steam.

One or the busiest places In the city,
in case of a serious epidemic of conta-
gion, would be the ground floor of the
Reception Hospital in East Sixteenth st.
N. j., for there is the new disinfecting
apparatus of the Health Department.
Experiments to ascertain the nest prac-
tical method for using heat in the de-
struction Of disease germs have been
conducted there since last winter. A
tank of boiler iron, big enough for a
dozen men to walk about in at n
time, and having a strong iron door at
each end, is the chief part OF the ap-
paratus. 1t is connected with a fur
mace and steam boiler by means of
pipes. The coils of pipes are close to-
gether inside the tank, and there is an
arrangement of stop-cocks by which an
operator can fill the tank with steam or
dry heat at will. Dry air has been
heated to q temperature of nearly ~
degrees inside the tank.
When the apparatus was built the
Health Board expected to be able to
disinfect clothing and bedding by dry
heat. DR.. Cyrus Edison knew that work
of that kind had been done in Europe
and lie was anxious to make a trial.
The Health Board has been making
liquid disinfectants in the big room
where the tank and boiler were set up.
From a trough. i'll which water was
passed over copperas, a strong solution
of sulphate of iron was obtained, but
it was used chiefly for disinfecting
street cutters and the back yards Of
crowded tenement houses. A vile
smelling liquid, made by mixing vitrlol
with dead oil, was used in some tene-
ment houses where the inmates thought
that a disinfectant must smell strong to
be effective. For the fumigation Of
rooms in which there have been cases
of contagious disease the sanitary OIL.
Gals have used burning sulphur. 1t
was the rule TO burn up the bedding
and clothing which had been in con-
tact with smallpox or typhus fever
patients.
DIR. Edison and the Health Commits
sioners believed that the spread Of
diphtheria and scarlet fever in the city
might be checked if the department had
means for the better disinfection OF
clothing and bedding. 1t was said that
sulphur fumigation could not be de-
pended Oh for the destruction of the
germs of either disease in the clothing
of patients and attendants. At the
same time the Health Board could not
compel the burning of bedding and
clothing in the hundreds of cases of
diphtheria and scarlet fever reported
every month. Then there was the pos
sibility that Asiatic cholera might come
1 10 tha nttu and ty,nf Chm ltcinfnpfinU nf
clothing on a large scale might be I'M
perative. 1t was believed that infected
clothing could be placed in the new
tank, subjected to dry heat for an hour
or so and then removed uninjured and
free from the germs Of disease. Elk
| periments were begun to ascertain how
many degrees of heat could be employ
ed to kill the germs and yet not destroy
the clothes. The result has been IL
change from dry heat TO steam.
1t was found that a few strong IA
brics which were placed in the tank
dry and subjected to a dry heat of
about $500, came out purified and COM
paratiyely unlnjured, An expensive
carpet belonging to one of Commits.
sloner Bryant's friends was ruined by
cApOSuIt " lou VI utdb Ill UL6 LINK lOE
two hours. Another carpet, which had
been left out in the blizzard and was
partly frozen when it was placed in the
tank, was subjected to a like test.
Part Of the carpet was burned up,
while another portion was still frozen
when it was removed from the tank.
Subsequent experiments have shown
that a roll of wet cloth may be subject
ed to intense dry heat several hours
without being disinfected. 1t is be-
lieved that an envelope Of steam pro-
tects the inner part of the roll from the
heat.
BY injecting live steam into the tank,
DR.. Edson's assistants have been able
to disinfect clothing and bedding at a
temperature uf about 1860 and the
goods come out of the tank unhurt, ex-
cept that the colors in some kinds of
cloth are effaced or badly mixed. The
d~isinfection by steam is rapid and salts
factory. Iron cages are being prepar-
ed for the collection and return of bed
ding and clothing. Each cage has a
lock to it, and the owners of clothing
can keep the key while the goods are
being disinfected. The work is done
by the Health Department free of
charge.