The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-09-16
DANGERS OF COAL MINING.
suMnrR Two

NuMBER Two.
In nv last some information was give
respecting the dangerous properties Of Are
damp and tho best mode. OF avoiding itsin
furious presence. 1t is also highly import
ont to know the deadly properties of choke
damp, after-damp and azote. and tho bes
means OF guarding against their danRerou
presence in coal mines.
Choke-dsmp, or carbonio acid, 10 a color
less, odorisss, invisible gas, much h0avie'
than the air, and will, like water, run ints
and occupy low places in mines, wells, pit,
and cellars, especially when they are not II
use to keep the air in motion. Choke-damt
does not produce explosions; but e1plosions
Choke-damp, however, often accumulates II
GOAL mines in such quantities as TO be very
injurious and even to destroy life. The 40
tion of air and water OF all bitumlnous
GOALS and states generate moro or less Of
this gas. and in all places whore the air !!
for Il is SO much heavier than air,
il can be poured from one
vessel to another, a. a liquid. IL one enters
places filled with this gas it will kill as
quick ~ 40 much water, and in the same
yay, b. keeping air from the lungs. It
sometimes fills levels and rooms in mines
part full, and one can wade through ii, as
through 10 much water, in safety rs long AZ
the head 10 kept above it. Miners somo-
times work in il without inspecting its dan
Csrous presence; but if one Mould set his
lamp down ON ii, tho light would be sx-
tinguished for want Of air; and, if he should
lie down in it, his life would go out for the
same reason. .....
The safety lamp il az good a test for
choks-damp as it 10 for hre-damp; but the
lamp is better fed with oil 10 as to produce
the brightest light. The first effect pro-
duced upon the flame by c~hoke-damp is pre-
oisely the opposite of that produced by fire-
damp. The former reduces the flame.
while the latter snlarges it; but both will
%sxtinRuish the flame when present in suf-
ficient quantities. 1t il not. however, safe
to remain till the light goes out, for the life
of ths body will &c out with the light
of the lamp. Still where tho lamp will
burn, even with diminished flame, life will
continue, but with less vigor. Miners,
however, should never work, save in some
emergency. whers the lamp will not burn
with as much brilliancy as in the open air:
For choks-damp even in quantities 80 small
% to have little effect on the flame OF the
lamp and no action upon the system immedi-
ately perosptible, will generate diseases
which eventually prove fatal. So injurious in
fact. is the choke-damp that good judges
think that it destroys as many lives as fire
damp with all its frightful explosions.
And besides, azote and after-damp will
e%1tinguish the flame of q lamp az quick as
c~hoks-damp. When, therefore, the miners
lamp will not burn it is not always easy to
tell whether it is due to the presence of
choke-damp, after-damp or azote, or to sny
two of them or to all combined. Be the
cause what 1t may, the miner may be as
sursd it is time to get out when his light
goes out, or even burns dlmly. While,
therefore, the lamp ia sufficient to guard
against fatal accidents, the minor needs a
more delicate test of choke damp to guard
against the injurious effects of small guam
titles of the gas.
Lime-water is perhaps the most conven-
lent test which is sufficiently delicate. The
breath receives q little choke-damp in the
lungs. If this breath be forced through a
straw or tube into limpid lime-water, the
water will become milky. If the air in 4
mine be forced into lime-water and the
water becomes milky, choks-damp is GER
tainly present in quantities too large for
health. A syringe may be used to force the
sir to be tested through or into the water.
Azote is not 80 common nor so injurious
as choke-damp. Whom pure it will extin-
guish q lamp and destroy life as quick as
choke-damp; bat is not 30 injurious to
health in small quantities. When the lamp
will not burn clear in a mine, azote, choke
damp, or after-damp are present. If i'm
mine, after-damp ia most probably the
cause. But if there has been no explosion
or Are, then the cause is choke-damp or
azots. If the air turns lime water milky,
choke-damp is the cause: if it does not ron
der lime-water milky. it is azote.
After-damp is produced by explosions of
fre-damp and air, and ia always found in
the mine after an explosion of fre-damp.
y is a mixture of choks-damp, azote and
yapor. 1t will extinguisb the flame of a
land and destroy life. Hence no one
should rush into q mine after an explosion,
even in the hope of saving friends and fell
low workmen, until it is shown that a lamp
will burn there.
Many a noble spirit has lost his life by
rushing into a mine to save his fellow work
men after an explosion of %fre-damp. The
use of proper caution after an explosion
will often save generous men without en-
dangering the lives of those in the mine.
The rescusrs can go as far as the lamps will
burn freely, unless there be some passages !
through which the after-damp may flow in
after them and cut off their retreat. If the
lamps will not burn. rescue is hopeless till
after the after-damp is removed.
Burning wood or coal in a mine produces
all the dangerous gases in the after-damp
and some Others. Hence miners must use
the same precautions for a fire in a mine
as they would after an explosion of fire.
damp. And these precautions after fires,
are applicable to all kinds of mines. as ali
fires in mines generate a dangerous after
damp somewhat different according to the
fuel burned; but all of them produce dan
gsrous gases.
Many a noble spirited man has lost his
life by entering a mine without proper ex-
after 4 fire. Every miner will
be able to recall instances in
his own knowledge where lives were lost
for want of proper precautions after fires
in mines.
One precaution not yet mentioned can
not be too strongly insisted upon; for a ne
eject OF 1t has cost many lives. This pre-
caution is especially necessary in entering
mines after explosions and fires; as men
stop upon tho cage with their testing lamps
and are let down with the rapldity Of n fall
Ing rock into q mine full of after damp.
Lamps are extinguished and the men be-
come helpless before danger signals can be
made to the engineer. Even if the men
give the signal they are liable to fall help
less and become mangled as the cage rises
to the surface. If the plunge ia too quick
and the men fall before the signal is given.
death is doing his work while the engineer
thinks all is we'll. In such cases the cage
should be lowered very slowly, giving the
men time to see the change, il any, in the
lamp-hame and to giys the danger signal
before they are completely immersed in the
deadly damp and rendered helpless.
One fact SHOULD never be forgotten in ex-
amlnlng a mine or any other place for fire.
damp, choke-damp and a%fter-damp. Fire
damp is lighter than the air and will natur-
ally accumulate in the highest parts OF a
mine, In the top Of an adit. the highest part
OF a room, an incline or an uprise; and tho
testing lamp should be carried high and
raised into all such places. Choke-damp
and after-Qamu. on tha contrarv ora boo via