The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1893-10-14
FOR REsoUINa MINERS.
a safety Apparatus for Use Immediately
After Explosions.


Many contrivances for enabling men to
breath in compartments filed with smoke
and in mines dih'used with after-damp or
other bad air have been invented, and
occasionally used during the last fifty years.
both in cases of fires on the surface and mine
fires, says the Scranton Coliery Engineer
but the most practical apparatus to which our
attention has been directed for the rescue Of
miners after fires or colliery explosions is
that which has recently been introduced into
the United States and known as the "Gdlt5et
respiratory Apparatus" 1t consists of a
reservoir of air with flexible attachments of
light weight which the operator carries on
his back after having first filled it with air
the arrangement. The filling is done in less
than a minute. The air contained in the
reservoir is communicated TO the lungs by
means of two tubes ending in a mouth piece
which the operator puts in his mouth, in
which he fixes it by a slight pressure of the
teeth. The air of the reservoir thus reaches
him without any effort on his part, and is
sent back with the same facility into the same
reservoir.
This arrangement allows man to breath
the same air over again several times for quite
an extended time varying according to the
operators from Is to % and even 80 minutes.
The operator can ascertain from his breath
ing when it is time to return to the fresh air,
where he can mpty the reservoir of the foul
and fill it with good air. The apparatus is a
great auxiliary in rescuing persons from
suffocation whether Ia cases of fires on the
surface or in mines. The operator requires
no training to accustom himself in the use of
the apparatus, which will permit any one to
enter and remain and work with safety in
places which are filled with the most deadly
gases or deeteriOus emanations. 1t only
requires few seconds to get the apparatus in
readiness when required. 1t has recently
been tested and, according to the best of our
information, successfully, in some of the
fiery coal mines of France, England and
Germany. 1t has likewise been put to
practical tests in the United States, and was
used by the Delaware, Lackawanna and
Western Railroad Company at an explosion
of fre.damp in their Pettebone Shaft near
Wilkes. Barre.
From the reports which have reached us of
various trials in gaseous mines, the apparatus
is likely to prove very serviceable in the
the saving of life in fiery mines, and in
rescuing victims of mine explosions and fires.
An electric lamp which accompanies the
respirator has been improved by Mr.. Charles
Law; it is a primary battery, incandescent
lamp so arranged that by reversing it by
turning it upside down, it lights and the
battery is in action; when the other side is
up the fluid is not in contact with the cells
and it can be left in that position until
wanted, and can be used instantly. The ad,
vantage the lamp has when used by a rescue
party after mine explosion, is that it will
burn in black damp, so that the party may
proceed Immediately into the mine after an
explosion without waiting for the renewal Of
the ventilation. 1t has been found that the
lamp will not fire carburetted hydrogen
Such an apparatus, together with the electric
light, is calculated to be Of the greatest
service to miners and mine ope elators, and il
it had been on the premises at a recent fire in
one of the western mines, when three lives
were lost through the choke-damp they
would have been rescued.