Waterbury evening Democrat., 1893-11-28
Observation-Disclosures
LOCOMOTIVE MEN HAVE TO PASS
SEARCHING SIGHT TESTS.
Various Methods Employed For Trying the
Sight of English hallway Employees
Made Necessary by the Great Develop
ment In Railway Operation.

sight OF English hallway Employees.
Made Necessary by the Great Develop
ment In Railway Operation.
One of the many qualities that require
to be possessed by candidates for foot
plate honors is good sight, In fact it is
the principal one on British railways.
I No sight aids of any description are al
lowed 10 he worn. and before being
promoted the men must be able TO pass
satisfactorily Il rest which. with differ
ent companies. varies in severity. Some
companies test periodically, while others
only do 50 when the men are promoted
TO firing and driving, or when some &C
dent occurs through Il signal having been
mistaken or passed at danger.
In justice, therefore. to the travelling
public, rs well as for their own interests,
it is the duty of railway companies to
see that the men they place in such re
sponsible positions are thoroughly COM
petent, As the speed Mt which trains are
now run requires acuteness Of vision.
In the early days of railway enterprise,
the train was often preceded by man ON
foot sometimes on horStback-whose
duty it was L. See the line clear. but
with tho rapid developments made in To-
necessary 10 dispense with this herald"
ard in due course tiNcl signals We're
placed along the route.
Thus the responsibility Of seeing the
position of signals and attending to them
was placed spol the men in charge Of
the train-viz. driver. fireman and
Euard-for the latter i'll the event of an
accident must he able 10 state whether
tho II 1,
(also that OF shutters and signalmenl is
subjected 10 the same test rs that of the
locomotive men.
Various methods Of testing have leeu
resorted TO, hut the one which for CON
siderable period was used by railway
companies, and which the men still most
%pprovc Of, was testing by means Of flags
and lamps Tho candidate was taken to
anice straight stretch. and another party
with tho flags (rcd. green and whity) Ivy
day and lamp by night was sent forward
about COO yards and exposed the signals.
which tho candidate was required to
name 10 the foreman ~ inspector pres
ent.
Some officials, however, do not approve
Of tho candidate naming the colcrs. and
in such Casrs wha; is known rs the wool
test has t. be gone through. This CON
siSts Of n bundle of various colured woods
from which the candidate must pick ont
pieces he thinks correspond 10 skeius
which are given him to match. In some
companies the skcius are simply hung
ON Il lar aud the candidate asked to
point ont the danger tN,lorS. etc, with
ont naming them. but as there are Vari-
Gus kinds of color blindness, it is much
better to use other colurs rs we'll as
those in daily U>r on the line. Tn
douhtelly this is the CORRECT method for
testing color blindness if properly CON
Quoted
But the method winch at the present
time seems most popular is what is
known a. the card test" This is q
piece Of cardboard about 80 inches by %
inches. In each If the four corners are
the colors. red, green, blue and yellow,
all very bright, while the space left he
tween, about two inches is divided into
squares one-tifth of An inch. which at
distance of Is feet corresponds to bulls
eye , feet square GO yards away. The
candidate stands Is feet from the card
and names the colorS as they are pointed
ont. also counts the number Of black
ened squares, which are varied in num-
W
paper.
Each eye Is examined separately, both
as to color sense and form. care being
taken that the unused eye is simply GOV
cred and not pressed upon, As this causes
irritation of both members. Having
named the colors and counted the spots
correctly. the candidate may cungratu-
late himsslr that he has passed
I !, -
bC tested once every three or four years,
as during that period accident or disease
may have impaired the vision, while
habitual SMOKERS should h. tested much
ofteuer as 1t has been ascrrtained that
tobacco smoke has . deletsrious effect
Oh the sight
rs yet railway companies have not
adopted hard and fast test. Each has
its own method, but Is 50 many precious
lives arc iutrustcd 10 engine drivers and
their mates, an exhaustive test should be
made. Strictly speaking three tests
should be gone through: l. Wool test.
to detect color blindness. =. Object test,
squares or small letters, for form. }.
Tested in darkcncd room with lamp for
color ignorance, rs it is important that
the candidate should be ablc TO name
lut CN4blS- 1 i-t lamp ALsAN Atl| bttu Ll5nl-
cd. is placed ON table. while the candi-
date stands about 70 feet of \ piece
of cardboard with 4 hole about half an
inch in diameter is placed over the face
of the lamp. and various colored glasses
passed in front, which the candidate
should name, remarking whether lighter
or darker than the previous one of the
same colored group.-London Tit-Bits