The Canton times. (Canton, Miss.) 1893-1906, 1894-10-26
WORKING UNDER WATER.

Tunnels.
Laboring on the firm earth, with al
out of doors to breathe, prespiring
and, mayhap, grumbling at ones hare
luck, person seldom, if ever. stops tc
think that men work day after day
deep down in the water or the mud
with none buS artificial light to guide
their movements, and only the air that
is pumped in to breathe.
People who work in the open air
would have only to work for short
time in divers suit, caisson or an
airlock, getting taste of what it is
like and how it feels, to be cured for
ever of grumbling at their, lot and to
thank their lucky stars that it has been
ordained that they work on top of the
earth. The work of diver, his sensa-
tions while under water and his eXper-
fences have often been written about.
but those of the airlock and caisson
worker have not While he does not
face the danger of fouling pipes and
lines, as does the diver, he stays down
longer, gets warmer, and his great
danger lies in the stagnation of blood
and paralysis, resulting from the
changes OF the atmosphere.
While man working on The surface
of the earth bears up an atmospheric
pressure of fifteen pounds to the inch,
men in the locks bear a pressure of
from fifteen to fifty pounds of com
pressed air, according to the depth.
The heaviest pressure ever worked I'M
der was borne by five divers on the
Swedish coast-sixty-fv pounds. Four
of these died five minutes after coming
out.
While, as general thing, the diver
stands not nearly that amount of pres
sure and seldom stays down more than
two hours, the men in the Hudson
river tunnel stood pressure of from
forty five to forty-six and half pounds
and worked in four-hour shifts. Some
men stayed down twenty hours at
stretch, but did not work all the time,
and Supe rintendent HaSkins once
stayed down twenty-four hours. Tho
sensations experienced are peculiar.
When a man first steps in there is a
tingling in the e.r, and pain in the
head, and when he talks it isapparent-
Iy through the nose. This is caused
by the pressure, and the remedy is to
hold the nose, close the mouth and
blow against the ears. This relieves
the pain and stops the sensation.
Another peculiar thing about the ac-
ton of the pressure is that man may
have liquor enough aboard when out
side to just make him feel jolly, but
when he steps into the lock he is as
drunk as loon. The danger lies in
coming out of the pressure into the
open air. 1t is then that man is apt |
TO suffer from stagnation of the blood |
and paralysis, caused by the change of
atm osphere. Besides this man may |
be attacked in the head or stomach
with severe pains. Three out of five
cases where the head and stomach are
attacked result fatally
Another severe malady resulting
from the change is what is called the
bends This is the air getting in
between the flesh and the bone. 1t is
extremely painful, and SO severe that
quart of whisky administered in half |
an hour would not intoxicate the pa
tient. The stagnation and paralysis
are the worst dangers and do the work
quickly. Many men have been keeled
over by these causes, and not few die.
Old timers at the business sometimes
get caught. Mr.. Rapier himself was
twice attacked. The remedy for this
paralysis is quick return to the air
lock. The effect of the pressure varies
on animals, as is shown by the mules
used in the Hudson river tunnel. Some
of these animals are kept at work
down below for a year. and on being
brought up are worth more than when
they were taken down. Others that
had only been in the works four months
had to be killed.
The men, as a general thing, do not
remain a great many years at the bust
ness. and man should never work at
it after he is forty years of age. Cut
ting hole and building a tunnel
through water is an extremely difficult
thing, and by many was thought to be
Still it was done in the
case of the Hudson river tunnel. and
the method, as told by Mr.. Rapier. is
very interesting. The work on the
tunnel had progressed until body of
water was struck. How to tunnel
this hole of water was puz-
zling question. 1t was done in this
way: A so-called balloon was con-
structed by making a netting of wire
rope and covering this netting with
canvas The interior of the balloon
was then filed with blue clay and salt |
hay. When filed the balloon, thirty /
feet in diameter, weighed one hum |
dred and forty tons. The hole Of water
was then located, and, with'the aid of
B huge steam derrick, the balloon was {
dropped into the hole. Then several I