The Iuka vidette. (Iuka, Miss.) 1894-1912, 1894-11-29
WORKING UNDER WATER.
The Pressure Men Have to Bear in Digging
Tunnels.


The Pressure Men Have to Bear in Digging
Tunnels.
Laboring on the firm earth, with 'all |
out of doors to breathe, prespiring,
and, mayhap. grumbling at ones hard
luck, person seldom, if ever, stops to
think that men work day after day
deep down in the water or the mud.
with none but 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 a short
time in divers suit, caisson or an
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 pressure of
from fifteen to fifty pounds of COM
pressed air, according to the depth.
The heaviest pressure ever worked UNI
der was borne by five divers on the
Swedish coast--sixty-f 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 a pressure of from
forty-five to forty-siX and a half pounds
and worked in four-hour shifts. Some
men stayed down twenty hours at n
stretch, but did not work all the time,
and Superintendent Haskins once
stayed down twenty-four hours. The
sensations experienced are peculiar.
When a man first steps in there is
tingling in the ear, and a pain in the
head. and when he talks it isapparent-
ly 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 a 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 a
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 a 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 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 general thing, do not
remain great many years at the bust
ness, and man should never work at
it after he is forty years of age. Cut
ting a hole and building tunnel
through water is an extremely difficult
thing, and by many was thought to be
impossible. Still it was done in the
case OF the Hudson river tunnel, and
the method, as told by Mr.. Rapfer, is
very interesting. The work on the
tunnel had progressed until body of
water was struck. How to tunnel
through this hole of water was Il 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 hun.
bred and forty tons. The hole of water
was then located, and, with the aid of
huge steam derrick. the balloon was
dropped into the hole. Then several
scow loads of dirt were dumped down
on to the balloon, and the whole thing
was left 10 settle.
At the end of ten days the work of
cutting through the balloon was be-
gun. This was a very difficult job. Au
idea of what hard cutting it was may
be gained from the fact that it took
two months TO dig through the thirty
feet; the plates and brick We're going
in as the work progressed. -Boston