The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-07-13
WORKING UNDER WATER.
The Deadly Pressure That Is Encount-
cred in Submarine Tunneling.
From the Boston Herald.

L
cred in Submarine Tunneling.
From the Boston Herald.
Laboring on the firm earth, with call
out of doors" to breathe, perspiring, and,
mayhap, grumbling at ones hard luck, a
person seldom, if ever, stops to think that
men work day after day deep down in the
water, orthe mud, with none but artif-
clal light TO guide their movements, and
only the air that is pumped TO them to
breathe.
People who work in the open air would
have only to work for a short time in a
divers suit, a caissOn or an air lock. get
ting a taste of what it is like and how il
feels, TO be cured forever of grumbling at
their lot and to thank their lucky stars
that il has been ordained that they work
on top of the earth.
The work of diver, his sensations
while under the water, and his eXper-
fences have often been written about. but
those of the air lock and caisson worker
have not While he does not face the
danger Of fouling pipes and lines. as docs
the diver, he stays down longer gets
warmer, and his great danger lies in the
staEnation of blood and paralysis, result
ing from the change of atmos phere.
MIR. r. G. Rapier of No So Cambridge
street, East Cambridge is an air lock
worker, and talks most interestingly.
His work was mainly in the air locks
used in building the great Hudson river
tunnel. To Herald reporter he talked
OF some OF the sensations, dangers and
experiences.
He said that while man working on
the surface of the earth bears up an at
mospheric pressure of - pounds TO the
inch, men in the locks bear pressure of
from u TO 80 pounds of compressed air,
according to the depth. The heaviest
pressure ever worked under was borne by
five divers on the Swedish cOast-65
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 one-half pounds and
worked in four hour shifts. Some men
stayed down twenty hours at stretch
but did not work all the time, and Supt.
Haskins stayed down once twenty-iour
hours.
The sensations experienced are pecu-
liar. When man first steps in there Is
a tingling in the ears and a pain in the
head, and when he talks it is apparently
through the nose. This is is caused by
the pressure aud the remedy is to hold the
nose, close the mouth and blow against
the ears. This relieves the pain and stops
the sensation. When the pressure is all
on the worker feels all right and expert
ences no discomfort. Then there is a
sort Of eXhilaration, and man does more
work in the lock than he could do outside
Another peculiar thing about the action
of the pressure is that man may have
liquor enough aboard when outside to Just
make him feel Jolly, but when he steps
into the lock he is as drunk as a loon
The danger lies in coming out of the
pressure into the open air. IL is then that
a man is apt to suffer from staFnation OF
the blood and paralysis caused by the
change Of atmosphere. 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 pain
full, and so severe that a quart Of whisky
administered in half an hour would not
intoxicate the patient The stagnatior
and paralysis are the worst dangers, anC
do the work quickly. Many men have
been keeled over by these, causes, and not
a few die. Old timers at the business
self was twice attacked. Theremedy fol
this paralysis is quick return to the ali
lock
The effect of the pressure varies on ami
mails as is shown by the mules used in
the Hudson River Tunnel Some OF
these beasts are kept at work down be
low 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 a general thing do not re
main great many years at the business
and a man should never work at it after
he is 40 years Of age.
Cutting a hole and building a 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.. Rapier, is very
interesting.
The work on the tunnel had progressed
until a body of water was struck How
to tunnel through this hole of water was
pulling question 10 was done this
way: A so-called balloon was constructed
by making a netting of wire rope and GOV.
ering this netting with canvas. The in
terror of the balloon was then filed with
blue clay and salt hay When filed, the
balloon, thirty feet in diameter, weighed
l4U IONS. nc HOLe Vi WAFER was Juen 10
Gated, and, with the aid of a huge steam
derrick, the balloon was dropped into the
hole. Then several scow loads of dirt
were dumped down onto the balloon, and
the whole thing was left to settle.
At the end of ten days the work of cut.
ting through the balloon was begun. This
was very difficult Job. An 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 were going in as the work pro
crossed.
SELL In nonhf