The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1907-12-05
WORKING IN A TUBE"
Remarkable Experience In a Lock
In Compressed Air.
AT FORTY POUNDS PRESSURE

The Way lt Feels When the Valve is
First Opened and the Chamber Fills
With the brushing Air and Fog
Why You DON'T Collapse or Explode
AS the lockkecper turns the valve.
writes A. W Bolker i'm Appleton
Magazine there is scalp raising
scrccch as DC your ear were next The
safety valve OF locomotive blowing
steam, and as the inrushng glr cx-
pands it Hlls The Tiny chambcr with
fog SO dense that you cannot see your
hand before your eyes Wider and
wider the valve is opened, the fog be
coming even dcnser aud the racket
Increasing until the air fairly drones
and your eyes and eardrums and your
very scalp trcmble with the air that
is vibrating about you For the FIRST
time in your life you realize hat
sound may innlct physical pain and
that there is possibility that it may
kin
no sooner Is The big valve opened
than You feel The pressure against your
eardruns A big wad Of cotton seems
thrust into each car aud two big fin-
gers seem TO push the wads more ana
moro firmly until each time when YOU
swallow or blow into your nose the
sensation disappears only 20 begin
anew. Should you purposcly delay
swallowing within twenty seconds the
pain becomes intense and finally cx
cruclating as If n pair Of knitting nee.
dies were being pushed deep into your
ears
Nothing short OF the faith that cth.
ers successfully withstand these sen.
eatons prevents you from becoming
unduly excited. for actually you are
IN the throes Of about As aisagreeable
a situation as you care 70 meet. Fof
The eternity OF half minute the
racket and fog and ear pains continue.
Then the noise ceases as suddenly az lt
began. Out OF the fog comes the voice
OF your guide:
Feeling all right? Ears all right
No trouble 10 breathe2 Oh, youll be-
all rghts Again tie valve screeches
aud the afr droncs. the top OF Your
head throbs, ana you are shaken with
IN ana without.
Gradually, after the lapse Of ten
minutes, when tho pressures in the
heading and The lock become more
equallzed, the din begins to slacken;
then 1t falls more and more and fades
10 nothing, after which the lockmon
opens the heading door and you gaze
upon another length OF tube Ike that
you left behind
How docs it feel 20 be under eDrty
pounds prcssure2 There IS no senm-
tion 70 it-none whatever which Is
the trouble, for i'm case your heart Is
going to give out there is no warning
symptom until too late Against ey-
cry square foot of tie surface OF your
body Is a pressure OF 500 pounds, and
the only thing lnut prevents You from
being squoshed IS She 5.7GO pounds
per square foot pressure inside OF you,
yet you do not feel this.
The pressure from without Is 80
great tnat were it not for the pressure
within you would be smashed fat as
a toad run over by a steam lo'ler. and
the pressure within you is so great
that were it not counterbalanced by
the pressure from without you would
explode 10 atoms like the shell Of a
dynamite cartridge
Yet you have no means OF realizing
this. You feel perfectly natural. You
breathe normally and without effort.
You move about without being con
scious Of eSertion only O feeling as
OF water left in tho ea.s after bathing
remains.
The noise Of yumbllng cars and
scraping shoycls from ahead sounds
natural So does the voice OF your
guide. Only your own voice seems
s,fange m your own ears far deeper
IN pitch than you ever have heard il
and far of, not as IL # came from your
own mouth, but as II from ten feet be-
hind; also, and this strikes you quccrly
uLtl you have found the cause. all
sounds are chopped or short. for in
this heavy atmosphere there is little
echo and carrying power Even the
explosion Of a dynamite cartridge
makes mo- more noise than a shotgun
fired above in daylight
In this dense atmosphere were you
TO try 10 whistle with your llps or %
blow a comet or a fife you might blow
your lungs out without producing
sound, for the pressure would resist
any sound waves OF which your lungs
we're capable owing 20 The excessive
supply OF oxygen. were you TO light %
match Il would burn with the .apldig
OF tinder, amid volumes OF smoke
For the same reason an Oh lamp OF
a lantern would burn itself out withiD
a few minutes, emitting volumes of
SCOT that would completely hide the
flames. And Tor the same reason %
lighted pipe or cigar win burn Of g.
self without suction. and single
mouthful Of smoke IS All you would De
able to get ont of cigarette Were you
20 bring an empty corked bottle into this
pressure from the outside. the pressure
against the cork. unbalanced by pres
sure from witlln. would be So great