The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1908-03-07
Remarkable Experience In a Lock
In Compressed Air.
AT FORTY POUNDS PRESSURE

steam, and as the inrushing air ex-
pands 1t fills the tiny chamber 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 denser and the racket
increasing until the air fairly drones
and your eyes and eardrums and your
very scalp tremblc with the DIR that
Is vibrating about you. For the lrst
time in your life you realize that
sound may inalct physical pain and
that there is possibility that 1t may
kill.
No sooner Is the big valve opened
than you feel the pressure against your
eardrums. a big wad of cotton seems
thrust into each ear, and two big fin
gers seem 70 push the wads more and
more firmly until each time when you
swallow or blow into your nose the
sensation disappears only to begin
anew. Should you purposely delay
swallowing within twenty seconds the
pain becomes intense and finally ex-
cruciating, as If a pair Of knitting nee.
dies were being pushed deep into your
ears.
Nothing short Of the faith that 9th
ers successfully Withstand these SEN
stations prevents you from becoming
unduly excited, for actually you are
in the throes Of about as disagreeable
situation as you care to meet For
the eternity Of half minute the
racket and fog and ear pains continue.
Then the noise ceases as suddenly as II
began. Out Of the fog comes the voice
OF your guide:
Feeling all right? Ears all rightI
No trouble to breathe2 oh, you'll be
all rlght!n Again the valve screeches
and the air drones. the top Of your
head throbs, and you are shaken with
In and without
Gradually, after the lapse Of ten
minutes, when the pressures In the
heading and the lock become more
equalized. the din begins to slaeken;
then 1t falls more and more and fades
to nothing. after which the lockman
opens the heading door and You gaze
upon another length OF tube" like that
you left behind.
How does it feel to be under forty
pounds pressuref There IS no sensa-
ton to it--none whatever-which is
the trouble, for in case your heart IL
going TO give out there Is no warning
symptom until too late Against cy-
cry square foot of the surface of your
body Is d pressure Of 5,760 pounds, and
the only thing that prevents you from
being squashed Is the 5,T60 pounds
per square foot pressure inside Of sou,
yet you do not feel this
The pressure from without IS so
great that were it not for the pressure
within you would be smashed fat as
a toad run over BIZ a steam roller. and
the pressure within you is 50 great
that were Il not counterbaianced by
the pressure from without You would
explode to atoms Ike the shell Of
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 exertion Only a feeling as
Of water left In the ears after bathing
remains.
The noise OF rumbling cars and
scraping shovels from ahead sounds
natural. So does the voice Of your
guide. Only your own voice seems
strange in your own ears-far deeper
In pitch than you ever have heard II
and far on, not as IL It came from your
own mouth. but as If from ten feet be-
hind; also, and this strikes you queeriy
until you have found the cause. all
sounds are chopped of short for in
this heavy atmosphere there Ii little
echo and carrying power Even The
explosion Of dynamite cartridge
makes no more noise than shotgun
fired above in daylight
In this dense atmosphere were you
to try to whistle with your lips or to
blow cornet or FIFE you might blow
your lungs out without producing a
sound, for the pressure would resist
any sound waves Of which your lungs
were capable Owing to the excessive
supply of oxygen, were you TO light
match it would burn with the rapidly
of tinder amid volumes of smoke.
For the same reason an oil lamp or
a lantern would burn itself out within
few minutes. emitting volumes Of
SCOT that would completely hide the
flames, And for the same reason
lighted pipe or cigar viii burn Of It.
self without suction. and a single
mouthful Of smoke is oil you would be
able to get out Of a cigarette. We're you
to bring an empty corked bottle into this
pressure from the outside the pressure
against the cork. unbalanced by pres
sure from within. would be 50 great
that you would be unable to pun the
stopper These are a few instances of
what you end when under forty
pounds Of pressure.