The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1913-04-04
CAISSON WORKERS
PeriIs and Difficulties That En-
compass Their Labors.
THE FEARFUL AIR PRESSURE.
II Causes Exhilarstlon After tho Flrs'
Painful Sensations Pass Awsy-Ths
Great Danger Lies In Coming Out s'
the Lock Into tho Open Air.

the Lock Into the Open Air.
Laboring on the firm earth. with "all
out OF doors to breathe. perspiring
and mayhap grumbling at ones hard
luck. d 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 to them to breathe.
People who work In the open air
would have only to labor for very
short time I'm a divers suit, a caisson
or an air lock, getting a taste OF what
Il Is like and how II feels, to be cured
whatever OF grumbling at their lot and
thank their lucky stars that II has been
ordained that they work on top Of the
earth.
The work OF diver. his sensations
while under water and his experiences
have often been written about, but
those OF the air lock and the 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 dan
ger lies I'm the stagnntion OF blood and
paralysis resulting from the change Of
atmosphere.
While the man working on the sur
face OF the earth bears up an atmos-
pheric pressure OF fifteen pounds TO the
inch, men I'm the locks bear a pressure
OF from ifteeD to Hfty pounds OF com.
pressed air. according TO the depth.
The heaviest pressure ever worked un-
der was borne by i've divers on the
Swedish coast-sixty.f pounds. Four
OF these died few minutes after com.
Ing out
While. as general thing. the diver
stands not nearly the amount or pres
sure aud seldom stays down more than
two hours. the men In the Hudson
river tunnel stood pressure of forty
six pounds and worked I'm four hour
shifts Some men stayed down twenty
hours at stretch. but did not work all
the time. aud Superintendent Hasklns
stayed down once twenty -four hours.
The sensations experienced are pc
culiar. When man first steps In
there are II tingllng In the ears ana n
paiD-Ss the head. and when he talks 1t
Is apparently through the nose This Is
caused by the pressure, and the remedy
IL to hold the nose, close the mouth
and blow against the ears. This re-
lieves the pain and stops the nsation.
hn h.. Ia al N xgnrxar
feels all right and experiences no dis
comfort Then there is n sort OF ex-
hilaration. and a man does more work
In the lock than he could do outside.
The danger lies In coming out OF the
pressure into the open air. 1t Is then
that man Is apt to suffer from stag
nation OF the blood and paralysis caus
ed by the change I'm tho atmosphere.
Besides this. man may be attacked
In the head OF stomach with severe
pains. Three out OF i've cases where
the head and stomach are attacked re-
suit 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. Ii Is
extremely painful and 80 severe that
quart OF whisky administered I'm half
an hour would not intoxicate the pa
tlent 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 some
times get caught The remedy for
this paralysis liz a quick return to the
mir lock.
The men as general thing do not
remain great many years at the busi-
ness, and man should never work at
Il after he II forty years OF age.
Cutting hole and building a tunnel
through water IN an extremely difficult
thing and by many was thought TO be-
impossible still II was done In the
case OF the Hudson river tunnel. and
the method Is very interesting.
The work on the tunnel had pro
gressed until body Of water was
struck How to tunnel through this
hole OF water was a puzzling question,
IL was done I'm this way: A 80 called
balloon was constructed by making
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 6lled the
balloon. thirty feet In diameter. wSigh.
ed 40 tons The hole OF water was
then located. 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
on to the balloon and the whole thing
left TO settle.
At the end OF ten days the work OF
cutting through the balloon was be
gun. This was very difficult job. An
idea or what hard cutting II was may
be gained from the fact that u took
two months To dig through the thirty
feet.-St Louis Globe Democrat
The Spinstsr's Jcst.
Confidential Friend tto eIderly sptn