Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1913-04-01
Working Under the Water.
HOW IT FEELS TO BE A DIVER IN TIL
HUDSON RIVER TUNNEL.

Laborlng on the firm earth, with "sll
out Of doors" to breathe, perspiring, ana'
msyhap, grumbling at ones hard luck,
person seldom, II ever, stops to think
that men work day after day, deep down
In tho 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 short time In
divers suit, caisson, or an cir lock,
getting taste Of what 1t 10 like and how
It feels to DO cured forever of grum.
bling at their LOT, and thank their lucky
stars that 1t has been ordained that they
work on top of the earth.
The work of Q diver, his sensations
while under the water and bis expe-
riences 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 does the diver, he stays down longer,
gets warmer, and his great danger lies In
the stagnation of blood and paralysis,
resulting from the change of atmosphere.
While the man working on the surface
OF the earth bears up an atmospheric
pressure of 10 pounds to the inch, men In
the locks bear pressure of from 10 to
80 pounds of compressed air, according
to the depth. Tho heaviest pressure
ever worked under was borne by i've
divers on the Swedish coast-66 pounds.
Four of these died few minutes after
coming out.
While, as . general thing, the diver
stands not nearly the amount OF pres.
sure, and seldom stays down more than
two hours, the men in the Hudson River
tunnel stood q pressure of 46 pounds
and worked in four hour shifts. Some
men stayed down 20 hours at stretch,
but did not work all the time, and Su.
perintendent Haskins stayed down once
"a hours.
The sensations experienced arc pecu-
liar. When Q man first steps In there 10
tingling In the ears and pain In the
head, and when he talks Il IL apparently
through the nose. This ID 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. When the
pressure is oil on the worker feels all
right and experiences no discomfort.
Then there il sort of exhilsration, and
man does more work In the lock than
he could outside.
The danger lies in coming out OF the
pressure into the open air. 1t 10 then
that man is apt to suffer from stagna-
ton of the blood and paralysis caused by
the change In the atmosphere. Besides
this q man may be attacked In the head
and stomach with severe pains. Three
out of five cases where the head and
Istomach are attacked result fatally.
Another severe malady resulting from
the change is what Is called the "bands."
This is the air getting In between the
flesh and the bone. 1t is extremely
painful and so severe that quart OF
whiskey administered In half an hour
would not intoxicste the patient. The
Istagnation and the paralysis are the
worst dangers, and do the work quickly.
Many men have been keeled over by
these causes, aud not few die. Old
timers at the business sometimes get
caught. The remedy for this paralysis
is q quick return to the air lock.
| The effect of the pressure varies on
animals, as is shown by the mules used
lin the Hudson River tunnel. Some OF
these beasts were kept ct work down
below for Q year and on being brought
up were worth more than when they
were taken down. Others that had been
in the works four months had to be
killed.
The men az general thing do not re.
main great many years at tho business,
land q man should never work at 1t after
be is forty years of age.
Cutting Q hole and building . tunnel
through water is an extremely difficult
thing, and by many was thought to be
linn possible. Still it was done In the
case of the Hudson River tunnel, and the
method 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
a puzzling. question. 1t was done In this
way: A so-called balloon was construct.
ed 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 flll-
ed, the balloon, 80 feet In diameter,
weighed 40 tons. The hole Of water
was then located, and, with the aid OF q
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 cut
| ting through the balloon was begun.
This was very difficult job. An idea
of what hard cutting 1t was may be
gained from the fact that 1t took
two months to cut through the 80 feet.
I-St. Louis Globe Democrat.