Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-03-03

breathe
| People who work in the open air
would have only to labor for short
time in divers suit, caisson, or an
air lock, getting a taste of what it is
! like and how it feels to be cured
! whatever of grumblIng at their lot,
and thank their lucky stars that it has
been ordained that they work on top
of the earth.
The work of a diver, his sensations
/ while Under the water and his expert
enceS have often been written about.
but those of the air lock and caisson
worker have not While he does not
race 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 sur
face of the earth bears UP an atmos-
| pherlc pressure of Is pounds to the
men, men in the locks bear pressure
OF from 15 to so pounds of compressed
air. according to the depth. The
+ heaviest pressure ever worked under
was borne by five divers on the Swed-
lsh coast-65 pounds. -Four of these
died few minutes after coming out.
While. as a general thing, the diver
stands not nearly the amount of pres
sure, and seldom stays down more
than two hours, the men in the Hud-
son river tunnel stood pressure of
10 pounds and worked in four-hour
shifts. Some men stayed down 90
hours at stretch, but did not work
ail.the time, and superintendent Has
kins stayed down once "a hours.
| The sensations experienced are pc
euliar When a man first steps in
there is tingling in the ears and 4
pain in the head, and when he talks it
is apparently through the nose This
is 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 all
on the worker feels alright and ex-
periences no discomfort Then there
Is Il sort of exhiilaration, 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
caused by the change in the atmos-
phere Besides this a man may b.
attacked in the head and stomach with
severe pains. Three out of five cases
where the head and stomach are at
tackled 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. IT is
extremely painful and SO severe that
quart of whiskey administered in
half an hour would not intoxicate tha
patient. The stagnation and the
paralysis are the worst dangers. and
do The work quickly. Many men have
been keeled over by these causes. and
not few die. Oldtimers at the busi-
ness sometimes get caught. The
remedy for this paralysis is a quick
return To the air lock.
The effect of the pressure varies on
animals, as is shown by the mules
used in the Hudson river tunnel. Some
OF these beasts were kept at work
down below for year and on heine
brought up We're worth more than
when they We're taken down. Others
that had only been in the works four
months had to be killed.
The men as a general thing do NOT
remain great many years at the
business, and a man should never
work at it after he is forty wears OF
age.
cutting hole and building a tunnel
through water is an extremely diff
cult thing and by many was thought
TO De impossible. Still 1t was done in
the case of the Hudson river tunnel
ana the method is very interesting.
The work on the tunnel had pro-
crossed until body of water was
struck. How to tunnel through this
hole OF water was a puzzling ques-
tion 1t was done in this way: A So
called balloon was constructed by
making a 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
MED, the balloon, 80 feet in diameter.
weighed 140 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
onto the balloon and the whole thfne
left to settle.
AT the end of 10 days the work Of
cutting through the balloon was he.
gun. This was a very difficult job.
An idea of what hard cutting it was
may be gained from the fact that IL
took two months to cut thorough the
80 leeL-St, Louis Globe- Democrat