The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1913-04-10
CAISS0N WORKERS
Perils and Difficulties That En-
compass Their Labors.
THE FEARFUL AIR PRESSURE.

It Causes ExhiIaration After the First
Painful Sensations Pass Away-The
Great Danger Lies In Coming Out Of
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, a 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 in divers suit, a 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 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 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-
pheric pressure of fifteen pounds to the
inch, men in the locks bear pressure
of from fifteen to fifty pounds Of COM
pressed air. according to the depth.
The heaviest pressure ever worked un-
Swedish coast-sixty-fve pounds. Four
of these died few minutes after COM
ing out.
While, as a general thing, the diver
stands not nearly the amount of pres
sure and seldom stays down more than
river tunnel stood a pressure of forty
six pounds and worked in four hour
shifts. Some men stayed down twenty
hours at stretch, but did not work all
the time, and Superintendent Haskins
stayed down once twenty-four hours.
The sensations experienced are Pc
culiar. When man first steps in
there are a tingling in the ears and a
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 re-
lieves the pain and stops the sensation.
When the pressure is all on the worker
feels all right and experiences no dis
comfort Then there is a sort of ex-
hilaration. and 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. It is then
that man is apt to suffer from stag
nation of the blood and paralysis caus-
ed by the change in the atmosphere.
Besides this, a man may be attacked
in the head or stomach with severe
pains. Three out of five 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 It is
extremely painful and so severe that
quart of whisky administered in half
an hour would not intoxicate the pa
tient. The stagnation and paralysis
quickly. Many men have been keeled
over by these causes. and not a few
die Old timers at the business some
times get caught. The remedy for
this paralysis is quick return to the
air lock.
The men as a general thing do not
remain great many years at the busi
ness. and Il man should never work at
it after he is forty years of age.
Cutting a hole and building Il tunnel
through water is an extremely difficult
thing and by many was thought to BE-
impossible. Still it was done in the
case Of the Hudson river tunnel, and
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 puZZling question.
1t was done in this way: \ SO 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 filled the
balloon. thirty feet in diameter. weigh.
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 a very difficult job. An
idea of what hard cutting it was may
be gained from the fact that it took
two months to dig through the thirty