Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1924-02-19
CARBON M0N0XIDE
DANGERS POINTED
OUT TO AUTOISTS

-Four rules for protection against
deadly effects of poisonous gas. car
bon monoxide, always present in ex-
haust from gas-driven engines, is
sued by L. S. Bureau of Mines:
Never run, automobile engine in
closed garage; open doors wide.
Never crawl under car with engine
running, even il car is in open air.
Never sit in closed car with engine
running, even if in ventilated
garage.
Never sit in closed car with engine
running and all windows shut.
even if car is in open air; always
have window open.
Pittsburg. Feb. 1S-By \. P)--So
many deaths from carbon monoxide.
gas present in the exhaust from
automobiles. have occurred through
out the country during the past few
months that the Pittsburg station.
United States Bureau of Mines. has
been prompted to call the attention
OF the public to its danger.
Seldom a day passes at this season
but the death of one or more per-
sons is recorded. Fatalities are par
| ticularly noticeable in the natural
gas belt of Pennsylvania. Ohio and
| West Virginia, while deaths from the
exhaust gas of automobiles are in
creasing. Carbon monoXide is given
! off in quantities by burning natural
gas. while it is practically always
present in exceedingly dangerous
quantities in the exhaust from saso-
| line engines.
Thousands of houses in the natural
gas belt have no flues for carrying off
| waste ga.es, which, in such cases,
| pass off into the room where the fire
| is burning. IL all windows and doors
are closed. as they may be in cold
weather when gas is being consumed.
the effect sooner or later becomes APP
parent on the occupants. They be-
! come dull and sleepy. and, il not
aroused, may pass into unconscious
ness and eventually die.
The bureau recommends that when
4 gas heater without a fiue is used
a window or door be partly open at
all times; half an inch or so will
answer. The bureau has found that
the air in room should be changed
every hour; that is. the foul air
should be completely displaced by
fresh air during that period But il
there is continuous fresh inflow.
! this will counteract the poisonous
!
to the source of the waste gas as to
breathe it before it Is sufficiently
! diluted with fresh air. The bureau
! sounds a warning never to go to bed
with heater burning and the win
| dows and doors closed: TO do SO
would be flirting with DEATH
| The danger from waste automobile
gases is no less real. If the engine
has to be kept running In the garage.
the garage must be ventilated. Driv-
ers are warned never TO crawl under
a car when the engine is running. no
| matter how good the ventilation.
And sitting in an automobile, in
garage. with the engine in motion. is
distinctly a dangerous thing to do.
Another hazard of exhaust gas is
| that of sitting in aftightly closed au-
tomobile on a highway, or elsewhere.
with the engine going. The car may
! be fitted with leally heater, through
which the exhaust gets into and con-
centrates in the car, or the exhaust
! from the muller. in some manner,
gets in and accumulates in its con-
| finement.
IF people must sit in an automo-
| bile" says the bureau. they must
ave some fresh air entering the ton
neau. Otherwise they are paying
with death"