Sitting an hour in still, saturated air at 100° F. (Table III A) caused symptoms similar to those found at lower temperatures, but they appeared earlier. Each subject quickly had definite increase of body temperature and pulse rate, subjects Nos. 2 and 5 having & maximum body temperature of 102.3°, subject No. 1 of 103.3°, and subject No. 4 of 103.8°. Subject No. 2 had a maximum pulse rate of 152, subject No. 5 of 168, and subject No. 4 of more than 175. All perspired very profusely (even the shoes being partly filled with perspiration) and were definitely weak and dizzy upon leaving the place of the test. The symptoms persisted for about an hour afterwards. This was a very trying test for all. Location. TABLE III A.-Effects of resting one hour in still air at 100° wet bulb, 100° dry bulb (100 per cent relative humidity). 68 201 99.8 128 84 99.6 90 118 78 99.5 130 106 9.30 100 100 26.58 100 10 100.3 100. 2 100.6 74 An 98.8 104 Nos. 2 and 5 sweating just a little; Nos. 1 and 4 sweating profusely. Had taken no exercise except walking about 50 feet on the level. Italian who had pushed a car a few hundred feet in this air for two months said he was about ready to quit; he was sweating profusely and looked thin; his skin felt hot. Another Italian was not even sweating; was apparently unaffected. All were sweating very profusely, but seemed to be feeling well as yet. Entered this place at 9.15. Skin of fingers shriveled at 9.40. No. 1 had chilly sensations on back at 9.40. 100.0 1 Absolutely still. EFFECT WITH AIR MOVEMENT. In the moving air at 913° and 98 per cent relative humidity (no tests being made on subject No. 5 at this temperature in still air). Figure 1 shows that the body temperature of subject No. 5 increased very little by sitting still for an hour, but that it was definitely increased in moving, saturated air 95°, more seriously affected by moving, saturated air 964°, and still more so by saturated air at 981° temperature. Subject No. 5 (as well as the other subjects) was unable to endure for the full hour the moving, saturated air at 100°, and the graph shows that this air, though endured less than the usual hour, ran his body temperature 3.1 degrees above that at the beginning of the test, or to above 102° F. As was the case in the still air, the effect of the moving air on the pulse of subject No. 5 was similar to the effect of the moving air on his temperature, except that in the 95° moving air his pulse did not rise as did his temperature, but fell slightly instead. This was probably due to the fact that his pulse was high at the beginning of this experiment on account of exertion in helping set the fan; otherwise it is probable that his pulse rate would have remained practically the same throughout this test. There was an increase, from the initial rate, of 12 beats in the 911° moving air, of 20 beats in the 963° moving air, of 38 beats in the 100° moving air (in 49 minutes, as he could not remain the full hour), and 40 beats in the 984° moving air. TABLE 1.-Effects of resting one hour in moving air at 914° wet bulb, 914° dry bulb (98 per cent relative humidity). All subjects felt well throughout the more than one hour spent in the moving, practically saturated air at 913° F. (Table I); there was no headache or dizziness and comparatively little perspiration. However, when the fan that produced the air movement was stopped, the place became oppressive immediately and perspiration quickly became profuse. The place in which this test was made was a stope just above a level 2,700 feet from the surface. The air was not quite saturated (911° wet bulb and 913° dry bulb), but it was absolutely stagnant and so oppressive that the workers were accustomed to go to the level below to cool after having worked in the stope for about 15 or 20 minutes, returning to work after a rest of 15 to 30 minutes. A small compressed-air-driven fan, consuming about 20 cubic feet of air per minute, was introduced by the investigators to give local movement to about 5,000 cubic feet of air per minute from the place, merely recirculating the air essentially as is done by the ordinary office fan, the velocity being over 3,000 linear feet per minute at the fan, diminishing to a few hundred feet per minute at a point 25 or 30 feet distant from the fan. While the noise made by the fan was somewhat annoying, the decided improvement made by moving the air was apparent immediately. So definite was this improvement after the placing of the fan that not only did the stope workers discontinue the practice of going down to the level to cool, remaining at work in the stope practically continuously, but other workers in the more or less immediate locality, who were accustomed to congregate in the level below to eat or to cool, soon began to come into the stope, as the conditions in the stope when the fan was in operation were more comfortable than those on the level. 513760-23-2 |