CONTENTS Introduction..- Acknowledgments... Methods of protection against mine gases. Erection of barricades during fires or following explosions. Life-sustaining capacity of barricaded chambers_ Barricades in coal mines__ Barricades constructed of brattice cloth Barricades constructed of boards--- Barricades constructed of rock, coal, etc... Barricades in metal mines_ Refuge chambers in mines__ Carbon monoxide type D self-rescue respirator___ Design, construction, and materials of type D self-rescue respirator_. Tests of type D gas mask_. Wearing tests_. Precautions in using type D gas mask_. Laboratory tests.. Methods of carrying and storing self-rescue respirator Who should wear self-rescue respirators.--. Instances where self-rescue respirators have saved lives. Gas masks for protection in air against all gases, smokes, and vapors.. Use and limitations of type N gas masks.. Precautions when using type N mask_ Description of type N mask__ Face piece.- Canister. Timer... Harness.. Weight Procedure for testing, adjusting, and wearing type N mask.. Laboratory tests of type N masks.......... Life of canisters for successive different gases High resistance or high temperature in canisters... Instances of the use of gas masks.......... Self-contained oxygen breathing apparatus_ - - History of use of breathing apparatus in Europe_ History of breathing apparatus in America_ Development of self-contained oxygen breathing apparatus__ Compressed oxygen.. Liquid oxygen... Internal regeneration _ _ _ Cardoxide versus caustic soda or potash.. Approved types of breathing apparatus. Page 1 1 2 3 5 6 7 7 8 8 8 9 10 11 14 14 14 15 16 17 17 18 19 19 21 21 22 24 24 25 25 25 26 27 27 28 29 29 30 31 31 33 40 42 42 How to give artificial respiration by the prone-pressure method.... How to give artificial respiration by the Sylvester method... 1. Miners at work wearing self-rescue respirators on their belts............. 2. Details of the permissible carbon monoxide type D self-rescue respi- 3. Miner wearing type N gas mask and testing with flame safety lamp for explosive gas and oxygen deficiency... 4. Details of canister of type N gas mask. 5. Gibbs apparatus, showing front view. 6. Gibbs apparatus, showing back view.... 7. Circulatory system and valve details of Gibbs apparatus. 8. Paul apparatus, showing front view... 9. Paul apparatus, showing back view with protective cover removed... 10. Circulatory system and valve details of Paul apparatus.___ 13. McCaa apparatus, showing front view. 14. McCaa apparatus, showing back view. 17. Circulatory system and valve details of Fleuss-Davis apparatus. 18. First position for giving artificial respiration by the prone-pressure 51 PART III.-PROTECTION AGAINST GASES ENCOUNTERED IN MINES1 By J. J. FORBES and G. W. GROVE INTRODUCTION During the past 18 years the Bureau of Mines has given training in the care and use of oxygen breathing apparatus under conditions that exist during mine fires and explosions. This training does not include instruction in recovery operations after mine disasters, and to supply this essential instruction the bureau initiated a course in advanced training in mine rescue and recovery operations. The course of instruction has gradually developed since its inception. It is the purpose of this publication to present the third of a series of four miners' circulars to be used in a course of training which will prepare mine officials to organize men for mine rescue and recovery operations. This paper discusses the erection of barricades. during mine fires or following mine explosions, the construction of refuge chambers, the carbon monoxide self-rescuer, gas masks, oxygen breathing apparatus, and resuscitation. Its object is to acquaint men thoroughly with the various methods and devices used for protection against mine gases. Miners' Circular 33 of this series deals with mine gases and the various methods of detecting them; Miners' Circular 34 gives instructions in the collection of air samples and the use of the Bureau of Mines portable Orsat apparatus for analyzing air samples; this circular describes the methods and equipment used in the protection against mine gases; and Miners' Circular 36 explains the procedure in sealing and unsealing mine fires and in recovery operations. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Acknowledgment for assistance in the preparation of this circular is made to Dr. R. R. Sayers, D. Harrington, G. S. McCaa, C. W. Owings, G. S. Rice, and M. W. von Bernewitz, all of the bureau. METHODS OF PROTECTION AGAINST MINE GASES Under normal operating conditions the best method of protection. against mine gases is adequate ventilation to dilute them below a 1 Work on this manuscript completed July, 1928. dangerous proportion and remove them. This is especially true of methane, the gas most frequently found in dangerous percentages. However, to guard against unforeseen accumulations of fire damp (an explosive methane-air mixture), it is recommended that adequate ventilation, properly distributed, be provided and only permissible explosives electrically fired, permissible electrical equipment, permissible cap lamps, flame safety lamps, and flash lights be used in coal mines. By "permissible" is meant material and equipment which has been approved by the United States Bureau of Mines for use in gassy mines.2 Under abnormal conditions, as during mine fires and following explosions, gases (especially carbon monoxide) and atmospheres of depleted oxygen may be encountered. To fight mine fires or to seal or unseal them and to carry on recovery work speedily and safely following mine explosions, also to provide means of protection to men trapped in a mine during a fire or after an explosion, it is essential that means of protection be provided. There are four generally accepted methods of protection against carbon monoxide and other poisonous mine gases, not all of which are usable in atmospheres depleted in oxygen. These methods and devices are not all adapted for use under all circumstances, each one more or less having a field of its own. The methods and devices are as follows: 1. Erection of barricades during mine fires or after explosions. 2. The carbon monoxide self-rescue respirator. 3. Gas masks for protection in air against all gases, vapors, and smokes. 4. Self-contained oxygen breathing apparatus. The first two of these methods are for the protection of men who may be trapped in a mine during a fire or after an explosion. The self-rescue respirator, however, may also under some conditions be used for rescue work. The gas masks and breathing apparatus are used extensively for fighting, sealing, or unsealing mine fires and for recovery work following explosions. ERECTION OF BARRICADES DURING FIRES OR FOLLOWING EXPLOSIONS 3 After mine explosions or during mine fires deadly gases are generally found throughout the workings and imperil the men who survive the violence or heat. Five hundred and fifty-five men in America alone have saved their lives by building barricades or bulkheads to protect themselves from the deadly gases, and many men 2 List of Permissible Equipment: Information Circ. 6058, Bureau of Mines, January, 1928, 10 pp. 3 Paul, J. W., Pickard, B. O., and von Bernewitz, M. W., Erection of Barricades During Mine Fires or After Explosions: Miners' Circ. 25, Bureau of Mines, 1923, 28 pp. |