Report of the Departmental Committee on Humidity and Ventilation in Cotton Weaving Sheds : [with minutes of evidence and appendices].

  • Great Britain. Home Office. Committee on Humidity and Ventilation in Cotton Weaving Sheds.
Date:
1909
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Departmental Committee on Humidity and Ventilation in Cotton Weaving Sheds : [with minutes of evidence and appendices]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    open to question whether the source from which the carbon dioxide is derived justifies the wide difference between the limits allowed in weaving sheds and in mines. . Some answers to the questions raised on this point may be given from the evidence taken by the Committee :— Dr. J. 8. Haldane says (Appendix III.) :— ‘“As a member of the late Home Office Committee on Factory Ventilation, I concurred in “recommending that a maximum of 12 volumes of CO, per 10,000 should be taken as the legal ‘maximum in all factories; and, considering that the textile industry is not unhealthy, except in ‘“ dusty processes, and that there is no approach to over-crowding, we did not recommend any “stricter standard for this industry. This standard permits of the addition of a very appreciable “artificial moisture might be needed for weaving. I think, however, that light steaming with pure “steam, or hght humidification by evaporation of water, to the extent of, say, 65 per cent. humidity, ‘means, and that a wet bulb temperature of 75° were avoided at all times.” Dr. Leonard Hill states (Appendix VI.) :— ** excessive illumination and excitement, not to the increase of carbonic acid. I think it is very * doubtful if the unpleasant smelling exhalations of the bodies of men, whieh become evident in “ close atmospheres, have any ill effect on men accustomed to them and not of esthetic temperament; “fresh moving air on metabolism is undoubtedg! but in weaving sheds we are faced with the ‘* necessity of enduring a shut-up humid atmosphere, and it seems best to-obtain it by the method ‘‘ which is most comfortable to the operatives. If they prefer a lessened ventilation and no artificial ‘“ steaming of the air 1 would let them have it, so long as the wet bulb temperature was kept within ‘“‘ the limits defined by Dr. Haldane.” . Dr. M. 8. Pembrey says (Appendix XIV.):— ‘““ As regards the question of the standard for the amount of carbon dioxide in the air of the ‘‘ humid weaving sheds, I see no objection to raising it to 12 volumes per 10,000, provided that the “ temperature of the air by the wet bulb is lowered below 70° F. ‘* One cannot detect any bad effect from 60 volumes per 10,000 when the temperature of the ‘has been used as a test for defective ventilation, and in this way the mistake has arisen of con- '‘ sidering it the injurious factor. All recent investigations in this country, on the Continent and »‘“ in America show that temperature, moisture and wind are the most important factors in connection ‘ “with the injurious effects of badly ventilated rooms. The important thing is to keep the wet bulb “* temperature low, and to prevent the air from becoming stagnant and uniform in temperature.” p ) g Dr. A. E. Boycott states (Appendix XV.) :— ‘“ The question of raising the permissible limit of CO, from 0:09 to 0:12 per cent. seems to me ‘‘ to depend almost entirely on considerations of what is practicable. It is desirable that the air ‘ini the weaving sheds should approximate as closely as possible to the composition of pure outside ‘‘ air in its contents of CO,, not because 0-1 per cent. or even 1 per cent. of CO, is in any way ‘“‘ hurtful, but because CO, gives the best available index of the extent to which air is vitiated by ‘the products of manufacturing processes, the combustion of gas, or by the micro-organisms and ‘unpleasant smelis arising from human beings. The free ventilation required to keep down the “OO, is of value not only by preventing the accumulation of these bodies, but also by producing “currents of air of varying temperatures. Apart from smell, the essential difference between a “*fresh’ and a ‘stuffy’ room is that in the former the air is not all at the same temperature, but “as broken up by draughts which impinge on the hands and face, lower the skin temperature, and ‘so produce a feeling of liveliness. The qualities of freshness and stuffiness in a buiiding, and in “* consequence the energy or slackness of the inhabitants, has nothing to do with the content cf the “ found to be a distinctly invigorating mixture,”’ In the consideration of this question, the feelings of the persons most concerned, namely, the workers, should carry weight, although this evidence has by certain scientists been considered as of little value. The statistics in Appendix X. show that in humid sheds from 1st January, 1906, to 30th April, 1907, the carbon dioxide was found to be in' excess of the legal standard of 9 volumes per 10,000 in about 38 per cent. of the samples taken. In single complaint has been made, whereas in the humid sheds with a legal standard complaints seem to be universal. a . | For instance, the Committee visited the Cardwell Mill, in Blackburn; in this mill the same class of goods is manufactured in two sheds under the same roof, with a partition between them; in one, artificial humidity is introduced, the other is a dry shed. The managing director placed before the Committee health statistics covering a period of eight months, showing clearly that, although the carbonic acid in the dry shed varied between 34 and 41 volumes in 10,000, yet nevertheless the workers in the dry shed were as healthy as those in the humid shed, and the latter vied with one another to get employment in the dry shed. (Appendix VII).