Mortality from respiratory diseases in dusty trades (inorganic dusts) / by Frederick L. Hoffman.

  • Hoffman, Frederick L. (Frederick Ludwig), 1865-1946.
Date:
[1918]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Mortality from respiratory diseases in dusty trades (inorganic dusts) / by Frederick L. Hoffman. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    would be promoted by the installation of bathrooms in the factories; and, in addition, good drinking water should be supplied.^ Most of the methods of dust prevention and other sanitary im¬ provements are practical, if not in their entirety at least in part, and scs'gestive of much more extensive consideration in this counirv C. d? 4/ than has, heretofore, been the case. MECHANICAL GLASS BLOWING AND PRESSING. Glass blowing and pressing by means of mechanical devices are of comparatively recent introduction. Entirely automatic boltle- blowing processes date from 1898, and the work in connection there¬ with practically dispenses with glass blowing in the generally ac> cep'ted sense of the term. Such processes, however, are quite fre¬ quently carried on in conjunction with typical methods of glass blowing and related operations, so that in a general way the occupa¬ tional hazards have remained much the same. There are no vital statistics of mechanical glass blowers and pressers, but it is quite probable that wdien carried on under proper sanitary supervision the use of machinery may prove distinctly advantageous to health and longevity. The blowing of window glass hj machinery is of much more recent introduction and the process thus far has not be¬ come extensively developed. (See Scientific American, July 19, 1913.) Glass-making machines are of three important types, as described in the Report of the Bureau of Labor on the Condition of Women and Child Wage Earners in the United States, with special reference to the glass industry (Washington, 1911). The first tjq^e is the press machine, the second the blow machine, and the third the automatic machine which improves upon the simple blowing ma¬ chine by using a self-feeding and self-pressing device. In all of these processes human labor is to a considerable extent dispensed with and no skilled glass workers are required, since machinists, in a restricted sense of the term, are sufficient for the purpose. One advantage of the automatic machine is that it tends greatly, accord¬ ing to the report referred to, to reduce the number of boys employed, and it tends further to raise the age of the boys that are employed, and older boys are usually preferred. No statistical information is available as regards the possibly beneficial results to health in consequence of the universal use of glass-making machines and the practical elimination of glass blowing by hand. It, however, would seem to be a safe inference that in the absence of thoroughly efficient methods of sanitary supervision and control, with special reference to the dust hazard, the spedfic 1 Report of U. S. Commissioner of Labor on Woman and Child Wage Earners in the Lnited States, Vol. Ill, Glass Industry, pp. 270, 271.