WONTHAGGI

Greymouth Evening Star, 27 February 1937, Page 4

WONTHAGGI

THE “PROTO” MEN. The disaster at the State mine at Wonthaggi (Victoria) has once again thrown into prominence the courage and fortitude of the Australian miner (writes John Baillie, in the Sydney Morning Herald”). '' Risk has always attended coalmining operations, and everyone who works underground knows the potential hazards. Humans have never flinched in an emergency to throw themselves into danger when the welfare and existence of their fellow-men are at stake. In the forefront of rescue endeavours in Australian coalmining disasters are the shock troops of the industry, i.e., the “Proto” men, belonging to various mines rescue stations dotted throughout the mining fields. In New South Wales there are four stations —one at Abermain, and another at Cockle Creek, to serve the northern field, one at Bellambi (southern), and another' at Lithgow (western). Wonthaggi has its station as well, and it was with heroic courage, seasoned with experience, that the “Broto” men there exposed themselves to danger to locate and bring out the bodies of their comrades. And, strangely enough, their companions on this hazarodus journey were canaries. The birds are regarded as the most suitable subjects for sensing the presence of gas, it having been demonstrated that they, like any warm-blooded, animal, can detect its deadly approach from 15 to 20 times Quicker than a human, and can thus give timely warning. They are carried underground in bird air-testers, small glass-sided cages, the doors of which are left open. When a bird becomes affected its guardian either retreats or, if the need is pressing, dons his apparatus. The closing of the door and the turning on of a valve in the roof of the cage, furnishing a jet of oxygen, bring it “round” in a few seconds. Mice can 'be used for the same purpose, but for obvious reasons canaries, which are kept in cages at the station and are much more domesticated, are chosen.

. AFTERDAMP. The afterdamp (deadly gases generated by an explosion underground) is the principal property, apart from fire, that a miner fears. One of these gases is carbon monoxide, the most poisonous known. But the “Proto’ apparatus enables a man to work in their presence for two hours before retiring to the fresh air. Bulky looking though it is, it does not exceed 401 b in weight, and is “harnessed” to the body in much the same way as a an infantryman’s web equipment. Am oxygen cylinder is fitted at the back, and when it is in use and his mask is donned the wearer opens a reducing valve, by means of which two litres of oxygen gas are injected each minute into his breathing bag; the valve thus regulates the high-power oxygen to what is required' for breathing purposes. A pressure gauge is on the inner side of the valve, and this records the amount of oxygen remaining in the cylinder. Should the reducing valve become damaged—this is always a possibility—a by-pass on the valve is used to ensure an additional supply of oxygen, though it is called into requisition only in the case of emergency.

The “Proto’’ man resembles a largeeyed ogre, his skull-cap and face-mask adding to ihe fearsomeness of his appearance. Stout kneepads add to the grotesqueness of his apparel. The mask recalls Captain Bruce Bairnsfather’s wartime joke, in which Old Bill asks Alf what he thinks of his two photographs, and the juvenile Alf remarks simply, "Tell you the truth, Bill, I likes you in the gas-mask one best!” One wag has suggested that the “Proto” apparatus is the invention of a Scotsman, for not even the wearer’s breath is wasted! After it is exhaled 1 it passes through a cooling chamber filled with sulphate of salts. The air, its temperature reduced, goes through the breathing bag (containing 41b of caustic soda), whose function it is to absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) from the breath; then the remainder reunites with the incoming supply of oxygen and, clarified, is breathed again. After two hours’ constant use, during which laborious work can be done, the supply of oxygen in the cylinder gives out, or the soda becomes exhausted.

“BE PREPARED.” “Proto” men are rarely called out; but their function is such that “Be prepared!” might well be adopted as their motto. At the Western Mines Rescue Station, situated in Hassan’s Walls Road', Lithgow, there is an air of complete preparedness and. efficiency. In the garage is a highpowered motor rescue wagon, equipped and ready for the road should a call come. Stretchers, resuscitation, and "Proto” apparatus, lamps of various kinds—oil safety, Derby electric, and Edison electric capportable telephones, reel and cable, oxygen cylinders, canaries and cages are on hoard awaiting the sounding of the siren, which,. should a call be made at night, rouses the men from thbir homes nearby. To help- restore animation an apparatus known as a carbonogen set Is employed. Fitted in a self-con-tained box, it holds in a cylinder a mixture of gas comprising 95 per cent, oxygen (a sure panacea for gaspoisoning ills) and 5 per cent, of carbon dioxide, and from this is filled a rubber bag through a valve. A tube fitted to a face pad and mask is placed on tho patient, enabling him to breathe the mixture which helps clear the blood of carbon monoxide. Meanwhile, Schaeffer’s method, a timehonoured physical means of resuscitation, is used 1 . A cadre, comprising a superintendent (Mr W. L. Evans), an instructor, and six men, forms the permanent staff, but gradually there is being mint up throughout the western field—as, indeed, in other coal areas—a nucleus of fully-trained rescuers. They come from the various collieries for instruction, and after being classed as qualified, return to their mines to be at close call should a disaster take place. A class consists of from live to eight men, and they arc trained by a specially constructed "gallery” at the station wherein the conditions resemble as near as possible those to be found amid the hurly-burly of an explosion in a gaseous mine. They load skips with debris, wheel them out of the way, timber imaginary weak spots in the roof, and shovel away falls of coal —all this in a smoke-laden and sup-| posedly poisonous atmosphere. It is j impossible to speak with the ap- 1

paratus on. consequently, a system of “hooter” signals is employed; one "hoot” denotes distress: two. halt; three, retire; four, advance; live, give attention. Other duties undertaken by the trainees include the construction of brick stoppings and other measures to head off gas and flames.