May 5, 1916.

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

849

Reducing Quantity of Water Used.

If it is important to be frugal with the use of water,
the following suggestions are offered :—(1) Use a high-
temperature heater for furnishing hot water; (2) instal
an effective mixer with a marked dial; (3) use small
spray heads with fine holes; (4) instal separate cut-off
valves at each booth, so that the water may be shut off
as soon as a leaky valve is discovered; (5) meter the
supply and have the meter read regularly; (6) furnish
convenient facilities for washing hands and face; (7)
place an alert and capable attendant in charge.

With such precautions, the amount of water used per
bath should be reduced to about 30 to 40 gals, per man.

The quantity of water wasted by a man remaining
under the shower unnecessarily long is not large. The
number of shower booths is generally such that the men
have to wait to get under the spray. They consequently
hurry one another, and so prevent the wasting of time
under the shower. Besides, they are generally in a
hurry to get home, and they do not delay any longer
than necessary. The time spent under the shower
varies from about five to 10 minutes.

Washing Hands and Face.

There should be ample facilities for washing hands
and face in the wash room. The miner’s hands and face
are usually very dirty after a day’s work, and it is
inconvenient to wash these under a shower. If they
could be washed under a spigot before he takes a shower
he could save much time. These spigots are economical
for the company, as they reduce the quantity of water
used, and by lessening the time under the shower, will
decrease the number of showers required.

Some companies have installed expensive enamel or
porcelain stationary wash bowls. It is difficult to keep
these clean. One man may have to wash in a bowl
dirtied by another. Other companies have furnished
individual portable wash basins to the men (fig. 5).
Although these do away with the objection of the
common wash bowl, they are inconvenient to use.

■Just as the shower bath is superior to the bath tub, so-
flowing water for washing the hands and face is superior
to stationary wash bowls. An economical and hygienic
arrangement's to run the two supply pipes, one carrying
hot water and the other cold, about 4 ft. above the

faces may be protected by covering them with vaseline.
Five pounds of sulphur should be burned for every 1,000
cu. ft. of space to be fumigated. The sulphur should
be spread out ‘in a shallow pan and liberally sprinkled
with alcohol before it is ignited. Doors and windows
should be closed for 12 hours if possible.

Water Closets and Urinals.

Water closets and urinals made of nou-absorbent and
non-corrosive material should be provided in the wash
house. Individual hoppers should be installed, and not
the range closets. The hopper selected should have its
rear part vertical so that matters will drop immediately
into the water without touching the sides of the hopper.
Some hoppers on the market are not so constructed, and
they should be avoided. Sanitary seats open at the
front should be selected. Toilet paper should be
furnished. An automatic arrangement whereby the
hopper is flushed immediately after use is better than a
chain flush or an automatic timed flush. If a trough
urinal is installed, partitions about 34 in. apart should
be erected. In selecting these toilet fixtures it would
pay in the end to buy good material; their very expen-
siveness will in a large measure command careful use;
cheapness is poor economy; it is easy for improvised
fixtures to become fouled and obnoxious.

A slop sink should be provided for the attendants’ use
and hose connections for flushing out the change house
as well as the wash house should not be overlooked when
the pipe fitting is being done.

Sanitary drinking fountains of the bubbling type
should be installed.

Plumbing.

The amount of plumbing, especially concealed plumb-
ing, should be reduced to a minimum. Where a concrete
floor is installed this can be easily accomplished. The
waste water from all the shower baths should drain in
an open gutter to a sump. Likewise the waste water
from the washing trough and laundry tubs and slop sink
should drain to this same sump with the smallest amount
of piping possible. The entire floor should drain towards
the sump. The sump should be screened, pJ®ferably
with stout copper wire, and should be connected to a
sew&r with trap connection. (See fig. 2.)

driven washing and ironing machines, and a drying
cabinet. This laundry is operated with less expense
than if the towels were sent to an outside laundry.

Attendant for Wash and Change House.

The wash and change house requires an attendant
present at all times. Moreover, the wash and change
house caretaker should not be a “ pensioner ”; an active
and energetic man can earn his wages over and over.
The entire building should be scrubbed out regularly
once a day. Galvanised iron cans should be at hand to
receive old paper, discarded boots, and old clothes. This
material should be burned by the attendant every day.
Sanitary cuspidors should be on hand. Thermometers
should be furnished, and the correct temperature of the
buildings should be maintained by means of radiators,
windows, and ventilators. The windows should be
washed regularly, and the electric light bulbs cleaned
and replaced. The plumbing fixtures should be polished
and all the valves kept in repair. The walls of the
building should be re-painted or re-whitewashed from
time to time, and the shower booths, especially if made
of metal, touched up frequently to prevent corrosion.
Towels may perhaps be rented to the men. Discipline
must be maintained. About once a month the build-
ing should be thoroughly disinfected by a gas fumigant.
These duties will keep a man actively engaged, and they
are necessary, as perhaps no building can become so
objectionable and offensive as a neglected wash and
change house at a mine.

QUALIFICATIONS OF CANDIDATES FOR
CERTIFICATES OF COMPETENCY.

The Board for Mining Examinations have reason to
believe that the meaning of rule 3 (a) of the rules made
on J uly 30, 1912—so far as it relates to mining appren-
tices—is sometimes misunderstood, and they think the
following explanation may be found useful. The rule
requires that the greater portion of the practical experi-
ence (by which is meant more than 24 years in the case
of those required to show five years’ practical experience,
and more than 1| years in the case of those required to
show three years’ practical experience), must have been

Fig. 4.—Clothes Racks, Ventilating Hoods, and Lockers.

Fig. 5.—Wash Basins and Shower Baths.

&

floor level, one just above the other, the pipes being
tapped about every 2 ft. with small Jin. pipes. Each
of the Jin. pipes should have a valve, and each pair of
these pipes should join in a common mixing pipe under
which the hands and face may be washed. About 12 in.
below the outlet of the mixing pipe should be a trough
to carry the waste water, and to serve only as a drain
(fig. 3). In the absence of the washing receptacle, as
the bowl, it is decidedly necessary to have the hot and
cold water meet in a mixing pipe. With separate outlets
the hot water would scald one if it were used by itself.
Neglect to join hot and cold water in a common mixing
pipe is a common defect noticed in some otherwise
excellent lavatories. There should be about one washing
place for every ten lockers, if one locker is provided for
each man.

The water pressure in the pipes should be reduced.
There is no necessity of having the water issue forth with
great force; a mere trickle is effective. This saves the
water and makes less severe the wear and tear on the
valves.

Laundry Tubs.

Although it may not be advisable to instal a public
laundry, a few washing tubs should bo available so that
the men can wash their underclothes and towels from
time to time. One complaint made is that since the
wash and change houses have been used the underclothes
are not taken home and washed as formerly. Another
criticism made is that some of the miners use the wash
bowls for wash tubs. These criticisms are possibly valid
to some small extent, and the installation of a few
laundry tubs will correct both of them. There should
be a regulation insisting that once a month the miners
remove their clothes from the change house so that it
can be thoroughly fumigated.

Burning powdered sulphur is one of the most simple
methods of fumigating. Sulphur in the presence of
moisture kills disease germs, roaches, fleas, flies, and
rats. Sulphur fumes are apt to bleach any clothes that
are left, and it may attack exposed metals. Metal sur-

Spacious Wash Room Advisable.

There should be sufficient floor space in the wash room
to permit the men to stand about and dry themselves
after the bath before returning into the change room.
These two rooms may be of different temperature, and
men should be advised to dry the body before going from
one to the other.

Charge for Use of Wash and Change House.

At most mines a charge is levied for the use of the
wash and change house; at some the house is furnished
without cost to the users. Two different views may be
held regarding this practice. The central wash and
change house may be considered an additional conveni-
ence that should be paid for by the persons benefited,
just as the tenant with a bath room in his house must
pay more -rent than the tenant without the bath room.
In other words, the wash and change house may be con-
sidered a detached part of the miners’ house and paid
for as rent.

On the other hand, the miners’ wash and change
house may be considered as part of the plant equip-
ment, and its expense charged against the cost of mining
coal or ore. In a number of wash and change houses,
especially those that have been introduced voluntarily
by the mining companies, this latter view is held.

Perhaps a compromise position might be taken in
regard to this question of fee with equity to all. Often-
times the management of the wash and change house
can be conducted much more successfully if a small
disciplinary charge is made. This charge should merely
help keep up the care and maintenance, and should not
be such that profit can be made out of the wash and
change house.

In one of the most modern American wash and change
houses the company furnishes soap and towels free of
charge to the men. Coarse linen towels, 36 by 17 in.,
hemmed and embroidered with the company’s initials,
are used. The total cost of each towel is 15|c. This
installation accommodates about 500 men, and the com-
pany has installed a small laundry, equipped with motor-

gained either in actual practical work underground (as
defined in the rules), or in direct supervision of such
work. Supervision implies a certain degree of respon-
sible control, and an apprentice who merely reports on
the progress of work to the manager would not be con-
sidered to have fulfilled this requirement.

It should also be noted that the work of mine survey-
ing is not allowed under the rule to count in reckoning
the “ greater portion ” of the practical experience, but
the work of underground surveying will be accepted by
the Board as practical experience for the purposes of
the remainder of the five or three years, as the case
may be.

Hull Coal Exports.—The official return of the exports of
coal from Hull to foreign countries for the week ended
Tuesday, April 25, is as follows:—Amsterdam, 389 tons;
Dunkirk, 1,094; Genoa, 3,049; Harlingen, 249; Rouen,
5,251; Rotterdam, 837 ; St. Nazaire, 1,578 ; total, 12,447 tons.
Corresponding period April 1915, total 60,800 tons. These
figures do not include bunker coal, shipments for the British
Admiralty, nor the Allies’ Governments.

Foreign Trade Enquiries.—An agent in Venice wishes to
obtain agency for special cylinder iron, etc. Name and
address obtainable at the Commercial Intelligence Branch
of the Board of Trade, 73, Basinghall-street, London, on
quoting reference number 148.—A merchant in Spezzia
wishes to buy emery wheels and grindstones from United
Kingdom manufacturers. Address Secretary, British
Chamber of Commerce for Italy, 7, Via Carlo Felice, Genoa
(quoting reference number 1061).

Staffordshire Iron and Steel Institute.—At the annual
meeting of the institute at Dudley on Saturday, Mr. J. E.
Fletcher, M.I.Mech.E. (Messrs. Hingleys Limited), was
re-elected president. The report stated that the total
membership showed a slight decrease, principally due to the
remarkable number of deaths during the year. The members
learned with regret the decision of Mr. W. H. Carder to
resign the secretaryship, which he had held for over 25
years. A special vote of thanks was accorded him, and he
was also elected a trustee and member of the council.