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The Philadelphia Mint could be a hazardous place to work.
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15 posts in this topic

This brief letter describes an accident involving refining acid. The unfortunate employee likely spent a painful week recuperating.

 

September 27, 1887

 

My Dear Mr. Fox:

            Mr. George Askin one of the employees of the Mint, in the Coining Room, I believe, while in the act of assisting in closing some of the shutters yesterday afternoon, was accidentally forced to step into one of the acid baths and in consequence has had the skin almost completely exfoliated from the calf of the right leg while partially from the left.

            I hardly think he will be able to work any this week.

            If however he is able to do, I will recommended it.

            He did not request me to write you; I volunteered to do this for him.

            Hoping that you and your family are well, I am as ever,

            Your s very respectfully,

            Joseph C. Eglert

 

 

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I would not even know what the available remedy was for such a serious injury way back then. Matter of fact, I wouldn't know how to treat a massive wound caused by acid today.

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1 hour ago, Quintus Arrius said:

I would not even know what the available remedy was for such a serious injury way back then. Matter of fact, I wouldn't know how to treat a massive wound caused by acid today.

The "shutters" were inside the refining room and enclosed the pots of hot sulfuric acid. I presume that first aid would be sodium bicarbonate in water to dilute and neutralize the acid.

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3 hours ago, bsshog40 said:

I guess they use to keep those baths next to the windows in case anyone decided to break in. Lol 

The ceramic refining pots were not near a window. They were toward the center of the refining room and sat in a water bath that was heated almost to boiling by steam pipes. Hot sulfuric acid replaced nitric acid in this system. It was cheaper and less corrosive. Over top of the pots was a shed-like structure called "the house" that had side vents and access openings, plus an exhaust flue at the top. (See From Mine to Mint for illustrations.)

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39 minutes ago, RWB said:

The ceramic refining pots were not near a window. They were toward the center of the refining room and sat in a water bath that was heated almost to boiling by steam pipes. Hot sulfuric acid replaced nitric acid in this system. It was cheaper and less corrosive. Over top of the pots was a shed-like structure called "the house" that had side vents and access openings, plus an exhaust flue at the top. (See From Mine to Mint for illustrations.)

Some I'm presuming he wasn't closing window shutters? 

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Correct. These were the "house" shutters around the refining pots. Refining was one of the most dangerous jobs at the mint - fumes, heavy ceramic pots filled with hot acid, multiple operations going on simultaneously, limited protective clothing (leather aprons), no optimized chemical processes, pauses for intermediate assays, etc.

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Wonder how many employees died of lung cancer and other such illnesses in those days due to exposure of harsh chemicals used? That was something I was thinking about as I read FMTM. 

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44 minutes ago, Hoghead515 said:

Wonder how many employees died of lung cancer and other such illnesses in those days due to exposure of harsh chemicals used? That was something I was thinking about as I read FMTM. 

Probably quite a few, those factories didn't seam to worry too much about the health and safety of the employees, getting the job done was #1. Those old factories/sites are still getting people today.

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3 minutes ago, Fenntucky Mike said:

Probably quite a few, those factories didn't seam to worry too much about the health and safety of the employees, getting the job done was #1. Those old factories/sites are still getting people today.

We just didn't know about the dangers and fumes back then.  My uncle was a lithographer/printer and he ingested deadly/unhealthy fumes for decades from the 1960's through the 1990's.  Didn't kill him per se but combined with smoking-related problems it exaccerbated his problems. :frown:

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2 hours ago, Hoghead515 said:

Wonder how many employees died of lung cancer and other such illnesses in those days due to exposure of harsh chemicals used? That was something I was thinking about as I read FMTM. 

M&R Department employees regularly worked with silver and gold amalgam. They simply heated the material until the mercury vaporized. A vent pipe collected and condensed some of the mercury, but much went into the air. I don't know how long each man worked in that department, or how many went insane from inhaling metal fumes. It was a hot, nasty, dirty, dangerous place to work....as was much of a mint.

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6 minutes ago, RWB said:

M&R Department employees regularly worked with silver and gold amalgam. They simply heated the material until the mercury vaporized. A vent pipe collected and condensed some of the mercury, but much went into the air. I don't know how long each man worked in that department, or how many went insane from inhaling metal fumes. It was a hot, nasty, dirty, dangerous place to work....as was much of a mint.

Still probably no more dangerous to one's health than most of the jobs of the day unless you owned your own shop, were a lawyer or doctor, etc.

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