Technical Paper 1 1 F TH E I N TE R I O R B U R E A U O F M I N E S J P . H L M ES DI R E C T O R OSE H A O . THE USE OF MICE AND BIRDS FOR DETEC TI N G C A R B O N M O N O XI AFTER MINE FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS GEO R GE A . B U R R EL L J UN 2 O W AS H IN GT ON GOV E R NM ENT P R I NTING O F F IC E 1 91 4 C O N TEN TS . I n t ro ducti on O ccu r ren ce o f c a rbon mon o xide P r o perti es of c a rb o n m on oxide Phy si o l ogica l effect o f ca rbon mon o xide Ch emica l t est s for c a rb on mon oxide Th e u se o f m ice a n d bi r ds n m Experim e ts with ice" Experi men ts W ith bi rds Summ a ry R el a tiv e s u scepti bility of m en a n d bi rds n C o n clu s i o " Publica ti ons on mi n e a ccid en t s a n d test s explo s iv es hir d iti o u l 1 T d e n , J y, 1 9 4 . r F irs t ed ition i ssu ed i n A p il, 1 9 1 2 . THEUSEOF MI CEANDBI RDS F OR DETECTI NG CARB ON MONOXI DEAFTER MI NEFI RES ANDEXPLOSI ONS . B U R R EL L . By GEO R GE A . DU INTRO CT ION . In connection with its investigation of the causes of mine fires and explosions the B ureau of M ines is making a careful study o f the methods that can be used with greatest efficiency for exploring mines containing smoke or suffocating o r poisonous gases . o f b e The presence that poisonous gas , car on monoxid "white a fi i d mp ), in the a fterdamp of explosions and res in m nes has caused f t f the death o a great many miners . An inspec ion o f th e reports o those explosions and mine fi res in which men have been killed shows that this gas is often the cause o f the maj ority of the fatalities . “ Haldane makes the statement tha t carbon - monoxide poisoning is e responsible for nearly all the fatalities . After a recent disast r at a mine in P ennsylvania in which 2 1 men were killed the bodies o f 1 7 men showed n o such marks of violence as would be produced by the concussion o f an explosion . Tests of blood from some o f these bodies clearly showed the bright pink hue caused by carbon m o n o x N o t l i e o f ide . on y have men present in m nes at the tim disasters m e t o u n for succu b d to this gas , but rescuers endeavoring save their t an ate comrades have perished also . O f the gases produced in mines , carbon monoxide is the most feared ’ f and the most diflicu lt t o detect . A miner s lamp gi ves warning o almost every dangerous condition of the atmosphere in a mine P except the presence of this gas . ercentages o f methane below those that form explosive mixtures can be detected by the appearance o f “ " o f fi o f t he cap the lamp flame , and a de ciency oxygen is shown by t he smothering o f the flame in time for a retreat t o be made before . l o f o bodily harm can result A so , excessive proportions carb n dioxide cause panting . Carbon monoxide , however , may be present in deadly quantities in an a tmosphere without the sa fety lamp de ectin a t o a t g it , because proportion much below that required give cap on a lamp flame is extremely poisonous . F o st er C . L eN . a n d a a n e J . T he n es a t o n o f min ai r 1 9 P 4 e . 05 . 1 4 , , H ld , S i v tig i . 3 T T G R M N 4 DE EC IN CA BON O OXIDE . a f u Other g ses occasionally found in mines in harm l quantity , such a hv dr o en s g sulphide , and oxide of nitrogen fumes can be detected bv t m even in great dilution heir odor , so tha t fatalities fro the presence o f these gases i n mines are few . The author tested t he value o f a wick flame as a detector o f carbon w to monoxide in comparison ith its value as a detec r of methane . A W so t o f olfe sa fety lamp , constructed tha prepared mixtures air a n d a t . carbon monoxide could be fed into it the base , was used The minimum percentage o f carbon monoxide "about 2 per cent)required t o produce a visible cap was found to be almost identical with the r required preportion of methane . Two obse vers could detect no difference in the color o r the heigh t o f the caps produced by this f N l h 3 percent a ge o either gas . either cou d t ey when per cent of either ga s was used . a e f In mine some obs rvers , especially a ter becoming accustomed to “ " s a the darkne s " getting eyesight , as it is termed ), may detect he e a 2 o f cap when t air contains l ss th n per cent methane , and it is possible to detect less than 2 per cent o f methane by the use o f ’ u special testing lamps . But the point brought o t by the author s experiments is that low percentages o f either methane o r carbon o n monoxide scarcely give caps that distinguish e gas from the other. ’ e M oreover , it has b en the author s experience that when a given per a o f a t o f a a cent ge c rbon monoxide is presen in the air coal mine , e o f as larger perc ntage methane is usually present , so that this g would interfere with the detection of carbon monoxide by a lamp even if carbon monoxide enough to give by itself a chara cteristic cap o f were present . It is also true that in the afterdamp mines carbon monoxide in quantity sufficient to produ ce a cap usually a ccompanies fi o f o f a de ciency oxygen and an excess nitrogen , so that the lamp is t o f extinguished before it can show a cap . One resul this last fact , a o f a o however, is that the indic tions lamp may s metimes prevent a man from going into an atmosphere containing carbon monoxide enough to be rapidly po isonous . The gases that come o u t o f the crevices in the coal bed immediately after shots o f explosives may contain much carbon monoxide and e c rev hydrogen , b sides methane , and when a lamp is held cl ose to the ices the carbon monoxide and hydrogen may cause the cap o f the lamp flame to differ somewhat from the cap produced by methane alone . In exploring mines , however , the great danger to a rescue party is from small preportions of carbon monoxide" proportions so f small that they have no visible ef ect upon the flame . The author is aware that some mining men are o f the opinion th a t a percentage of carbon monoxide below that which is immediately o r dangerous perceptibly brightens lengthens the flame of a lamp , but he know s of n o characterist ic o f carbon m onoxide that would warrant such an opinion . A possible explanation o f the brightening E TE T G R D C IN CA BON MONOXIDE . 5 W . P au l i o n . f or le gthening , suggested by J min ng engineer this i n a i bureau , lies the fact that party exploring a m ne containing afterdamp sometim es enters a place in which the preportion o f oxygen the wa s in air is larger than it in the place previously explored , and as a consequence the wick flame burn s for a while with increased intensity . As the oxygen content of an atmosphere decreases , the il a 1 flame o f an o lamp burns more dimly until . t 7 o r per cent u . of oxygen , the flame is exting ished F A B X OCCU RRENCE O C R ON M ONO IDE . Carbon monoxide has not been positively identified in the samples . m of what may be ter ed normal mine air collected by this bureau , except in samples collected at the working faces where the air was r vitiated by powder smoke . S amples of mine air f om the ventilating n s current, from the mai returns , and from split have been examined , also samples from inclosed areas in which the air had been still "but although the apparatus used was accurate to per cent , the author can not state positively that carbon monoxide was present f t in any of the samples .