─────────┬──────┬──────┬──────────────────────────────┬─────────────── │ │ │ LEAD-POISONING │ CASES │ │ ├─────────────┬────────────────┤ CONTRACTED │ │ │NO. OF CASES │DAYS OF SICKNESS│AT REVER.│ AT ─────────┼──────┼──────┼─────┬───────┼───────┬────────┤ AND │H. H. SICKNESS METHOD OF│ YEAR │NO. OF│TOTAL│PER 100│ TOTAL │PER 100 │ SINT. │ FUR. WORKING │ │ MEN │ │PERSONS│ │PERSONS │ FUR. │ ─────────┼──────┼──────┼─────┼───────┼───────┼────────┼─────────┼───── │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ Old │{ 1902│ 93 │ 15 │ 16.1 │ 246 │ 264.5 │ 11 │ 4 │{ 1903│ 86 │ 12 │ 13.9 │ 222 │ 258.1 │ 7 │ 5 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ H.-H. │ 1904│ 87 │ 8 │ 9.2 │ 242 │ 278.2 │ 6 │ 2 ─────────┴──────┴──────┴─────┴───────┴───────┴────────┴─────────┴───── This shows a gratifying decrease in the number of cases, namely, from 16.1 to 9.2 per cent.; this decrease would have been still greater if Huntington-Heberlein furnaces had been in use exclusively. However, most of the time two or three sintering furnaces were fired for working up by-products, 16 to 18 men being engaged on that work. The Huntington-Heberlein furnaces alone (at which, in the year 1904, 69 men in all were occupied) show only 2.9 per cent. of cases. That the number of days of illness was not reduced is due to the fact that the cases among the gang of men working at the sintering furnaces were mostly of long standing and took some time to cure. The noxious effects upon the health of the workmen in running the shaft furnaces are due to the fumes from the products made in this operation, such as work-lead, matte and slag, which flow out of the furnace at a temperature far above their melting points. Even with the old method of running the shaft furnaces the endeavor has always been to provide as efficiently as possible against the danger caused by this volatilization, and, wherever feasible, to install safety appliances to prevent the escape of lead vapors into the work-rooms; but these measures could not be made as thorough as in the case of the Huntington-Heberlein process. The principal work in running the shaft furnaces, aside from the charging, consists in tapping the slag and pouring out the work-lead. Other unpleasant jobs are the barring down (which in the old process had to be done frequently) and the cleaning out of the furnace after blowing out.