ID#: 9655
Caption:
Workers coming from man lock at the Queens Midtown Tunnel construction site, New York City. “To keep water out of the construction sites, compressed air - of up to 37.5 pounds per square inch - was supplied from special power houses. Sandhogs entered and left the work zone through ‘man locks’ in bulkheads, which sealed off the construction site underground. Inside the man locks, air pressure was gradually adjusted to allow the workers to safely enter or leave the excavation without experiencing decompression sickness, or the bends, a dangerous ailment caused by the release of nitrogen bubbles into the bloodstream and tissues if decompression occurs too rapidly.” (from “From the Archive,” MTA Bridges and Tunnels Archives, Autumn 1998, p. 7.) Two original captions exist for this photo. Caption 1: “NYC Tunnel Authority. Gang coming into compressed air from manlock. Queens Midtown Tunnel.” Caption 2: "Tunnel leaving cage at head of shaft. Coming off shift."
High Resolution: Click here for hi-resolution image (6.51 MB)
Content Provider(s): CDC/ Barbara Jenkins, NIOSH
Creation Date: 1939
Photo Credit: U.S. Dept. of Labor
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Anthropology, Education, Sociology and Social Phenomena
Biological Sciences
Chemicals and Drugs
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Technology and Food and Beverages
Copyright Restrictions: None - This image is in the public domain and thus free of any copyright restrictions.