Some useful electrical info from 1942

[uncledj]

This is pretty good. Read it all the way through..I especially like the suggestion for resuscitation of someone who's unconscious from electrical shock..........The suggested method would tell ya who your friends are....lol...

 

 

What do you think of this??

 

The following is from The American Electricians Handbook (1942) A Reference Book for Practical Electrical Workers. Terrell Croft, consulting engineer. McGraw Hill Book Company, Inc, New York and London 1942

 

 

Electricians often test circuits for the presence of voltage touching the conductors with the fingers. This method is safe where the voltage does not exceed 250 and is often very convenient for locating a blown-out fuse or for ascertaining whether or not a circuit is alive. Some men can endure the electric shock that results without discomfort whereas others cannot. Therefore, the method is not feasible in some cases. Which are the outside wires and which is the neutral wire of a 115/230 volt three wire system can be determined in this way by noting the intensity of the shock that results by touching different pairs of wires with the fingers. Use the method with caution and be certain that the voltage of the circuit does not exceed 250 before touching the conductors. (This and the several paragraphs that follow are taken from �Electrical Engineeringhttp://forums.mikeholt.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

 

 

159. The presence of low voltages can be determined by testing. The method is feasible only where the pressure is but a few volts and hence is used only in bell and signal work. Where the voltage is very low, the bared ends of the conductors constituting the 2 sides of the circuit are held a short distance apart on the tongue. If voltage is present a peculiar mildly burning sensation result, which will never be forgotten after one has experienced it. The taste is due to the electrolytic decomposition of the liquids on the tongue which produces a salt having a taste. With voltages of 4 or 5 volts, due to as many cells of a battery, it is best to test for the presence of voltage by holding one of the bared conductors in the hand an touching the other to the tongue. Where a terminal of the battery is grounded, often a taste can be detected by standing on moist ground and touching a conductor from the other battery terminal to the tongue. Care should be exercised to prevent the 2 conductor ends from touching each other at the tongue, for it they do a spark can result that may burn.

 

 

RESUSCITATION FROM ELECTRIC SHOCK By Frederick Koliz, MD

 

1st. Lay the patient on his back, 2 Move the tongue back and forth in the mouth by seizing it with a handkerchief or the fingers, while working the arms to induce respiration. 3. Don�t pour anything down the patient�s throat. 4. Try to cause the patient to gasp by inserting the first and second fingers in the rectum, and pressing them suddenly and forcibly toward the back. 5. If possible, procure oxygen gas, and try to get it into the lungs during the effots at artificial respiration

[Eck]

Sounds just like yesterday... My dad wired houses as a 2nd job. After he got home from his 1st full time job, and had dinner, he would have me get in his GMC panel van and off we would go to do wiring on an old house, or maybe a new one I never knew until we arrived.

 

I saw my dad many times touch a wire to see if it had electricity. After a few months of watching him and learning the do's and don'ts I began doing the same. I still do it to this day.

 

Once you get used to it you find it really isn't all that bad.

When you get shocked in a normal situation you basically never "expect" it and that is why you jump so bad. If you KNOW your about to be shocked, it doesn't effect you near as much.

 

Like many people seem to do, I always test 9 volt batteries on my tongue.

[uncledj]

I generally don't get too worried until I start getting above 240 v. I occasionally work on 480v equipment, and I HATE doing it when it's wet out. Some equipment is prone to arc flash when it gets old. Must be carbon build up or something, but I already know that if it's an old Carrier or York, and 480 volt, I'm gonna be extra careful working on it. Generally I prefer to use my meter rather than my finger. lol

[MiCarl]

When I was a young man I bumped the back of my hand against a hot 120 wire. My arm was sore for days. I was always really careful to never do that again.

 

Now they have those electronic squealers that will let you know if a wire is hot. I prefer them to the touch method.

[cowpuc]

That second to the last sentence really helps me a lot.. Ever since my first time thru CPR classes I have always been suspicious of the term "mouth to mouth". Now that I know the original method of CPR I wont be so squeemish about having to give someone mouth to mouth - sure is a much easier concept to grasp then what our ancestors had to deal with back in 42..

 

As far as testing for live wires with my hands.. Back when I was a kid and riding my 1959 Sears Allstate Moped, I was buzzing around our local high school parking lot after adjusting the carb on my bike when I realized that my throttle had stuck.. I pulled in the clutch, twisted the clutch perch to stick er in neutral (it was a two speed that shifted by pulling in the clutch and rotating the lever), rolled to a stop, got off on the left side of the bike (never dismount your steed on the right hand side - learned that from my cowboy hero's of the day like Little Joe Cartwright and Marshal Dillon), leaned over the gas tank and bent down to remove the plug cap from my iron horses spark plug to stall the engine.

About the time my 10 year old fingers came in contact with the metal cap that covered the plug terminal on the little 2 stroke motor of the little 2 horse moped my education into a deeper understanding of the theory of electricity began. The Allstate had no tachometer but I know the crank on the engine was spinning exactly 8,631 times per minute because that number flashed across my eyes where the girls I had been showing off were just a second ago, this may or may not have made me the first non-mechanical electronic tach. The current flow thru my body also caused time to almost come to a stop as I lay there across the gas tank being electricuted. I know this because I felt my legs go straight into a parallel position to the pavement that my Moped was standing perpendicular to. I felt like I had become a human flag of sorts - flapping joyfully in the breeze of endless electrical current flowing gracefully over my entire body.

The reason I KNOW that time stood still was because the only thing that caused my hand to loose contact with the spark plug cap was the slamming of my body against the asphalt as the bike fell over which, in hind sight, had to have happened almost instantly but it sure seemed like an eternity to me. Thankfully the current flow thru my muscles had actually tightened my grip on the plug cap and when the bike fell over, the cap came off and my intention of removing the cap and stalling the engine was successful! Had this not have happened my poor little moped may be still be laying out in the parking lot at Fruitport High School revving out at 8,631 RPM..

 

That day taught me a lot about testing for the presence of electricity. While I, like the Eckster, do still test 9 volt batteries with my tongue (maybe cause it was not my tongue that had touched the plug cap) I have spent most of my entire life making sure I use meters for electrical testing and that the rubber protection on the pliers I am using to hold the meter leads are in as good of shape as the 1/4 inch thick Line-mans gloves that I stole from the Power Companies truck that cover my hands and arms whenever I play with anything over 48 volts AC..

The end

[bongobobny]

Well, I do remember, and sometimes still do, testing 9 volt batteries by how "salty" they taste...

[Larry1963]

There is many things wrong with that article. We will start at the bottom and go up, no pun intended. If you get shocked and to save your life I am going to have to stick a finger or two up your butt. I am just going to kneel down and read you your last rights. Tell your spouse there was nothing else I could do.

 

I have been shocked a few times with 110, it hurts, hurts bad. I have a high respect for electricity. When I have to change a plug, I pull the fuse and then cut power to the house. I did work with a guy that did electrical work and never turned the power off. He would touch hot wires all the time. you be in one room working and you would hear a small pop and usually a swear word, followed by, well that line is hot LOL.

 

Now I do check a 9v battery with my tongue too.

 

Thanks for the post, great read.

[zagger]

Geesh. Voltmeters are pretty darned cheap, and I actually own more than one. Licking batteries, hot wires, or trying to resuscitate some electrocuted person with my fingers up his rectum - not gonna happen! Call me crazy, but I just measure electricity with a meter and stay away from electrocuted people.

zag

[BlueSky]

I didn't have the respect I should have for electricity when I was in the Army repairing radars and the analog computer for the Nike Hercules Missile System (MOS 24Q20 as bongobobny knows). I was disconnecting a power supply by reaching over to the rear without deenergizing the panel and my knuckle touched 450 volts DC from the power supply above the one I was disconnecting and completed a circuit to the end of my finger. It burned a hole the size of a BB in my knuckle. Lucky for me, it only burned soft flesh and not a tendon. Trying to do stuff quickly doesn't always give you the best result.

[midnightventure]

30 some years ago I worked for the cable company. We were supposed to turn off tvs and unplug them when we were checking customer complaints. Of course we didn't waste time following the rules. A lady and her 2 little kids were watching when I disconnected the cable from the matching transformer. My little finger touched one of the antenna terminals while my opposite hand had hold of the Rg59. The tv had been struck by lightning (probably through the cable) and the twin lead had melted off the old analog tuner and had fallen down into the high voltage part of the set. The voltage ran through my little finger and up through my shoulders and back out my other hand. I screamed and finally got loose. Scared them to death. For months afterwards I would roll over in bed and throw my shoulder out of it's socket. Still have a scar on the end of my left pinky.

[Flyinfool]

In a meeting one time the CEO of the company was explaining that he wears rubber gloves that go up to the elbow when he is working around the battery in his car. It takes less than one amp to kill ya and that car battery has 800 amps.................

[SilvrT]

Several years ago I rented a shop and started up an auto body repair and painting biz. The building was an old shop on a farm. The farmer helped me to hook up a bunch of fluorescence lights and he never turned off the power. Told me "as long as you're only touching ONE wire, you're fine".

 

A few years later I was doing a kitchen remodel job and needed more electrical lines with breakers including 110 and 220 but there was no room on the existing panel so ... I "hot wired" another panel box with 220 by only handling one wire at a time!! I'm still here albeit a little "wired and frazzled" at times LOL!

[cowpuc]

In a meeting one time the CEO of the company was explaining that he wears rubber gloves that go up to the elbow when he is working around the battery in his car. It takes less than one amp to kill ya and that car battery has 800 amps.................

 

Welllll, I am no electrician BUT I have been around a few batteries in my life and experimented with other lectrical stuff.. Seems to me that danger increases more as the Voltage increases and its not so much dependent on Amperage as far as overcoming the resistance of the human body.. Not so sure I can see the danger of handling 12 Volt 800 amp car batteries UNLESS the ring on my finger with its low resistance to current flow found a way to ground itself to that + post - YAAAAAOOOOOOOZZZZZZ..

I always looked at it this way,, Voltage is the FORCE or PUSH that causes electricity to over come resistance and amperage is the amount of the flow available or flowing..

On the same token though,, if the battery bank the CEO was playing with were wired in series and it consisted of 20 - 12 volt batteries than yea,, I would be a little nervous about about touching the + lead coming out the end of that puppy...

[cowpuc]

Several years ago I rented a shop and started up an auto body repair and painting biz. The building was an old shop on a farm. The farmer helped me to hook up a bunch of fluorescence lights and he never turned off the power. Told me "as long as you're only touching ONE wire, you're fine".

 

A few years later I was doing a kitchen remodel job and needed more electrical lines with breakers including 110 and 220 but there was no room on the existing panel so ... I "hot wired" another panel box with 220 by only handling one wire at a time!! I'm still here albeit a little "wired and frazzled" at times LOL!

 

I watched a guy accidently pee on an electric fence while I was Pheasant hunting years ago.. Shoulda seen him hop around after coming in contact with that tiny little single wire Silv

I still wear rubber gloves when handling live wires and always watch where I peee:cool10:

[Yammer Dan]

When iwas about 7 I learned not to pee on the fence. Then when I was a Lineman in my early years I got a good dose of 7,200 volts. It will burn ya!! Then later along came the Tazers. I love to use these but I've been shot 6 times with 50,000 volts!! I AIN"T TOUCHING

NOTHING!!!:backinmyday:

 

 

 

I have also sat in "Old Sparky" a couple times. I kept my eyes on the switch.......

Edited March 22, 2016 by Yammer Dan

[cowpuc]

When iwas about 7 I learned not to pee on the fence. Then when I was a Lineman in my early years I got a good dose of 7,200 volts. It will burn ya!! Then later along came the Tazers. I love to use these but I've been shot 6 times with 50,000 volts!! I AIN"T TOUCHING

NOTHING!!!:backinmyday:

 

Sometimes it just SHOCKS me that folks like you and I have made it as far into life as we have brother:big-grin-emoticon:

 

Fast forward to 1.07 on this one DanL'

[SilvrT]

I watched a guy accidently pee on an electric fence while I was Pheasant hunting years ago.. Shoulda seen him hop around after coming in contact with that tiny little single wire Silv

I still wear rubber gloves when handling live wires and always watch where I peee:cool10:

 

not sure how 'pee' got into this unless my words "wired and frazzled" painted some kinda mental image .... LMAO!!!

[bongobobny]

In a meeting one time the CEO of the company was explaining that he wears rubber gloves that go up to the elbow when he is working around the battery in his car. It takes less than one amp to kill ya and that car battery has 800 amps.................

Skin is actually an insulator too! Without the skin, it only takes a few mA to kill ya! So, never service a battery with cuts on your fingers...

[Yammer Dan]

Maybe I shoulda took "Sparky" for a test run.... He only uses 2400 volts!! Them Earnest powers would be good around some of these 2nd Genners...

[BlueSky]

In a meeting one time the CEO of the company was explaining that he wears rubber gloves that go up to the elbow when he is working around the battery in his car. It takes less than one amp to kill ya and that car battery has 800 amps.................

 

Well, the CEO was worrying for nothing and maybe wasn't that bright. 12 volts is just not enough motive force to push the amps through you to kill you.

[Du-Rron]

Just for safety's sake, I'll start gasping around any known electricians just to let them know that I am still alive and no "resuscitation" efforts will be necessary. Will wear a belt and suspenders from now on, just to make sure.