Orthello R. Langworthy

Medical Evaluation of Man Working in AC Electric Fields

This paper covers an investigation of the effects of HV 60-Hz ac fields on human beings. Experimental results of the intensity of the electric fields to which linemen are subjected when doing maintenance work on energized HV lines are presented. The protection offered by Faraday screens is discussed. The results of a series of physiological examinations that were carried out on 11 linemen, some of whom used conventional hot stick methods and others worked barehanded from an aerial bucket connected to an energized conductor, are presented. The examinations, which extended over a 42-month period, were conducted by members of the staff of The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Md.

Medical Follow-Up Study of High Voltage Linemen Working in AC Electric Fields

This paper presents the final results of the effects upon the health of linemen engaged in the maintenance of energized electrical transmission over a period of nine years. An initial report1,2 was presented in 1966 at the IEEE Summer Meeting in New Orleans, and the study has been continued to 1972. The evaluation was begun in December 1962 with ten linemen, four from the Ohio Power Company and six from the Appalachian Power Company (American Electric Power System).

B12 Metabolism and Multiple Sclerosis.

Summary Data have been presented to suggest that MS patients as a group do not metabolize Vit. B12 and GSH, quite in the same quantitative manner as a control group. Their average Vit. B12 serum level is lower, as is their ability to retain the vitamin when administered intramuscularly, although they absorb adequately. Average GSH content of the red blood cell was reduced in the MS group. When Depinar, a Vit. B12−tannate derivative, was administered to such patients, Vit. B12 was excreted much more slowly in urine than aqueous Vit. B12.

Effect of Electric Shock

This paper describes an investigation of the effects of electric shock on the central nervous system. A total of 286 rats was employed in the investigation. These were shocked at 110, 220, 500, and 1000 volts on both alternating and continuous current circuits for varying lengths of time. In each series the duration of the shock was increased until it was found impossible to resuscitate the rats. When possible the rats were resuscitated by means of artificial respiration, and kept alive for about a week. Then they were killed by an overdose of ether and an autopsy was immediately made. The rats reacted in entirely different manner on the two types of circuit. At the lower voltages the alternating current was deadlier than the continuous, but at the high voltage the opposite was found to be the case. In many instances the rats were paralyzed by the application of the current and in the majority of these animals gross hemorrhages were found in the spinal cord at autopsy. All of the deaths that occurred as a result of the shock were caused by respiratory failure, which could usually be traced to an injury of the central nervous system. In some cases the electric current produced peculiar effects upon the rats.

Effect on Breathing of an Electric Shock Applied to the Extremities

Electric shock frequently causes the arrest of breathing. This paper reports on an experimental investigation of this phenomenon. A convulsion is a likely consequence of a high voltage shock applied to the extremities. It is suggested that this convulsion may be reponsible for breathing failure.

Heart injury from electric shock

Experiments and observations show that the heart is especially susceptible to injury from electric shock. Using experimental animals, measurements of heart currents showed that about 10 per cent of the total “shock” current actually flowed through that organ.

A Comparison of the Relative Efficiency of the Schafer and Pole-Top Methods of Artificial Respiration

The pole-top method of artificial respiration was devised by E. W. Oesterreich1 of the Duquesne Light Company, Pittsburgh, Pa., to give prompt aid in case of electric shock occurring while men are working on poles of power lines. When a worker receives an electric shock while working on a pole minutes elapse before he can be lowered to the ground and resuscitation started by the prone-pressure method. In the field, the elapsed time is seldom less than five minutes2 and in many cases it is considerably longer. The pole-top method of resuscitation was developed to reduce this period. Tests have shown that an operator can reach a man working alone on a pole and start squeezing his abdomen within approximately one minute.2 If there are two men on the pole and one receives a shock the elapsed time before the first pressure is applied is much shorter. While an operator is applying the pole-top method, other members of the line crew make preparation for lowering the victim to the ground where the prone-pressure method may be applied, should it prove necessary.

Further research in injuries from electric shock

With approximately 2,500 persons suffering from electric shock annually in the United States, fatally in about 50 per cent of the cases, the problem presented is one of increasing importance. In recognition of this fact, intensive experimental work has been under way at The Johns Hopkins University for some time, supported by funds made available through the generosity of the Committee on Physiology of the Conference on Electric Shock. The accompanying article discusses the effects of injuries produced by surge discharges, and summarizes some of the more important conclusions previously published in ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING.

What are effects of electric shock

Are brain cells injured when currents do not pass through the head? What influence upon life continuity does the current path through the body have? In an effort to approach an answer to these and related questions a second set of experimental data is given herewith.

Uses of electricity in medicine

FROM the moment that experiments with electricity were begun attempts were made to employ it in the healing art. The Romans attempted to use the electric torpedo eel therapeutically. In modern times we may first turn our attention to Paris immediately after our own revolution when Benjamin Franklin was our first genial ambassador to France. He was interested as much in the scientific discoveries of the day as in diplomacy.