-4- CYLINDERS ALUMINIUM POWDER

Former Kalgoorlie Mining Associates property. 4 tin cylinders, with lid at either end. One lid reads "McINTYRE RESEARCH LTD / SCHUMAKER, ONT. / MADE IN CANADA". Opposite lid reads "ALUMINIUM POWDER / USE PATENTED / FOR SILICOSIS PREVENTION". Associated with H89.333 a,b; Aluminium Dust Therapy Samplers. Letter from David Wood, Mines department re: H89.333 a,b reads: "This instrument is commonly known as an Aluminium "Therapy" Dust Sampler. It was used in all gold mines in Western Australia as part of the Aluminium "Therapy" process. Its purpose was to measure the amount of aluminium dust in the treatment rooms to ensure correct levels were maintained. Aluminium "Therapy" was introduced into Western Australia in 1950 under license from the McIntyre REsearch Foundation of Canada. It consisted of miners inhaling powdered aluminium and alumina (Al2 O3) applied in specially modified changerooms. The "Therapy" was intended primarily for the prophylaxis (prevention) rather than therapy (treatment) of silicosis. Inhaling aluminium powder was thought to have a two fold effect: one, it would prevent pneumoconiosis; two, the effects of pneumoconiosis would be lessened if already contracted. According to Howard C. Hartman ("Mine ventilation and air conditioning", 1961) the action was "... a combined chemical physical one, with the aluminium forming a complex, inactive silicate with silica dust particles in the lungs or perhaps coating each particle with an inert layer of aluminium oxide". Aluminium "Therapy" was made available, on a voluntary basis, to all miners, however, by the end of the 1960s the practice had waned. Its demise resulted from apathy on the part of miners and mining companies and the belief that the best preventative measure against silicosis was to have stricter monitoring of dust levels within the mines.

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