been reported, but a factory inspector expressed the belief that 10
per cent of the women in the potteries were suffering from lead
poisoning. Dr. Kaup is thoroughly in favor of legislation requiring
regular medical examination and registration of all cases. He thinks
tliere is no evidence that the cases are diminishing. In Velten in
1901, 1,748^ persons were employed in ceramic work and 4 cases of
lead poisoning are recorded in the sickness insurance office. In 1905
liie number of workers had increased to 2,500, but the cases to 14.
Dr. Ludwig Teleky, who occupies the cliair of social medicine
in the University of Viemia, estimated that there are 10,522 persons
employed in making tiles and cheap earthenware in Austria-Hungary,
and that 5,000 of these are exposed to lead, this large proportion
being explained by the fact that 84 per cent of the establishments
employ le^ than 5 persons, and in such small potteries all the
workmen miLst come in contact with the glaze. Lead glazes usually
1 These figures rei/iesent aU employes, not glaze workers only.
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LEAD POISONING IN POTTBKIBS, TILB^ WOBKS, ETC. 79
contain from 40 to 80 per cent of lead oxides and are rarely fritted.
One advantage of the small pottery is that many of them buy their
glaze already prepared, thus escaping the dangers not only of mix-
ing and grinding, but also of burning the lead to make the oxides,
a procedure which is common in the larger Austrian potteries as
it is in the Prussian. The cheapest ware does not require cleaning,
another advantage, but in general the small potteries are dusty,
crowded, and insanitary, and when the work is carried on in the
potters' homes it endangers the health of the family as well as of the
workmen.* It is in this part of the industry that Dr. Teleky sees
most need of legislative controL He states that, in the absence of
medical examination of the pottery workers and registration of cases
of lead poisoning, it is impossible to say how much of the latter is
present in the potteries and tile works of Austria-Hungary. In
Vienna, during five years' time, 36 cases of plumbism came under
the care of the sickness-insurance physicians. These all came from
12 potteries, where the regular force employed in glaze work was
not over 25 persons.
POBCELAIN-ENAMELED SANITAEY WAEE.
It is not so easy to compare the factories making this ware in
the United States with foreign factories as it was in the case of
potteries and tile works, because the great majority of British and
German factories use a leadless glaze for porcelain enameled bath-
tubs, sinks, and basins. In Great Britain it was stated that the
use of leadless enamel had been adopted in order to escape the onerous
requirements made by the factory inspection department when lead
enamel is used, but in Germany it is claimed that leadless enamel is
superior in durability ; that while lead enamel is at first smoother and
more shining, it quickly loses these properties under the action of
soap and hot water, becoming roughened, dull, and hard to clean.
Leadless enamel is less beautiful to start with but lasts much better.
The factory at Thale, the Wuppermann Works in Pinneberg, and
the Eschebach works in Kadeburg are all said to use leadless enamel.
The same is said to be true of the Doulton works in Paisley, Scot-
land. In neither Great Britain nor Germany is this trade looked
upon as a dangerous one, and very little is said of it in factory
inspection reports. German experts were surprised to hear it spoken
of as a lead trade at all.
In Austria, on the other hand, ironware is enameled with a dry
glaze rich in red lead, and in this country the industry is regarded
as decidedly dangerous. One Austrian stove works was visited in
*For a description of the effects on the workers of home niannfacture of pottery, sec
article on " Industrial lead poisoning in Europe," by Sir Thomas Oliver, Bulletin of the
United States Bureau of Labor, No. 95, pp. 55 to 58.
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80 BULLETIN OF THE BUKEAU OF LABOE.
which gas stoves are enameled by a process identical with that used
in the United States for sanitary ware and with no more care than
is seen in the latter. Both the enamelers who were interviewed had
had lead poisoning, one of them recurring attacks of colic, the other
of palsy.
The most valuable suggestions as to what can be done to protect
workmen against lead poisoning when they are dusting dry lead
enamel over a heated surface were obtained in an English bathtub
works ; and the best system of mixing and grinding was seen in the
Dresden branch of Villeroy & Boch, where a fritted glaze is made,
which is, for all practical purposes, identical with the enamel used
in our hollow-ware factories and may serve as a model for the mill
department of the latter as well as a model for potteries.
In Villeroy & Boch's pottery there is a separate building de-
voted to the preparation of fritted lead oxide glaze, which is made
up in enormous quantities twice a year. For four or five weeks,
spring and fall, about 15 men are employed here. Beginning on the
top floor of this building we find a storeroom where all the ingre-
dients of the glaze except the red lead are kept in bins and sent down
through chutes to closed receptacles in the room below, the mixing
room. Here they are weighed on large scales which stand under a
hood with an exhaust. The red lead is kept and weighed in a small
room adjoining. This room is all tiled and the white walls would
show plainly any deposit of red-lead dust, but it is flushed daily, the
water running off through a drain in the floor. The red lead falls
from a storeroom above into a closed bin, the sliding door of which
opens imder a hood with an exhaust. Here there is a shelf holding
the scales; the lead is weighed into a box and then carried into the
mixing room, to be added last of all to the ingredients of the glaze.
There are hoods with air exhausts over the intakes and the vents of
the mixer, and it is excellently inclosed so that no leaking can take
place. Mixing rooms and mill rooms have smooth tiled floors and
are washed, not swept.
The charging of the fritting ovens is said to be free from dust, but
this detail could not be observed. The fritted glaze rxms out into
water. It is said to contain from 3 to 5 per cent of soluble lead.
In this factory, therefore, the lead oxide is handled as a poisonous
substance should be handled, and the result of this clear recognition
of the danger and careful precautions against it is seen in the fact
that no case of lead poisoning has been reported to the sickness insur-
ance office for the last four years. It would be hard to find a greater
contrast than that presented by this glaze mill and the one in a cer-
tain sanitary ware factory in the United States where every room
in the building and even the passages and stairways are thick with
enamel dust.
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LEAD POISOIONG IN POTTERIES, TILE WORKS, ETC. 81
The- porcelain enameled sanitary ware made by A. Hutchinson &
Son (Ltd.), London, has a lead enamel, but the firm is now experi-
menting with a leadless one of unknown formula made in France.
This factory is interesting, because the methods employed are the
same as those in American factories making similar ware, and yet a
very small proportion of enamelers in this factory suffer from lead
poisoning, which shows. that in order to protect his workmen an
American manufacturer woidd not be obliged to make radical changes
in his methods of work. About 20 enamelers, 2 slushers, and 4 mill
hands are employed in this factory, using an enamel containing
soluble lead, the amount of which lead was not stated, but the factory
comes under the rules prescribed for places using as much as 5 per
cent soluble lead. The average number of cases of lead poisoning
in this factory employing 26 men is one case in two years' time,
as shown by the records of the doctor who examines all the men once
a month.
When one compares these figures with those given in the section on
lead poisoning among enamelers and mill hands in the United States
one is inclined to think that quite extraordinary precautions must be
taken in the English factory to bring about such a result, but in re-
ality the means used are most simple and obvious. The enamelers
wear not only full suits of overalls, washed weekly, but hats made
of white duck, which are also washable. They have pieces of muslin
or thick cheesecloth folded in many layers, which they tie over the
lower part of the face in such a way that it can be drawn up when
needed and slipped down in the intervals of work. ^Vhen the cloth
is drawn up it meets the brim of the hat behind and leaves no part
of the hair exposed. Experience has shown that the use of these
cloths can be insisted on, while the men rebel against the hot, heavy
rubber, and sponge respirators.
The enamel rooms are small, and yet are cleaner, less dusty, than
are most of those in the United States. Above the furnace, in the
wall, is a fan with a strong draft, about 4 feet above the men's
heads. This draft is, of course, not strong enough to draw off all
dust, but it helps. After each enameling the men take long-handled
brushes and brush down the beams of the ceiling, so that no dust accu-
mulates. No dry sweeping is ever allowed.
The men have a wash room with hot water, one basin for every 5
men, shower baths, soap and towels, and toothbrushes. One of the
most important features is the granting of two short pauses for
lunches, and one of an hour for the midday meal. The men leave
their workrooms, take off their overalls, wash hands and face, and
eat their lunch in a room free from enamel dust. Thus they avoid
two great dangers to which enamelers in the United States are ex-
posed, for our enamelers must either eat food which has been kept
55884**— 12 6 ^ .
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82 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF LABOB.
in an atmosphere of lead dust, and which they must take \Yithout
stopping to wash hands or faces, or else they must go fasting for the
six or eight hours of their shift, and it is hard to say which of the
two is more conducive to lead poisoning.
When the monthly medical examination of all the men engaged
in making and handling the enamel is added the list of measures
which are used in this factory for the protection of the men is com-
pleted. They are not revolutionary nor extravagant, and it would
seem entirely possible to introduce them into factories in the United
States, If by so doing the amount of lead poisoning could be reduced
from one in three to one-half in 26, it is probable that the reforms
would eventually pay for themselves in the increased efficiency of the
men.
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APPENDIX B.
REGULATIONS FOR FACTORIES AND WORKSHOPS IN CERTAIN
INDUSTRIES USING LEAD.
GEEAT BRITAIN.
PART II.— SPECIAL RULES.'
FOR THE MANUFACTURE AND DECORATION OF EARTHENWARE AND CHINA.*
Amended special rules established, after nrbltmtlon. by the awards of the umpire, Lord
James of Hereford, dated December 30, 1901, and November 28, 1903.
Duties of occupiers,
1. Deleted.
2. After the first day of February, 1904, no glaze shall be used which yields
to a dilute solution of hydrochloric acid more than 5 per cent of its dry weight
of a soluble lead compound calculated as lead monoxide when determined in the
manner described below.
A weight quantity of dried material Is to be continuously shaken for one
hour at the common temperature, with 1,000 times Its weight of an aqueous
solution of hydrochloric acid containing 0.25 per cent of IICI. This solution
is thereafter to be allowed to stand for one hour and to be passed thronch a
filter. The lead salt contained In an aliquot portion of the clear filtrate is
then to be precipitated as lead sulphide and weighed as lead sulphate.
If any occupier shall give notice in writing to the inspector for the district
tiiat he desires to use a glaze which does not conform to the above-mentioned
conditions, and to adopt in his factory the scheme of compensation prescribed
in schedule B, and shall affix and keep the same affixed in his factory, the
above provisions shall not apply to his factory but instead therer^f the follow-
ing provisions shall apply.
All persons employed in any process included in schedule A other than china
scouring shall be examined before the commencement of their employment or
at the first subsequent visit of the certifying surgeon, and once in each calen-
dar month by the certifying surgeon of the district.
The certifying surgeon may at any time order by signed certificate the
suspension of any such person from employment In any proceas included in
schedule A other than china scouring, if such certifying surgeon is of opinion
that such person by continuous work in lead will incur special danger from the
effects of plumbism, and no person after such suspension shall be alloweil to
work in any process included in schedule A other ttian china scouring without
a certificate of fitness from the certifying surgeon entered in the register.
Any workman who, by reason of his employment being intermittent or
casual, or of his being in regular employment for more than one employer,
is unable to present himself regularly for examination by the certifying sur-
geon, may procure himself at his own exp«\se to be examined once a month
by a certifying surgeon, and such examination shall be a suflicient compliance
» Factory and Workshop Acts. Dangerous and Unhealthy Industries. Regulations and
Special Rules in force on Jan. 1. 1908. London, 1907.
Note. — This print contains the codes of regulations and special rules (subject to the
exception mentioned on p. 150) in force on Jan. 1, 1908, in places under the factory acts.
The regulations appear in Part I of the print. They have been made under the pro-
cedure enacted by the Factory and Workshop Act, 1901 (sees. 79-86), in substitution
for the " special rules " procedure of the earlier factory and workshop acts. Regula-
tions apply automatically to all places of the class for which they are made. The
special rules appear in Part II. They are made under the procedure enacted in the Fac-
tory and Workshop Acts, 1891 and 1895, and are not in force at a factory or workshop
until they have been established Individually for that factory or workshop. The codes
of special rules are being gradually replaced by regulations under the act of 1901.
•This code superseded those of 1894, 1898, and 1901, which, however, are still In force
in a few works. The question of making regulations to supersede all four codes is
under consideration.
83
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84 BULLETIN OF THE BUBEAU OF LABOB.
with this rule. The result of such examination shall be entered by the cer-
tifying surgeon in a book to be kept in the possession of the workman. He
shall produc«; and show the said book to a factory Inspector or to any employer
on demand, and he shall not make any entry or erasure therein.
If the occupier of any factory to which this rule applies falls duly to
observe the conditions of the said scheme, or if any such factory shall by
reason of the occurrence of cases of lead poisoning appear to the secretary
of state to be in an unsatisfactory condition, he may, after an Inquiry, at
which the occupier shall have an opportunity of being heard, prohibit the
use of lead for such time and subject to such conditions as he may prescribe.
All persons employed in the processes included in schedule A other than china
scouring shall present themselves at the appointed time for examination by the
certifying surgeon, as prescribed in this rule.
In addition to the examinations at the appointed times, any person so
employed may at any time present himself to the certifying surgeon for examina-
tion, and shall be examined on paying the prescribed fee.
All persons shall obey any directions given by the certifying surgeon.
No person after suspension by the certifying surgeon shall work in any
process Included in schedule A other than china scouring without a certificate
of fitness from the certifying surgeon entered in the register. Any operative
who fails without reasonable cause to attend any monthly examination shall
procure himself, at his own expense, to be examined within 14 days there-
after by the certltying surgeon, and shall himself pay the prescribed fee.
A register in the form which has been prescribed by the secretary of state
for use in earthenware and china works shall be kept, and In it the certifying
surgeon shall enter the dates and results of his visits, the number of persons
examined, and particulars of any directions given by him. This register shall
contain a list of all persons employed in the processes included in schedule A,
or In emptying china biscuit ware, and shall be produced at any time when
required by His Majesty's inspector of factories or by the certifying surgeon.
3. The occupier shall allow any of His Majesty's inspectors of factories to
take at any time sufllcient samples for analysis of any material in use or
mixed for use :
Provided, That the occupier may at the time when the sample is taken, and
on providing the necessary appliances, require the inspector to take, seal,
and deliver to him a duplicate sample.
But no analytical result shall be disclosed or published in asy way except
such as shall be necessary to establish a breach of these rules.
4. No woman, young person, or child shall be employed in the mixing of
unfrltted lead compounds in the preparation or manufacture of frits, glazes,
or colora
5. No person under 15 years of age shall be employed in any process In-
cluded in schedule A, or in emptying china biscuit ware.
TTilmble-plcklng, or threadlng-up, or looklng-over biscuit ware shall not be
carried on except in a place sufficiently separated from any process included in
schedule A.
6. All women and young persons employed in any process included in
schedule A shall be examined once in each calendar month by the certifying
surgeon for the district.
The certifying surgeon may order by signed certificate in the register the
suspension of any such woman or young persons from employment in any
process included in schedule A, and no person after such suspension shall
be allowed to work in any process included in schedule A without a cer-
tificate of fitness from the certifying surgeon entered in the register.
7. A register, In the form which has been prescribed by the secretary of
state for use in earthenware and china works, shall be kept, and In it the cer-
tifying surgeon shall enter the dates and results of his visits, the number
of persons examined In pursuance of rule 6 as amended, and particulars
of any directions given by him. This register shall contain a list of all per-
sons employed in the processes included In schedule A, or in emptying china
biscuit ware, and shall be produced at any time when required by His Majesty's
inspector of factories or by the certifying surgeon.
8. The occupier shall provide and maintain suitable overalls and head cover-
ings for all women and young persons employed in the processes included In
the schedule A, or in emptying china biscuit ware.
No person shall be allowed to work in any process included In the schedule,
or in emptying china biscuit ware, without wearing suitable overalls and
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LEAD POISONING IN POTTERIES, TILE WORKS, ETC. 85
head coverings: Provided, That nothing In this rule shall render It obligatory
on any person engaged In drawing glost ovens to wear overalls and head
coverings.
All overalls, head coverings, and respirators, when not in use or being
washed or repaired, shall be kept by the occupier in proper custody. They
shall be washed or renewed at least once a week, and suitable arrangements
shall be made by the occupier for carrying out these requirements.
A suitable place, other than that provided for the keeping of overalls, head
coverings, and respirators. In which all the above workers can deposit clothing
put off during working hours, shall be provided by the occupier.
Each respirator shall bear the distinguishing mark of the worker to whom it
is supplied.
9. No person shall be allowed to keep, or prepare, or partake of any food,
or drink, or tobacco, or to remain during hieal times, in a place in which is
carried on any process included in schedule A.
The occupier shall make suitable provision to the reasonable satisfaction
of the inspector In charge of the district for the accommodation during meal
•times of persons employed in such places or processes, with a right of appeal
to the chief inspector of factories. Such accommodation shall not be provided
in any room or rooms in which any process included in schedule A is carried
on, and no washing conveniences mentioned hereafter in rule 13 shall be main-
tained in any room or rooms provided for such accommodation.
Suitable provision shall be made for the deposit of food brought by the
workers.
10. The processes of —
The towing of earthenware,
China scouring.
Ground laying.
Ware cleaning after the dipper.
Color dusting, whether on-glaze or under-glaze.
Color blowing, whether on-glaze or under-glaze,
Glaze blowing, or
Transfer making,
shall not be carried on without the use of exhaust fans, or other efficient
means for the effectual removal of dust, to be approved In each particular case
by the secretary of state, and under such conditions as he may from time to
time prescribe.
In the process of ware cleaning after the dipper, sufficient arrangements
shall be made for any glaze scraped off which Is not removed by the fan, or
the other efficient means, to fall Into water.
In the process of ware cleaning of earthenware after the dipper, damp
sponges or other damp material shall be provided In addition to the knife or
other instrument, and shall be used wherever practicable.
Flat-knocking and flred-flint-siftlng shall be carried on only In Inclosed re-
ceptacles, which shall be connected with an efficient fan or other efficient
draft unless so contrived as to prevent effectually the escape of injurious
dust
In all processes the occupier shall, as far as practicable, adopt efficient meas-
ures for the removal of dust and for the prevention of any injurious effects
arising therefrom.
11. No person shall be employed in the mixing of unfritted lead compounds,
In the preparation or manufacture of frits, glazes, or colors containing lead
without wearing a suitable and efficient respirator provided and maintained by
the employer; unless the mixing is performed in a closed machine or the ma-
terials are in such a condition that no dust Is produced.
Each respirator shall bear the distinguishing mark of the worker to whom
it is supplied.
12. All drying stoves as well as all workshops and all parts of factories shall
be effectually ventilated to the reasonable satisfaction of the Inspector In charge
of the district
13. The occupier shall provide and continually maintain sufficient and suit-
able washing conveniences for all persons employed in the processes included
in schedule A, as near as practicable to the places in which such persons are
employed.
The washing conveniences shall comprise soap, nailbrushes, and towels, and
at least one wash (hand) basin for every five persons employed as above, with
a constant supply of water laid on, with one tap at least for every two basins,
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86 BULLETIN OF THE BUBEAU OF LABOB.
and conveniences for emptying tlie same and running off the waste water on
the spot down a waste pipe.
There shall be in front of each washing basin, or convenience, a space for
standing room which shall not be less in any direction than 21 Inches.
14. The occupier shall see that the floors of workslwps and of such stoves
^ as are entered by the workpeople are sprinkled and swept daily; that all dust,
' scraps, ashes, and dirt are removed daily, and that the mangles, workbenches,
and stairs leading to workshops are cleansed weekly.
When so required by the inspector in cliarge of the district, by notice in writ-
ing, any such floors, mangles, workbenches, and stairs shall be cleansed in such
manner and at such times as may be directed in such notice.
As regards every potters' shop and stove, and every place in which any
process included in schedule A is carried on, the occupier shall cause the sufil
cient cleansing of floors to be done at the time when no other work is being
carried on in such room, and in the case of potters' shops, stoves, dipping