JF Ptak Science Books Quick Post (Part of the series on the History of Holes)
There could have been many dozens of posts in this sub category--many. There are posts dedicated to B-17 belly gunners, sappers tunneling under trenches, workers struggling away in the enormous and dank and terrifically unhealthy Brooklyn Bridges (not fireproof!) caissons, WWI coffin-like observation cars dangling from a 500'-long cable, and so on. (And as long as I've mentioned coffins, there are the illustrations of patent drawings showing people saving themselves from premature burial.) There's an endless variety of these situations though I've only identified a half-dozen or so in this blog of 4500+ posts.
I never did add a subcategory for this and labeling posts in this way simply got away from me, though it did just return this morning seeing the adventures of the human mole man. This guy would've been made of slim steel to do what he did, as just the idea of it gives me some low stomach shivers. He's wearing half-overalls, a rudimentary mask, and with one flashlight in his right hand he's lowered 110' down a well that is just a little wider than his shoulders (20") to collect a stuck 150-lb bushing. (I just measured 20" across the width of my shoulders and I can say easily that I would've turned into a plug very quickly.) Down the hole this man went, and emerged victorious, posing at the end of it all with his broken trophy. It could've been worse--the hole could've been filled with water, or on fire, or filled with water on fire--but not by much.
[Source: Popular Mechanics, June 1922.]
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