A Simple and Inexpensive Eye Irrigation Fountain Members of the Tufts Chemistry Department have aver the last few years been increasingly concerned with improving the safety conditions existing in both instructional and research laboratories. While recognizing that the first component of safety is good instruction and attitudes, upgrading of safety equipment is important as well. In addition to serving its primary purpose of protection, the presence of and instruction about such equipment tends to reinforce the importance of safe work habits by emphasizing the possibilities of trouble. For many years the only facilities for eye irrigation available to us consisted of the drinking fountains or polyethylene squeeze bottles equipped with an eyecup, of the type available from many laboratory supply houses. While better than nothing, these devices are nowhere near as effective as a good eye-wash fountain. The latter, however, are very expensive if, as we were, one is considering installing some 25 to 30 stations in all the laboratories. Hand-held hoses with a single aeration nozzle retail for over $50. Basin-type eye-wash fountains of the best design, utilizing two gentle aerated streams angled to provide tangential irrigation of hoth eyes simultaneously, cost from $1W to more than $150. While willing to undertake a prograq of significant cost to provide better protection, we were clearly not going to be able to absorb this magnitude of expense in a single budget year, and the prwpect of deciding whieh laboratories were most hazardous was hardly an attractive one. We therefore decided to investigate the possibilities of providing good protection a t low expense by designing and constructing our own irrigation fountains. As it turned out, we constructed thirty units, equivalent in eye irrigation performance to a commercial unit costing $150, for ahout $600. A completed unit is shown in the figure. (These costs reflect early 1974 prices, but the relative savings are no doubt still the same.) The three principal design criteria were (1) the provision of aerated streams of water, (2) appropriate angling so that tangential irrigation of both eyes is possible, and (3) incorporation of an on-off valve which would require no elaborate fumbling or searching by a partially blinded person needing the eye-wash. The nrovision of the aerated stream of water is imoartant in order that o a r t i d a t e matter which may have entered the eve in an accident is not violentlv moved about hv forceful water streak. therebv aemavatine .. iniur;. . . The taneen~,~ tial orientation of the water stream has a similar purpose of avniding driving particles or rhemirols further into the surface iri the eye or behind the eyelids. The impomnce of an injured person being able to oprratc the devire without assirtance is self-evident. ~
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Parts List for Eyewash Fountain 1 ea. Jenkins No. tlOT Ball Valve, f i n . 2 ea. %in. Close Nipples (Chrome) 2 ea. Sh in. Elbaws (Chrome) 2 ea. %in. Nipples. 4% In. (Chrome) 2 BB. T and S Brass No. B199M Antl-Splash Adapter. Thread 1 ea. T and S Brass No. BL4100.0 Chrome Turret 2 ea. No. 10 Rubber Stoppers
f in. Pipe
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A list of the oarts needed to assemble the device is eiven and the assemblv is clear from the ohotoeraoh. All of the .. parts are available as standard items from either a plumb in^ supply or lahorntory supply house. The aeration is adequately provided by a standard krtchen rink aerator. The use of the dhows and .Ih-in. nipples in a 90" turret gives very conveniently bath appropriate spacing and a correct angle to provide the desired wash streams. (Inrtial experrmmts wrth hendine pipe or tuhing were surressful, hut no more effective and considwnhly more work.) A standard ball-valve, which opens full with turn, provides positrvs and convmwnt flow control. The wdvcs we ohtarned were nmvided only with a atrareht handle. We welded an ndditional "nush nad" of b-in. sted. 1 in. w ~ d eand I in. h a . a t right angles to the supplied handle, which provides a Large, accessihie surjace for quick and simple operation. In order to orevent an iniured oerson from runnine his face into the hard metal comoonents of the fountain. laree rubber stoopers (No.10, are employed to provide n soft cush~onaround the aerators. These stoppers were hored to provide a snug fit around the aerator and ground to a rounded contour around the top shoulder. (Thm latter ptocens also softens them a little ) They ran be simply fitted over the aerator, or additionally secured w ~ t hcyanoacrylic adhesive agamst loss or being accidentally knocked off. We have preferred to place our eye-wash fountains directly under safety showen, where such are wall-mounted. This will permit an injured person to bathe the eyes and have a complete overall drenching if the emergency requires hoth. I t also provides ready access to the water supply, simplifying installation in many eases. I t is important to stress again, as we do with our students, that eye protection (glasses, goggles and face masks) is far more important in preventing serious eye injury than any procedures or eguipment applied after an accident has oc-
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These units are provided with no catch basins or drains, and clearly will create a minor mess in operation. We place a 5-gal. waste container underneath these fountains and find that they in no way interfere with access to the device. Principally, however, our attitude is that any mess is of no consequence whatever in a situation where a person's sizht is endangered. Tufts University Medford, Massachusetts 02155
810 / Journal of Chemical Education
R. R. Dewald T. E. Haas W. A. Norder
