London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
View report page
Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Paddington 1959
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Paddington, Metropolitan Borough of]
This page requires JavaScript
29
The figures for sulphur deposits given in the last column are
based on the weights of sulphur collected on a lead peroxide
"candle" exposed in a louvred box. The "candle" is changed
once a month and the results are given as a daily average deposit in
milligrammes per 100 sq. cm. of standard lead peroxide. As the
test does not operate on a measured volume of air it will be
appreciated that the results do not indicate an absolute amount of
sulphur deposit in the atmosphere but use an empirical unit for
comparison purposes.
The following results were obtained from the recording apparatus at the Public Health offices at 15, Park Place Villas during 1959.
| Smoke Cone. mg. per 100 m3 | so2Cone. p.p. 100 m | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average value | Highest value | Lowest value | Average value | Highest value | Lowest value | |
| January | 67 (37) | 176 (100) | 3(14) | 21 (13) | 88 (44) | 6 (5) |
| February | 39 (29) | 163 (66) | 12(15) | 16 (10) | 68 (24) | 4 (4) |
| March | 15 (28) | 44 (81) | 4(15) | 9(13) | 24 (25) | 4 (5) |
| April | 11 (20) | 25 (31) | 3(14) | 7 (8) | 22 (18) | 1 (3) |
| May | 7 (8) | 27 (19) | 2 (4) | 6 (6) | 23 (20) | 2 (2) |
| June | 4 (6) | 14 (12) | 1 (2) | 4 (7) | 9(16) | 2 (1) |
| July | 4 (6) | 8 (13) | 1 (3) | 4 (7) | 14 (29) | 1 (2) |
| August | 5 (6) | 11 (13) | 2 (2) | 4 (5) | 13(17) | 1 (2) |
| September | 8 (8) | 19 (19) | 4 (4) | 6 (8) | 17 (26) | 1 (3) |
| October | 14(13) | 22 (36) | 8 (4) | 11 (7) | 24 (15) | 4 (2) |
| November | 27 (25) | 135 (57) | 6 (7) | 15(19) | 53 (35) | 5 (2) |
| December | 19 (29) | 76 (61) | 9 (7) | 10(14) | 30 (30) | 4 (7) |
The term "smoke" is used to denote all fine suspended
impurity collected by the test filter, and the figure is expressed as
milligrammes per 100 cubic metres.
The term sulphur dioxide includes all acid producing gases in
the air with the exception of carbon dioxide and is the net acidity
of the air calculated as sulphur dioxide. The figure is expressed in
" parts per 100 million parts of air," one part of sulphur dioxide
per 100 million parts of air being equivalent to approximately 2.86
milligrammes of sulphur dioxide per 100 cubic metres of air.
Installation of furnaces.—The installation of industrial furnaces,
or domestic furnaces with a heating capacity of 55,000 or more
B.T.Us. per hour, must be notified to the Council by virtue of
section 3 (3) of the Clean Air Act, 1956.
It is not necessary to submit plans or specifications when
giving notice. The purpose of notification is solely to enable the
local authority to know when and where new furnaces are being
installed, and they are not required on receiving notice either to
give or to withhold approval.
Where however a person chooses to submit plans and specifications
under section 3 (2) and they are approved, and where the
furnace is subsequently installed in accordance with the approved
plans, the furnace is deemed to comply with the requirements of
Section 3 (1) of the Act, i.e., to be capable, so far as practicable, of
continuous operation without emitting smoke when burning fuel
of a type for which it is designed.