THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 10, 1996 TAG: 9603080290
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Coastal Journal
SOURCE: Mary Reid Barrow
LENGTH: Medium: 96 lines
More than 60 years ago, engineer Orval C. Auhl recommended that workers constructing the San Francisco/Oakland Bay Bridge wear life preservers along with a lightweight jacket he designed that wouldn't hamper the men's movements.
The idea, which seems basic today, was new in 1933 and as the life preserver proved to save workmen's lives, the notion spread across the nation like a rising tide across the beach.
Auhl, now 95, looks back at his suggestion with pride. He thinks of it as one of his highest achievements in a lifetime of involvement in the construction of 60 major locks, dams and bridges across the United States as an engineer with the Dravo Corp. in Pittsburgh.
Retired for many years and living in Virginia Beach's Bay Colony now, Auhl went to work for Dravo in 1927 after earning an engineering degree from the University of Nebraska. In 1933, Dravo sent Auhl to San Francisco to begin work on the bay bridge. Dravo was part of a consortium of contractors that joined forces to build what was to be the longest bridge in the world at the time.
``When I went to work for Dravo, the company averaged one to six drownings every year,'' Auhl recalled. ``The first year I was with them, I saw three men drown. They went overboard with heavy shoes and clothes and there was nothing I could do,'' he went on. ``I was 300 yards away.''
Soon after arriving in San Francisco, Auhl went to the project's general manager. It was such a mammoth job that more than 400 men would be working out over the water. The men had to be equipped with life jackets, Auhl told him.
``We'll lose a lot of them,'' he recalled saying. ``We've got to develop a life jacket and protect these men.''
The general manager made light of Auhl's suggestion saying that the men were tough and knew how to take care of themselves. Within two weeks, two men had drowned and the general manager called Auhl back in.
``He put me in charge of life jackets,'' Auhl said.
At the time, life jackets on the market were too bulky for a workman to move in. They were cumbersome cork vests or buoyant orange balls that were worn on the back, he recalled.
Auhl, who was aware of the flotation characteristic of lightweight kapok, a fibrous material in the seed pods of the kapok tree, found a woman who sewed canvas sails. Together they designed a canvas jacket stuffed with kapok that wouldn't hamper a workman's agility.
``The lady was able to produce about six jackets a week and they cost $3 a jacket.''
The next step was to persuade the construction workers to wear them. Auhl did this by wearing one himself and prevailing upon the general manager to also wear one. The project was so dear to Auhl's heart that to this day, he is able to reel off the names of the first dozen or so men who began to wear the jackets.
``Then a man went overboard into a 3-knot tide and was swept away,'' Auhl said.
Production of jackets increased to 12 a week. When another man went overboard and drowned with his heavy carpenter's belt around his waist, ``they really put the heat on and we were up to 36 jackets a week.''
``We finally equipped all 400 men with life jackets and got the general manager to issue an ultimatum that no one leave the dock without a life preserver,'' Auhl said. ``After that we had 42 men go overboard and never lost a man.''
The success caught the attention of the California Safety Commission, which after an investigation, issued safety regulations decreeing life preservers for people out on the water for work or pleasure, Auhl recalled. Life preserver regulations, issued by the Army Corps of Engineers, the Coast Guard and even Congress, followed.
``My company adopted it right away and they went 25 years without another incident,'' Auhl added.
It never occurred to Auhl to get a patent on his life preserver. Saving lives was his only thought and his ``greatest contribution.''
P.S. LAVENDERS are the topic of the Herb Society of America's meeting at 1 p.m. today at Norfolk Botanical Garden.
Lavender expert Arthur O. Tucker of Delaware State University will speak and show slides. The public is welcome to attend.
BACK BAY NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE's interior dike road, which has been closed to protect wintering waterfowl, is now open to foot and bicycle traffic. Visit soon and you should be able to see some waterfowl before they all migrate to Northern breeding grounds. MEMO: What unusual nature have you seen this week? And what do you know about
Tidewater traditions and lore? Call me on INFOLINE, 640-5555. Enter
category 2290. Or, send a computer message to my Internet address:
mbarrow(AT)infi.net. ILLUSTRATION: Photos
Orval Auhl, 95, who now lives in Bay Colony, went to work as an
engineer for Dravo Corp. in Pittsburgh in 1927. In 1933, Dravo sent
Auhl, above, to San Francisco to begin work on the bay bridge -
where he also developed a lightweight life preserver for
construction workers.
by CNB