How to Kill Bed Bugs Effectively

Did you know that even the ostensibly cleanest houses and hotels ought to nevertheless harbor mattress bugs? That is due to the fact their presence is not definitely associated with whether a place is sanitary or no longer. Sanitation can truly preserve them at bay however it is not the important thing approach to successfully rid your region of mattress insects. Products are supplied because these bugs are not smooth to eliminate. How powerful a product depends on how resolute you're in getting rid of the critters. You ought to stumble on if there are bugs and nesting areas in your own home or workplace earlier than the use of any insecticide or spray.

Look for feasible hiding areas inclusive of dark and isolated spots.
Inspect cracks and crevices, headboards, footboards, railings, wall posters, switch plates, mounted frames - any viable hiding location due to the fact they can be just about everywhere.
Check for rips or open seams to your mattress, the fave area of mattress insects.
Flick through different smooth furniture which includes sofas, another bug preferred spot.
Because mattress bugs have turn out to be a developing hassle, special products have emerged. These can be utilized in most sort of dwellings inclusive of dormitories, barracks and other shelters.

What Are Bed Bugs?

Cimex lecturarius (Cimicidae) is the clinical call of what is referred to as the not unusual bed insects. These wingless creatures was once parasites that inhabited fowl and bat nests however have tailored to our surroundings and feature now come to invade our houses. They feed at the blood of heat-blooded animals, human beings blanketed. Their bites should lead to various discomforts, hypersensitive reactions and different pores and skin situations.

Adult mattress bugs are oval in form, flat and about a quarter of an inch in size at the same time as new child insects known as nymphs are less than a millimeter in period. Generally deep brown in color, they turn a darker pink, nearly black, after feeding and could intuitively are seeking their dark hideouts when disturbed.

What Are Bed Bug Products?

There are chemical and biological products that may kill the insects however the most normally sold and used is an insecticide spray. Biological spray merchandise are generally safe to use at the same time as chemical spray, when no longer used properly might be dangerous to people. Always read labels and follow instructions carefully whilst using merchandise to kill these creepy crawlers.

Most bites virtually depart in a week or  but ought to sure skin situations appear that would likely get worse, there are means to alleviate the signs. Topical creams and oral antihistamines are some of the ways to relieve itching but for more excessive instances like pores and skin infection; a medical doctor might also prescribe an antibiotic.

Other than bed malicious program products, there are herbal methods to kill and take away the insects and that consists of washing your garments, curtains, pillow instances, bed sheets, towels thoroughly in very hot water. Follow this with drying them in at least a hundred and twenty °F but no over than one hundred sixty °F temperature putting.

You might also do the subsequent:

For sensitive items that cannot be subjected to chemicals or to dry cleaning, vicinity them in a loosely packed but sealed plastic baggage and area beneath the solar for not less than 24 hours, greater if essential to make certain the bugs in reality die. Make certain the gadgets are completely dry.
In locations or season where sun is not an alternative, freezing is an opportunity system. However, freezing the critters to demise may take approximately 1 to two weeks.
Seek the help of professionals if residence heating want to be an option because ordinary residence warmers might not work.
It will assist make insecticides work more effectively if previous to treatment, vacuuming is performed to dislodge eggs and disturb deeply hidden insects to come out. Make positive to vicinity vacuumed dust and insects in a tightly sealed bag and dispose of well.
Badly infested objects may additionally ought to be discarded. Have a professional pest controller try this to keep away from spread of the pests to nearby regions.
Killing those creatures using mattress computer virus products combined with firmly staring at the steps under will assist make sure their removal efficaciously:

Integrated Pest Management - preventive measures, sanitation and chemical treatments are the approaches you need to look at to keep bed insects away.
Repair and protection - partitions, floors and ceilings should be freed from cracks and other harborage spots to discourage infestation.
Spot treatment - observe insecticide (commonplace preference is pyrethoids) to hiding locations like cracks and crevices and repeat after  weeks from first treatment to take away eggs that could have hatched.

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Bed Rails That Kill

As attorneys, many of us have consulted with clients and their families as a result of a fall from a hospital or nursing home bed. These falls result in fractured arms, legs, and hips, and often even more severe injuries such as skull fractures. The patient’s (or family’s) immediate reaction to these unfortunate injuries is to blame the hospital, nursing home, nursing staff, or attending physicians for the failure to have bedside rails raised and in place to prevent such falls. This typical reaction is based upon the assumption that bed rails when properly used, will prevent the patient/resident from falling out of the bed and suffering injury. However, bed rails are not good safety devices, and this article will address the dangers created by their use.

Bedside rails have been in existence for years and are manufactured by several different companies with numerous configurations and designs. A quick search of the Internet discloses some medical supply companies which make and sell these products. The most common bed rail designs include full-length rails, three-quarter-length rails, half-length rails, quarter-length rails, and split-rail configuration (often the most dangerous design).

Bed rails are used extensively in hospitals and nursing homes. In hospitals, their use is typically a nursing decision rather than based upon a physician’s order. However, in nursing homes, Federal regulations require a physician’s order if bed rails are to be used, as the regulations recognize side rails as a form of restraint. Notwithstanding the requirement for nursing homes, physician’s orders are often not obtained because of the belief that bed rails are merely a safety device. This is a misconception: bed rails often cause injury or death.

There has been little study or publication about the risks and benefits of bed rails. However, the reports of adult deaths and injuries from bed rails on file with the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) (incidents from 1993 to 1996) provide significant information for attorneys investigating a potential negligence claim. The CPSC information reflects that seventy-four patients died as a result of the use of bed rails. Moreover, it is not unrealistic to conclude that the actual number of patient deaths far exceeded the reported deaths. Regardless of the actual frequency of deaths, 70% of the reported patient deaths resulted from entrapment between the mattress and the bed rail such that the patient’s face was pressed against the mattress. 18% percent of the reported deaths were the result of entrapment and compression of the neck within the bed rails. Finally, 12% twelve percent of the reported deaths were caused by being trapped by the tracks after sliding partially off the bed, resulting in neck flexion and chest compression.

The second source of significant information comes from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The FDA issued a Safety Alert in August of 1995 regarding the entrapment hazards and safety concerns which accompany the use of bedside rails. The Safety Alert was communicated to hospital administrators, hospital associations, nursing homes, risk managers, bio-medical/clinical engineers, and directors of nursing. The Alert was not specific to any one manufacturer or a particular design of side rail but warned health care providers that the FDA had received 102 reports of head and body entrapment incidents involving side rails between 1990 and 1995. The 102 reports of entrapment resulted in 68 deaths, 22 injuries, and 12 traps without injury. These unfortunate events occurred in hospitals, nursing homes, and private homes. The majority of the entrapments involved elderly patients.

In part, the FDA’s Safety Alert recommended the following actions to prevent deaths and injuries from entrapment in hospital bedside rails:

Inspect all hospital bed frames, bedside rails, and mattresses as part of a regular maintenance program to identify areas of a possible trap. Regardless of mattress width, length, and/or depth, alignment of the bed frame, bedside rail, and mattress should leave no gap wide enough to entrap a patient’s head or body. Be aware that holes can be created by movement or compression of the cushion which may be caused by patient weight, patient movement, or bed position. Be alert to replacement mattresses and bed side rails with dimensions different than the original equipment supplied or specified by the bed frame manufacturer. Not all bed side rails, mattresses, and bed frames are interchangeable.
The entire FDA Safety Alert may be found at: [http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/bedrails.html]. In 1999 the FDA, in conjunction with representatives from the hospital bed industry, national healthcare organizations, and patient advocacy groups formed the Hospital Bed Safety Workgroup. The Workgroup’s goal was to improve the safety of hospital beds for patients in all healthcare settings who are most vulnerable to the risk of entrapment. In April of 2003, the Workgroup published the results of its research in an article entitled, “Clinical Guidance for the Assessment and Implementation of Bed Rails in Hospitals, Long Term Care Facilities, and Home Care Settings.” The guidelines published by the Workgroup are too lengthy to discuss in detail in this short article but do set forth valuable considerations about patient choice, nurse training, and education, policy considerations, and specific bed rail safety guidelines. The bed rail safety guidelines recommend:
1. The bars within the bed rails should be closely spaced to prevent a patient’s head from passing through the openings and becoming entrapped. 2. The mattress to bed rail interface should preclude an individual from falling between the mattress and bed rails and possibly smothering.
3. Care should be taken that the cushion does not shrink over time or after cleaning. Such shrinkage increases the potential space between the rails and the mattress.

4. Check for compression of the mattress’ outside perimeter. Easily compressed borders can increase the gaps between the mattress and the bed rail.

5. Ensure that the mattress is appropriately sized for the selected bed frame, as not all beds and mattresses are interchangeable.

6. The space between the bed rails and the mattress and the headboard and the mattress should be filled either by an added firm inlay or a cushion that creates an interface with the bed rail that prevents an individual from falling between the mattress and bed rails.

7. Latches securing bed rails should be stable so that the bed rails will not fall when shaken.

8. Older bed rail designs that have tapered or winged ends are not appropriate for use with patients assessed to be at risk for entrapment.

9. Maintenance and monitoring of the bed, mattress, and accessories such as patient/caregiver assist items should be ongoing.

For information about the Hospital Bed Safety Workgroup, see the FDA’s web site at [http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/beds/]. If you are confronted with a severe injury or death as a result of a patient’s entrapment in a bedside rail, the information contained in the FDA Safety Alert as well as the guidelines established by the Hospital Bed Safety Workgroup are essential. Consideration should be given to naming both the hospital/nursing home facility as well as the manufacturers and distributors of the side rails as defendants if a personal injury or wrongful death action is pursued. First, nurses often receive little, if any, training on the proper use of side rails. Secondly, it has been this author’s experience that facilities often “mix and match” beds, mattresses, and side rails from different manufacturers leading to inadequate and unsafe integration of the various parts. Finally, the manufacturers have known of the dangers posed by bedside rails since the late 1980s or early 1990s and have taken few steps to make the bed rails safer or warn the end user of the danger. A quick search of Lexis or Westlaw will reveal prior litigation against the manufacturers.

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How to installation A Vinyl Railing

A Vinyl Railing gives the house owner a preservation free product plus enhances the beauty of your house. Vinyl Railings are available numerous patterns and hues so that you can discover that special look for your house. Vinyl Railing can be set up in around concrete patios, without delay on concrete, without delay on wood decks or balconies.

How to plot:

discuss your plans along with your local township to see if there are top or fashion restrictions for the kind of railing you would love to install. traditionally railings are established to a peak of 36 inches for lower tiers and 42 inches for balconies.

go to a good vinyl railing distributor and feature them provide treasured perception and price range hints.

what's available:

Vinyl Railings are available diverse patterns and colors. They may be used for adornment, protection or for safety. The pinnacle rail is available in distinct widths and shapes so that they can be without difficulty hung on to by senior residents. they're generally supplied in a box machine that includes the pinnacle and bottom rails, balusters or pickets, bracket kits with screws and caps. submit caps are also furnished if wanted.

With maximum manufactures each pinnacle and backside rails have metal reinforcements to feature power and stability.

Railing Terminology:

pinnacle Rail - The top portion of the railing that you could hold on too.

bottom Rail - the lowest part of the railing the holds in area the balusters.

Balusters - The pickets in between the pinnacle and bottom rails. those pickets can are available various patterns such as square, round, and different ornamental patterns.

Bracket Kits - will let you join the top and backside rails with the publish.

publish - The vertical aid that the top and backside rails will be connected to.

post Skirt - The post skirt is the bottom molding of the submit to hide the connection to the concrete or wooden deck.

publish Mount - The aluminum mount this is bolted to the wooden deck or concrete. The vinyl publish is then positioned over the aluminum mount for installation.

web page format:

Take time to cautiously lay out your plan for the railing to be installed. An wrong dimension may want to bring about issues later. Make provisions for widths of the railing so that you do no longer come to be with extraordinary sized sections which can complicate the installation.

earlier than You begin:

make certain you have got the ideal submit had to assemble your vinyl railing. In a few conditions, current posts can be used, or if wanted new posts will want to be mounted. Posts for the steps are usually longer then the posts for non-stair sections. make certain to carefully follow all the manufacturer`s instructions. true good fortune with the installation.

Getting commenced:

mission equipment and materials wished: Hacksaw or miter saw, drill, tape measure and level. take a look at all packing containers of material to be sure you ordered the entirety you need and that the whole thing is accounted for. Distribute the rails to the right vicinity for set up. these are

measure Rails for Openings:

First you want to degree the gap of the outlet. Mark the measurement on the pinnacle and bottom rail, verifying that you are trimming equal quantities off of each give up of the pinnacle and backside rail for you to maintain a uniform look.

cut every stop of the pinnacle and backside rail on the markings. (for instance, if your rail is four inches longer than your opening, you want to cut 2 inches off of every quit.)

Insert the foot peg inside the backside rail for the desired distance for the bottom rail to be off of the floor. If a foot peg isn't always to be had, prop up or shim the lowest rail to the preferred distance.

putting in the lowest Rail:

Slide the mounting brackets onto the ends of the top and bottom rails. install backside rail first through inserting into the opening. make sure the rail is stage and then fasten the brackets to the post or column with the provided screws.

placing the Pickets:

Insert the pickets into the routed holes of the bottom rail.

putting in the top Rail:

to put in the top rail, maintain it an attitude above the pickets and slide it onto the picket's one after the other. take a look at to see if the rail is vertically degree and then comfy it by way of screwing the brackets into the post.

alter the pinnacle rail side to facet till the pickets are vertically degree. Screw one leveling screw into the pinnacle and bottom bracket on one give up of the rail.

After meeting deploy the screw caps (furnished) to hide the screw holes.

publish records:

when a post is needed to be mounted, some vinyl posts can pass without delay into the floor around the cement patio. The put up must pass down three feet into the ground with a 60 lb bag of concrete to maintain in region.

some installations require a 4x4 pressure treated publish to be mounted, then the vinyl post sleeve is going over the 4x4.

when putting in the submit directly at the concrete patio or timber deck, a publish mount will be required. The publish mount is bolted directly to the concrete or wooden deck, then the vinyl submit sleeve will cross over the publish mount. at the top of the put up decorate your post with a vinyl put up cap. At the lowest of the post, use a put up skirt for beauty cause.

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Passenger Coach Yards in Chicago

I have found two online sources for the 1915 Smoke Abatement Report:

• a pdf copy from 1915 Smoke Abatement Report
• an eBook

I used to think the .pdf copy was a better scan. But I have discovered that the eBook did a better job with photos. I include copies from both sources for a map so that you can judge which is better. I enlarged both images until they began to show pixels. The .pdf indicated 150%. I could not get a percentage for the eBook, but I would say it was also around 150%.

You probably need to click and image and then save to disk and use a photo viewer to access the full resolution stored by the blog server.

eBook, p 531

pdf copy from 1915 Smoke Abatement Report, p. 531

I have tried to find the passenger coach yards for which I have notes:

• B&OCT Lincoln Street Yard (B&O and Wisconsin Central, sometimes C&O)
• C&NW: Erie Street Yard and others
• C&WI, which handled coaches for its five owners: Erie, Monon, GTW, Wabash, and C&EI
• CB&Q, CB&Q used to have additional yard facilities south of this commuter yard
• GM&O Brighton Park Yard
• Illinois Central (IC, MC for a while, and Big Four)
• Milwaukee Western Yard
• NKP CalumetYard
• Pennsy, today the land is used by Amtrak
• Rock Island and NYC
• Santa Fe

The remaining images are from the eBook.

eBook, p 529

eBook, p 530

eBook, p 532

eBook, p 533

eBook, p 534

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MWRD: 95th Street Pumping Station

(3D Satellite)

MWRD posted
Historical photo of the week: Construction of the MWRD’s 95th Street Pumping station viewed to the east from atop a gas tank on Baltimore Ave just south of 95th Street in Chicago on June 5, 1924. The pumping station went into service in 1925.
Bob Lalich The blast furnaces in the background were Iroquois Iron's furnace plant south of 95th St. Iroquois built a bigger furnace plant at the mouth of the Calumet River around 1912 and once completed, abandoned the plant seen here.

Street View

Street View
Marcin Margler It looks new on the front because I was the project engineer with FH Paschen a while back. We put in a conveyor system to screed out the tampons, condoms, etc. Definitely a cool project to work on then and now.

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Steam Locomotive Servicing Towers: Coal, Water and Sand

Whenever I see a photo of an existing coaling tower posted, I try hard to locate it. I see I currently have 139 postings labeled with "towerCoal" in my towns blog. I'm amazed by the variety of the designs. Even though a lot of them were made by the same manufacture, there seems to have been little effort in standardizing the designs. Even though the towers have been unused for over a half-century, many of them still stand because they were constructed with reinforced concrete.

Dennis DeBruler, Gillman, IL

Most of the coal towers I have seen have been stripped of  their wood and metal parts. So sometimes it is hard to imagine what they used to look like. The comments for this posting taught me about some coaling towers I had not heard of before, some of which still had metal parts. I list some of the existing towers with metal still on them at the end of these notes because they are so rare. For example, these towers north of Gillman, IL looked quite differently when they were being used.

pinimg, Gillman, IL

But the motivation for this posting is the comments by Allan MacDonald and Brian Westhouse that taught me that these towers also stored sand. And some of them also stored water. Note that a diesel, as well as a tender, are parked at Gillman's towers above. That indicates the tower contains sand as well as coal. Like steam locomotives, diesels use sand for extra traction.

Dennis DeBruler

Special sand towers, along with huge diesel fuel tanks, have been developed for the facilities that service diesel engines.

Dennis Corso commented on a posting
Collinwood Yard. NYC on the East side of Cleveland
George L Hoppert It stood just out infront of the roundhouse but could be entered by a laborenth of track from the mains. Brought loaded coal cars through the tunnel on the far riht side to dump the coal into the pit below. they didn't fill or cover the pit for decades after they stopped using it . It was filled with black water to the top of the pit. Many trainman fell into the water filed pit while taking a short cut while switching the ajacent tracks. The elevator is just to the left of the pit.George L Hoppert Dennis Corso I was firing a job, and I got out to help with a move. I was going to take a shortcut through the pit. It was black flat and level just like all the rest of the area. if it wasn't for an old crusty brakeman , I would have gone in.
[This was on the mainline between Chicago and NYC, and it is the largest of which I remember seeing a photo.]

Brian Westhouse commented on a posting
On this wooden coal tipple (at South Parry, On.) can you see the sand delivery pipes on the corners with supply pipes from near the top. The longer diagonal pipe at the top, delivers the sand to the tower.

The above photo shows that large coaling towers were also made of wood. But of course we don't see them today because wood doesn't last that long. In fact, before they used towers, they used coaling docks made of wood. C&NW in Nelson, IL provides examples of all three generations of coaling stations. First, a couple of photos of the coaling dock from the C&NW Historical Society.

C&NW Historical Society from Dennis DeBruler

C&NW Historical Society from Dennis DeBruler

This Jack Delano photo shows the wood tower that was at Nelson, IL. Since it is labelled OWI (Office of War Information), it is one of the many photos of railroading that Jack took during WWII.

Dennis DeBruler, LC-USW3-014097-D, part of lot 227

Since C&NW built their concrete tower after WWII, it would have been built soon before it was useless. I see it does have some metal parts on the other (east) side. I drove east of the tower on the south side looking for a gap in that treeline to get a photo of the other side. But the only gap I could find was on railroad property.

Dennis DeBruler, 20150913,16 4804

Back in the steam era, there was a lot of variety among the railroads. So you can find exceptions to almost every convention. For example, EJ&E had separate sand and coaling towers in their Joliet Yard. And the coaling tower was made of metal, which is quite rare. (It looks like the coaling tower had two skip hoists so that one could be used to counterbalance the other.)

Michael Bachmann posted

Dennis DeBruler

Dennis DeBruler

When constructed correctly, reinforced concrete is so strong that even using explosives to take them down is problematic. When the Rock Island took one down with explosives, the plan was that it would fall to the side. But it dropped down onto the mainline tracks. Kyle McGrogan commented on a posting: "The one in Decatur, Il is still there as the Wabash used old railroad rail for the rebar. N&W tried to blow it down....No luck. To the railroads, they meant these to go 1000 years at the time they built them."

Every town that had a coaling station would also have had a water tower. Although they were not necessarily across the tracks from each other.

Dennis DeBruler, Garrett, PA

Dennis DeBruler

 And there were water towers between coaling stations. So there were more water towers than coaling towers. The reason we don't see more today is that most of them were made of wood, and they have disappeared. One that does exist, and is easy to access if you are ever taking a trip on I-57, is in Kinmundy, IL. In fact, IC built a dam to create a little lake to help supply water for this tower.  Note how the metal bands get closer together as you go down the sides. That is because the water pressure is increasing. They have roofs because the water is treated with chemicals to help reduce the buildup of scale in the steam boilers. They don't want rain water to dilute the chemical treatment.

For tracks that were used by high-priority passenger trains such as NYC's 20th Century Limited, track pans were used to avoid having to stop for water.



Brian Westhouse provided some specifics concerning the spacing of coal and water towers:

On CNR through Northern Ontario, the divisional points averaged 150 miles maximum with coal and water at each end. Another combined Coal and Water stop was made a the 75 mile mark and two or three water towers between coal stops.

I've read that some railroads had a division point every 100 miles, and travelling to the next division point was considered a days work for the train crew. I know that the town of Garrett, IN was created by the B&O to be a division point. Even though trains are no longer serviced there, they are still very proud of their railroad origins. In fact, trains to Chicago were crewed from Garrett long after the conversion to diesel locomotives. They would be cabbed to a motel in Chicago, and then the next day they would run a train back home.

Since Champaign, IL, was a division point, the coaling facility that we see at the top of these notes that was in Gillman, IL, is an example of a coaling station that is about halfway between division points. The Kinmundy water tower was probably an example of an intermediate town that supplied just water.

Sometimes they incorporated water storage in with the coaling tower.

Harold Hoskins commented on a posting
[On this side of the two coal chutes, there appears to be a water spout. So the silo is probably a water tank and the coal bins are behind it. Note that they have a separate sand tower in front.]

Sometimes the train crew improvised to get water.

Brian Westhouse commented on a posting
I took this picture in 1970 about 98 miles north of Toronto. The coal tipple still standing has been long out of service. The 4-8-4 at the head end of this consist is taking on water from the river, being pumped by the local volunteer fire dept.

Examples of towers that have at least some of their metal parts left

Dennis DeBruler, New Haven, CT

Since the metal parts are tracks, the tower would have used a skip hoist instead of a bucket elevator. Skip hoists were also used to charge blast furnaces, so the "new window" for this video shows a skip hoist in action.
(new window)

Dennis DeBruler, Flomation, AL

Dennis DeBruler, Buffalo, NY

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Washington State/Milwaukee 1909 Bridge over Columbia River near Beverly, WA

(Bridge Hunter 1, Bridge Hunter 2, Satellite)

This bridge became abandoned when Milwaukee Road abandoned its westward extension. Washingthon State got ownership because of back taxes. Some of the Milwaukee right-of-way has been converted to the John Wayne Pioneer Trail, but the bridge is currently closed. How can a bridge be so bad that it can't even support people and horses? In 2018, the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation is working on getting an engineering study done to determine how to rehabilitate it for trail use. [Bridge Hunter 2]

Photo from Bridge Hunter 2

Photo is one of  14 from Hoffman's Gallery of Misadventure (source)

A photo with Boxcab Electrics pulling a train

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