Man this takes me back a long way but as best I can remember the precipitron air cleaner installation coincided with the the Honeywell tape recorders to aid the vacuum system that positioned the tape in the vacuum column. I believe it was installed in '69 in Barbados with the Honeywell and know for sure we had one in Antigua in '71. Cleaning it was not fun. I can personally attest to that.

Agree with Rick it was not fun to clean. But is was fun to smoke next to the air intake and flick cig ashes in to it and listen to the thing go crazy trying to clean up the big chunks. Nothing like being bord on the Mid at Centerville.

A very interesting subject. I'm afraid i have nothing to contribute in terms of Air Quality Monitoring Data and I promise that the following tale by no means makes light of a serious thread. But................,

The Precipitron Air Filtering System was installed in Argentia in about 1967. I recall that it was installed near the old "Bunny Tube" send/receive access station on the Ops floor. The location was at a point where if one was coming from the Operations Officer's Office to Comm, you would make a 90 Deg turn to the left at the Precip system. Conversely, if one was coming from Comm to the Ops Officer's office, one would make a 90 Deg turn to the right at the Precip System. A lot of detail, huh.

Well, at some point in 1967, a Young Lieutenant by the name of McMahon relieved then LT Ben Hacker as Ops Officer. The Precip Filtering Sys was installed about the time of or shortly after their turnover.

LT McMahon was maybe 5' 4" and shortly after taking over as Ops, He was in the Comm shack when he evidently had something urgent occur that required him to hustle to or towards his office. He left Comm in a dead run and when he attempted to make the right turn towards his office, he found himself to be the perfect height to run into the "very Sharp" corner of the newly installed filtering system. He wasn't hurt as badly as he could have been but that corner of the Precip Sys sported a "bandage of sorts" that would soften the blow of any future and unfortunate interactions.

I realize this adds nothing to what was originally an interesting and serious thread on Carbon Dust. But...., the thread made me recall the story and I thought I would share.

John Ellis

I have been at NAVFACs before the vacuum system and after the vacuum systems were fitted. I worked maintenance and was not on the operation floor for long hours. I am not certain as to the health issues, but the carbon dust was a potential for short-circuits and creating crossing to the different grounds (signal to power grounds).

The Precipitron Air Filtering System was installed to keep the air clean to the Honeywell tape recorders. We saved many man-hours of labor by connecting the Precipitron Air Filtering System input directly into the air conditioning duct.