Reed v. Rex Fuel Co.
| Decision Date | 07 June 1913 |
| Parties | D. E. REED, Appellee, v. REX FUEL COMPANY, Appellant |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
Appeal from Mahaska District Court.--HON. JOHN F. TALBOTT, Judge.
ACTION to recover damages for injuries received by plaintiff, who was a servant of the defendant company, engaged in operating a gasoline engine, for the purpose of pumping water from a coal mine. It is alleged that the defendant was negligent in failing to guard certain cogs, gears, belts, shafting, and set screws, used on or about the engine, as by law provided and was also negligent in not furnishing plaintiff a safe place to work, due to the fact that it failed to furnish the necessary belt shifters, or loose pulleys, and so placed the engine in the building, where it was operated, that it did not give sufficient room between the walls of the building and the side of the engine, where a clutch was located, for a man to pass with safety; that the place was negligently maintained, and was dangerous; and that defendant was warned of the danger before the accident occurred, and was requested to repair the same, which it promised, but failed to do before the accident occurred. He also alleged that the floor of the building was rough and uneven, and so left that while plaintiff was operating the machine he was liable to stumble and trip thereon, and that, while in the act of manipulating the clutch, so as to put the machinery in gear, he did slip and fall into the unguarded gearing of the machinery, and received the injuries of which he complains. Defendant denied the allegations of the petition, and pleaded assumption of risk and contributory negligence on the part of the plaintiff. On these issues, the case was tried to a jury resulting in a verdict and judgment for plaintiff in the sum of $ 7,000, and defendant appeals. Reversed.
Reversed.
Burrell & Devitt and Chandler Woodbridge, for appellant.
McCoy & McCoy and Dan Davis, for appellee.
Plaintiff was twenty-two years of age at the time he received his injuries, and had been working for the defendant about seven months. He was employed to operate a gasoline engine, which was used to pump water out of an abandoned shaft. Part of the machinery was over this abandoned shaft, and all of it was in a building known as the "engine house," and there was a narrow aisle between a belt on the machine and one of the walls of the building, and along and through this space plaintiff passed in operating the clutch, upon the machine, which put the pump in motion. The following is a description of the situation, as observed by some of the witnesses:
I took the measurement of the passageway on one side between the belt and the side of the building. It was twenty-two inches wide by the square. The passageway led back from the engine up to the pump, the gearing, and platform of the pump, and the clutch was on the east side of the building. The passageway was between the belt and the side of the building. To go into the pump room you pass from the engine room onto a platform raised about ten inches. That was made of native timber, with boards lying lengthwise. The boards were two by four and two by ten. That constituted the floor up to the clutch. It was over the old shaft. The belting, gearing, and where the cogwheels meshed were not guarded in any way. It could have been guarded by piping or by lumber. They could have put a sheet iron shell over the gears. Such a protection would not interfere with the operation of the machinery at all. In the alley where he walks there was a board broken, and another one was warped up edgeways. There was a wedge strip broken off so that, when you stepped on it, it would come down and then raise back when the man was off. It was hardly noticeable until you stepped on it. It would come down two or two and a half inches under the weight of a man.
Another witness testified as follows:
The belt wheel at the engine is twenty inches in diameter and the other belt wheel is forty inches. The engine was rated at two hundred and fifty revolutions a minute. It ran at the rate of seventeen feet a second. There could have been a railing made in front of the belting in such a way as to keep a person off. You could make it out of two by four's or could make it out of piping; either would have been all right. It should be five feet high anyway. The protection that I have spoken of would not interfere in any way with the working of the machinery.
And plaintiff, himself, said of it:
The belt, cogwheels, and machinery were not guarded or protected in any way. The belt might have been guarded by putting piping at one side of it to keep a man from falling onto it, or a railing, or just a plank. The cogwheels could have been guarded by taking a piece of metal of some kind and made it come over the top of the cogwheels and shafting with a flange down the side so that nothing would be able to pass inside into the gearing. Such a guard would not interfere in the proper use of the machinery.
And still another said:
The runway was full of old boards, of course, and pieces of studding laid across there, of what I would call dimensions of two by four or two by six, or something of that kind, and about two inches thick. The platform would be about two and a half feet wide. I noticed where the wheel fell that there was one board broken. It was broken nearly in two so that when you stepped on the splintered end it would spring down. Mr. Reed called the master mechanic's attention to it. He looked at his watch and said, 'It is just quitting time now,' and that he would not have time to fix it today, but would just as soon as he could get to it.
Plaintiff gave the following testimony as to how the accident occurred:
On the day I was hurt I had just come from dinner at the house, about a block from the shaft. Just as the engine got to going I went back to the clutch. The belt came up about three feet four, or three feet eight. I am six feet tall. The broken place in the floor was just where I had to stoop to go under the sill. It was about four feet away from the clutch. After I got the engine started I did as I always did. I walked back to the clutch very carefully. I could not walk straight; I had to walk sideways, and very carefully walked back to the clutch. I shoved the clutch in and turned around, just kind of half turned, standing partly straight, and then walked towards the engine. I walked back to the clutch and threw the clutch in and turned around kind of sideways and started back. I had to be careful in stooping down under this board, and the belt caught me and pulled me right up over the belt wheel, and jammed me over against the gearing. It threw me about three and a half or four feet, and just when I was lying with my back against it my second finger caught. That pulled me over the north side, just where the pump works in the pump room. I was then lying on my left side like, with my head this way. When I started away I found my fingers were off. I fell on this hip against the sill. My fingers were caught in the cogs; my clothing was ripped and torn. I started to work in January, and this injury occurred on the 17th. day of May. The conditions were exactly the same, except that the board wasn't split. There had been no change in the location of the machinery and the pulleys, and I had been in charge of it every day, including Sundays. I knew that the cogwheel was not guarded and the belt was not guarded. I knew the distance in the runway, but I never measured it. The runway was in exactly the same condition; nothing had been changed. I knew it was close, but didn't know the exact distance. The belt revolved at the rate of 1,700 feet a minute, somewhere near that.
Q. You understood, and of course appreciated fully, the danger of coming in contact with that belt? A. Yes, sir; I knew that if I got caught I would get hurt. I understood that. Q. You knew that the first day you went there? A. Yes, sir; I knew I had to be careful; yes, sir. Q. You knew a belt revolving on a belt wheel running 1,740 feet a minute, that that meant you must keep away from it? A. Yes, sir; of course. Q. Of course the more you saw of it, the more that fact was impressed on your mind? A. Yes, sir. Q. When you called the master mechanic's attention to the dangerous character of the floor, he agreed to fix it promptly? A. Yes, sir. Q. You knew when you complained of the floor, where the board was that had been broken? A. I knew where it had been broken; yes, sir. Q. You did not look for it again? A. It was there, I could step over it as a rule, and then stoop and go under the sill, and it would turn me next to the framework. Q. How far was it from the wheel, the belt wheel? A. Well, as I said, it was a very little bit to the south. Q. When you set your weight of your foot on that broken board it went down? A. Yes, sir. Q. And the board next to it was warped up? A. Yes, sir. Q. Do you mean that when you stepped on it with your foot it went down two or three inches lower than the board next to it? A. Well, when your foot happened to be a little over on the other side, it would slack over. Q. Well, now, what I am trying to get at, whether you observed how far it would go down; what the difference was between the broken board when it was clear down and the board that was warped up? A. I never measured it when it was down, but I expect it would go down a couple of inches. Q. How much was the other board warped up? A. Well, I could not tell correctly from the shape by looking at it. It probably stuck up an inch, anyway, or an inch and a half. Q. One would go down and the other up an inch or an inch and a half? A. Yes, sir. Q. Now, the reason you wanted it fixed was on account of the...
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