Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College

Leonard H Nelms

Philip W West

Kenneth D Reiszner

A personal monitoring device, dosimeter, or badge-like apparatus for measuring the exposure of personnel to pollutant toxic organic vaporous materials, notably vinyl chloride, comprised of a body portion provided with a relatively shallow top cavity, or cup-like member completely filled with an adsorbent, absorbent or reactive material, preferably activated carbon, covered, closed and physically held in place by a contiguous, thin non-porous membrane, permeable to the organic vaporous materials, notably vinyl chloride. The polluting toxic material, e.g., vinyl chloride, permeates and is transported through the membrane and is then adsorbed on the activated carbon at a rate proportional to the external concentration during the period of exposure and is subsequently removed for analysis, as by gas chromatography. The device is simple in construction, easy to use, insensitive to temperature and humidity effects, and free of other possible interferences. The device is ideally suited to personal monitoring programs required by OSHA regulations, and the analytical data obtained represents a time-weighted-average exposure which requires no further data evaluations.

Growing community of inventors

Baton Rouge, LA, United States of America

Leonard H Nelms