Abstract
The effects of vibration isolating gloves in reducing the vibration transmitted to the operator chipping castings were investigated. The actual chipping technique was simulated at the University of Iowa Department of Biomedical Engineering. The resulting accelerations measured during the chipping process were recorded on a four channel FM tape recorder through a set of accelerometers mounted on the back of the operator's hand used for holding/guiding the chisel. The data were digitized with a PDP 11/34 computer, and third octave band rms acceleration levels were obtained. The results indicated that the use of vibration isolating gloves reduced the vibration on the hand holding the chisel significantly in comparison to the bare hand. The average reductions achieved for the leather, Poron padded and Sorbothane padded gloves were 23.5%, 24.2% and 45.5%, respectively. Operators should be encouraged to wear vibration isolating gloves during the chipping process.