Abstract

Blankets may be disinfected in steam at subatmospheric pressures by temperatures below boiling point inside a suitably adapted autoclave chamber.

The chamber and its contents are thoroughly evacuated of air so as to allow rapid heat penetration, and steam is admitted to a pressure of 10 in. Hg below atmospheric pressure, which corresponds to a temperature of 89°C. Woollen blankets treated 50 times by this process were undamaged. Vegetative organisms were destroyed but not spores.

The method is suitable for large-scale disinfection of blankets and for disinfecting various other articles which would be damaged at higher temperatures.