Helfenstein v. Medart

36 S.W. 863, 136 Mo. 595, 1896 Mo. LEXIS 357
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedDecember 23, 1896
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 36 S.W. 863 (Helfenstein v. Medart) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Helfenstein v. Medart, 36 S.W. 863, 136 Mo. 595, 1896 Mo. LEXIS 357 (Mo. 1896).

Opinions

DIVISION TWO.

Burgess, J.

The widow of William Helfenstein brought this suit in the circuit court of the city of St. Louis to recover damages for the death of her husband. The venue was subsequently changed to the circuit court of the county of St. Louis, where a trial was had to a jury, resulting in a verdict and judgment in favor of plaintiff in the sum of $4,500. Defendants bring the case to this court by appeal for review.

At the time of the accident and for eight months prior thereto deceased was in the employ of defendants as a grinder in their factory in the city of St. Louis, and as such it was his duty to polish iron or steel castings by holding them in contact with a grinding-stone revolved by means of a pulley and belting operated by steam power.

The petition contains the following averments:

“But plaintiff states that defendants wholly neglecting and disregarding their duty in that behalf furnished said Helfenstein with a grinding-stone on said eighth day of February, 1893, of an unusually large circumference and connected the same by belting with a pulley of large circumference which had theretofore been used in connection with a considerably smaller grinding stone; that by connecting this larger stone with said large pulley the stone was revolved at a very high and dangerous rate of speed, and that defendants [600]*600knew, or by the exercise of ordinary care might have known, that by connecting said grinding-stone with said pulley as aforesaid and causing said stone to revolve at the high rate of speed aforesaid, the said stone would fly'to pieces and injure any person who happened to be near it.
“And plaintiff states that on February 8, 1893, while said Helfenstein was in the employ of defendants as aforesaid, and was standing in front of the grinding-stone, at which he had been working until a short time before, said grinding-stone suddenly flew to pieces, on account of the high speed at which it was revolving, and the parts thereof, and also an iron splasher which was fastened in front of it were violently hurled against said "William Helfenstein, striking him in the right hip and wounding and injuring him.”

The answer, after denying all allegations of negligence contained in the petition, alleged that the bursting of the stone was one of the dangers assumed by deceased in his employment; that at the time it burst, deceased, knowing the dangers incident to his action, had voluntarily placed himself in front of the stone, while not in the discharge of his duty, 'and was by reason thereof guilty of contributory negligence.

Plaintiff replied to the answer and denied all new matter contained therein.

At the time of the accident defendants conducted a large factory in said city for the manufacture of all sizes of iron pulleys. The pulleys manufactured by them consist of a cast iron hub with radiating spokes, .with a flat circular rim of wrought iron or steel attached to the ends of the spokes. A part of the process of manufacture was to grind down the edges and faces . of the rims of the pulleys by means of grindstones, mounted in machines constructed for that especial purpose. There were six or seven of said machines [601]*601in use in defendants’ factory, in the grinding department, which department was under the supervision of a foreman, and it and other departments were under the supervision of a superintendent.

At the time of the injury deceased was about twenty-six years of age, and up to the time he entered the service of defendants he had been a whitewasher. For about a month after he began work he was called a “handy” man, and was then put to work grinding stones. No instructions were given him, but the man working nearest to him in the same business gave him advice and assistance. He was still working on small pulleys at which new hands were put to grinding. He did not know the speed of the grindstone, nor did the foreman know the limit of speed at which they might be safely run.

Each grinding machine consisted, of a' heavy wooden square frame about -feet long, seven feet wide and three and one half feet high. At the left and rear corner of these machines the grindstone used for grinding the pulleys was mounted on a shaft or axle, the latter being at right angle with the frame, and the face or outer edge of the stone being toward him. An iron shaft was set in the frame running from right to left in a way to admit of a mandrel being keyed to it so that one end projected beyond the frame in front of the grindstone. To the end of the mandrel the pulley to be ground was attached temporarily, and the shaft and mandrel were geared in the frame in such a way that a grinder operating the machine could, while standing at a corner of the frame diagonally across from the stone, place any part of the pulley to be ground in contact with the stone, by means of a lever with a circular handhold fixed to the machine at that corner. The position of the grinder, and plan of construction of the machine will appear from the following map:

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Bluebook (online)
36 S.W. 863, 136 Mo. 595, 1896 Mo. LEXIS 357, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/helfenstein-v-medart-mo-1896.