Proto, noun

/ˈprəʊtəʊ/
Forms:
Also with small initial.
1. The proprietory name of a breathing apparatus which filters out toxic gases and supplies oxygen to the wearer during underground rescue operations. Usually attributive.
1932 Watermeyer & Hoffenberg Witwatersrand Mining PracticeTeams are organized and trained in the use of Proto Rescue apparatus and they are liable to be called to their own (or other) mine at any time.
1975 Chambers Dict. of Science & Technology 945Proto set (Mining), Mine rescue equipment, weighing some 18 kg and incorporating an oxygen cylinder, breathing bag, and face mask, used for work in foul underground air.
1977 Sunday Times 30 Jan. (Mag. Sect.) 1Proto, The name of a breathing apparatus which filters out toxic gases and supplies its wearer with oxygen in conditions of intense heat and bad air.
1983 Mining Dict. 202Proto apparatus...Proto mask.
2. Special Combinations
Proto captain, the leader of the Proto team;
Proto man, a member of a Proto team;
Proto team, a team with special training in (underground) rescue procedures. Also attributive.
1983 Mining Dict. 202Proto captain.
1972 Mining Survey Oct. 28What is a Proto man? Taking his name from the breathing apparatus — his primary ‘tool’ — he is a highly skilled, self-disciplined member of a team that can be called upon at a moment’s notice night or day, to go underground in an emergency and fight fire or save lives.
1946 C.B. Jeppe Gold Mining on Witwatersrand II. 1811‘Proto’ teams, One or more fully trained Proto teams are maintained on most mines...Proto Team Equipment,...5 sets of Proto rescue apparatus...Canaries in small cages.
1960 Rand Daily Mail in J. Crwys-Williams S. Afr. Despatches (1989) 325Nobody knows how many hundred yards of rock and debris separate them from the proto (rescue) teams who are working in two-hour shifts.
1976 Citizen 19 Dec. 2Police and mine proto teams were last night digging through the rubble of a five-storey block of flats which collapsed when an earthquake struck Welkom yesterday.
1980 Sunday Times 3 Feb. (Mag. Sect.) 5Proto teams went down. Wearing oxygen masks and working round the clock they tried to break through to the men.
1989 J. Crwys-Williams S. Afr. Despatches 327It was hope..which kept everyone going, from the Proto teams clearing a passage at the rate of two metres every three hours,..to the witchdoctor throwing bones in their midst.
1993 E. Prov. Herald 15 May 1Specially trained proto teams are working against the clock in a search for the miners.
The proprietory name of a breathing apparatus which filters out toxic gases and supplies oxygen to the wearer during underground rescue operations. Usually attributive.
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protea, nounn.Province, nounn.
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