The Sun.
London, England, 1856-03-21 00:00:00

INSTITUTION OF CITIL ENGINEERS.

1131.3118A8D K. BRUNEL, Esq., Vice-President, is the

chair.

On Tuesday the paper read was "On Improvements in
Diving Dresses, and other apparatus for working under
water," by Mr. William Heinke.

Passing cursorily over the somewhat doubtful accounts
of the exploits of the pearl-fishers, even when aided by
the primitive expedient of holding in the mouth a piece
of sponge steeped in oil, and merely referring to the
subaqueous labours of the ancients in their attempts
to destroy the galleys besieging Tyre and Syracuse,
the paper reviewed the various accounts of divers, and
of such apparatus as had been described, dew' to the first
distinct allusion to an apparatus called "an aquatic ket-
tle," stated by John Taisner to have been used by two
Greeks at Toledo, in Spain, in 1538. The ssme author
mentioned " aquatic armour," which he preferred, as it
enabled the divers to walk under water. The apparatus
was evidently an open helmet, only calculated for small
depths. Then came a series of inventions called " air
chests," all, more or less, upon the same principle. In
1620 Cornelius Debrell contrived a submarine vessel, is
which the air was supposed to have been renewed by " a
composition, or liquid, that would speedily restore to the
troubled air suet a proportion of vital parts, as would
make it again, for a good while, fit for respiration."
Friar Bacon and Bishop Wilkins were both contrivers
of diving apparatus, and the Marquis of Worcester, of
course, included so inviting a subject among his list of in-
♦entions.

Borelli, in 1669, appeared to have made the nearest ap-
proach to a perfect diving dress, as he had a vessel of cop-
per for the head, glazed in front, attached to a complete
dress of goat's skin, and had a primp by his side, whereby
he could cause himself to ascend or descend at will ; he
had at the same time free communication with the air by
means of pipes.
About the year 1575 propositions were made for subma-
rine researches among the wrecked vessels, but most of
the attempts were fruitless, in consequence of the imper-
fect apparatus employed ; among the speculators was the
Duke of Argyll, who employed one Colquhoun, of Glas-
gow, to explore the wreck of a Spanish vessel, sunk off the
Isle of Mull. The apparatus he used was very similar to
the modern loose helmet, bat it was only supplied with
air, by tubes from the surface, without any pumps.
The most successful adventure of the period was under-
taken by one Phipps, a ship carpenter, the sen of a black-
smith, at Boston, in America. Ho devised some modifica-
tion of the apparatus, which enabled him to operate, in
1687, upon the wreck of a Spanish galleon lying off the
coast of Hispaniola • and on being assisted with money by
the E of Albemarle eventually succeeded in raising pro-
perty to the value of 300,0001., of which his own share
amounted to about 20,0001. He then continual to engage
in similar ventures—so successfully that he was knighted,
became sheriff of New England, and founded the noble
family now represented by the Marquis of Normanby.
•Dr. Halley, whilst secretary of the Royal Society, paid
great attention to the subject, and devised such schemes as
would almost authorise, his being considered the practical
inventor of the diving-bell, and he certainly rendered the
diving dress more generally applicable. He first applied
artificial means of supplying the divers with air by bellows,
or by buckets, alternately rising and descending. He
stated that he had remained at a depth of 10 fathoms for
as hour and a half without inconvenience. John Leith-
bridge, of Exeter, also introduced a diving chest with mere
slice -.se, in 1716. Leopold described several schemes, and
Martin Treiwald, in his apparatus, used convex lenses in-
stead of plain glass for illuminating the machine. About
17,0 Mr. Rowe introduced a diving chest, thy means of
which he appeared to have successfully explored several
wrecks. Mr. Spalding and Mr. Faray, about 1775, intro-
duced several useful modifications of Halley's and of Trio-
weld's apparatus. Mr. Bushnell, of Connecticut, in 1775,
offered to destroy the British fleets they in the American
waters; but though ho could remain some time submerged
he could not succeed it his object. This scheme was re-
suscitated in 1822 by Colonel Samuel Colt, the inventor of
the celebrated revolver fire-arms ; but althoughthe govern-
ment of the United States afforded considerable pecuniary
assistance, it did not appear that any useful effect was ar-