The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1869-07-16
A NEW INSTRUMENT FOB DEEP SEA

- 1872 wR o4uNt'An0o' ~ a
emo Morse finiff~ have put theif in
ventiyc genius to work again, and the
result this time is bathometer, All iu-
strument for obtaining deep sea sound
inos. The inventors are Sidney f..
Morse, brother of the inyentor of the
electrical telegraph, and his son, Mr..
Livingston Morse, and the apparatus is
thus described: It consists, in brief, of
a tube or cylinder of wood or tin, about
six inches in diameter and several in
length, varying according to the lOcali-
ty in which it is designed to he used.
Within this outer can arc inclosed o
number of hollow spheres of glass, FILL
cd with air ut the ordinary atmOspher-
lie pressure. These globes of glass
serve as floats or buoys, and one of the
most valuable points in the invention is
! that these glass spheres, only about
one tenth of an inch In thickness, will
endure pressure equal to that of the
sea at several miles depth, without
breakage or injury. Some of the spheres
had endured q pressure of four and a
half tons to the square inch, under a
hydraulic press, without falling. The
tube with its Enclosed spheres, is ballast
cd so as to float upright In the water,
and to its lower end is attached n weight
sufficient to carry it rapidly to the bot
tom. This weight is so connected to
to the tube that the instant 1t touches
bottom il becomes detached from it, and
the tube, by tile buoyancy OF its inclosed
spheres, rises again to the surface. AS
the time of descent aud ascent are al
ways equal, and the rate of the instru-
ments motion through the water is as
certained by previous experiments, the
length of time it is beneath the sur
face affords a pretty accurate measure
of the depth to which il reached. But
the inventors do not depend upon this
means alone for estimating the distance
to the bottom. The apparatus so far is
merely the carriage for conveying to
the bottom OF the sea and returning to
the surface anothcrpiece of mechanism,
which shall accurately report the dis
tance traveled-or rather, the depth at
tained. This register consists of glass
vessel flied with distilled water and
closed with stopper of India rubber
or gutta percha. Attached to this YES
sci is an India rubber bag, filled with
mercury, which communicates with the
water vessel by means o. q small tube.
The pressure of the ocean at n great
depth congresses the water in the YES
sci, and certain amount of mercury
flows in to fill the vacancy thus caused.
The quantity Of mercury found in the
shows the extent of the compression of
the water in the vessel, and as the com
preston of the water is always uniform,
this gives an exact and trustworthy
measure of the pressure of the water
at the point when the weight becomes
detached from the tube. In addition to
this, ALaury's or any other self-register-
ing bathometer may be attached to the
apparatus, thus giving ut single de-
Nscent the c0rfoborating registrations OF
the depth. The instrument also i'll its
return brings up specimen of the bot
tom of the sea at the point where il
struck. 1t is we'll known that the old
method of sounding by line and sink
CT has proved totally untrustw orthy for
great depths, as the disturbances of the
line by currents and the motion of the
vessel rendered the results obtained
wholly uncertain, and even Professor
Maury, who has probably had more ex-
periencc III the business than any Other
man, makes all his soundings of over a
milo I'm depth as doubtful t.RtH
The Morse machine being entirely
automatic in it's action and being entire.
ly disconnected from the vessel, is moi
liable 10 these objections, and its actor
being very rapid, it is not liable to bC
much affected by submarine currents
by the old method from six to sever
hours are required to make soundin.
Of 2000 fathoms, while the Messrs
Morse estimate from experiments made
by thcm that their instrument will de-
scend to that depth and return within
thirty minutes.
Should the bathometer succeed in al
that Is expected of it-and there exists
no apparent reason why it should not
1t will prove the most valuable adjunc
to science siuce the invention. of the
microscope. - hfS @'t1 ~