The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1883-10-12
In q Diying-BelI.

Il.
engineer and diver, of Toledo, is at
present in the city, doing some work on
the crib. He is short. thick-set man.
of very muscular appearance and
pleasing address. To look at him, with
his eyeglasses, high forehead and
faultless dress, and to hear his choice
language, one would take him to be a
Wall street broker rather than a diver.
Yes said he, Il suppose if were to
write book containing my past fifteen
years experience as a diver it would
be quite an interesting volume, but we
soon become used to the business, and
many little incidents, which you
possibly would consider almost hair
breadth escapes, are to us nothing
more than an everyday occurrence.
My work has been mostly confined to
the great lakes and in and about its
rivers and harbors, SO | can not say
much about diving in the salt water.
Saltwater diving, however, is much
more periTous on account of the sub
marine animals against which one has
to guard, and the increased disadyan-
tage and danger Of working at great
depths. The greatest dive in fresh
water that, | know of was made by
Harrington off Long Point, nearly OPP
posite Erie, Pa. 1t was at the wreck OF
the Atlantic, and the depth at which
he was Obliged to work was 157 feet.
Such dive as that, few years ago,
when the old style of apparatus was
used. would have been almost an i'm
possibility, but with the improved APP
plianees of to-day it is a comparatively
easy matter"
I'm what particulars have these i'm
provements been madeP" asked the re-
| porter.
''Mostly with regard to the safety
valves attached to the helmet, which
regulates the internal pressure of the
air within the bell, with the external
pressure of the water outside"
Il presume the sensation of ones
first dive are rather peculiar, are they
not?' queried the reporter.
We'll, yes; but it was so long ago that
| took my first dive that | have almost
| forgotten it. The sensation which YOU
would be apt to notice first is a peculiar
ringing in the ears. This is caused by
| the pressure of the air within the bell
upon the drum of the car, and the
| deeper one gets down the greater the
pressure. You can avoid this unpleas-
antness to a great extent. however, by
the simple act of swallowing. The
little tube, which serves as an air
passage between the mouth and the
inner chamber of the ear, is dilated by
the act of swallowing, and thus opens a
way for the air to pass up into the inneI
ear, thereby making the pressure on
both sides of the drum the same. A
| divers suit is made of rubber canvas,
very strong, and entirely impervious to
water. This suit encases the body up
to the neck. where the helmet is fas.
| tened on. The helmet is made of cop
| per, with three windows of strong
glass, one in front and one on either
| side, which enables the man inside to
see by simply turning his head. Al
the back of the helmet are fastened
tive pieces of rubber tubing, which
serve to carry the pure air from the
pump into the helmet and the bad all
to the outside. The soles of the feet are
of lead, and heavy weights are also
| fastened to the waist The whole
dress, without the man, weighs about
two hundred pounds. No, we have nc
trouble about working or walking
around when we are once under water
The dress. then seems no heavier than
| an ordinary business suit. The kind
| and amount of work we ale able to dc
while under water can best illustrate
by telling you of piece of work VIZ
are new doing at Toledo. A bridge
| there belonging to the Pennsylvania
Railroad, which crosses the Maumee
River, was swept away last winter by
ice. Seventeen cars, loaded with
stone, lay buried under ten feet of sand
| and thirty feet of water. The cars are
| now on the track, the stone has been
| put into buildings, and the three origi
nal spans of the bridge which fell are
| now above the surface of the water
''Do you ever have trouble with The
fishes willie at workp''
| mo, they seldom come anywhere
near us except the bass. This fish is the
brayest of AL the fnny tribe, and while
| other fish-dart away like flash when
ever we approach them, the bass viii
come toward us and rub their nose.
against our aSmor with seeming affec
ton, They are prompted undoubtedly
by curiosity excited by a creature which
must indeed seem strange to them"
There Is a fascinating side TO thu
life of diver no doubt, but | Should
think that the work of extricating deat
bodies from a wreck could hardly b.
called pleasant.
'Oh, WI. get used to that, and do no
mind it any more than an undertake.
does his work. That kind of job al
ways pays well, l worked wreck of
the coast of Newfoundland once, ant
received as high as thirty dollars foi
every body taken out. 1t is false imples
sion, though, that bodies are found il
wrecks in pastures indicative of life.
have often read of cases where the bod
| les of men were found sitting at
table playing the same game of card
as they were when the ship went down
a woman sewing in one chair and |
man reading his newspaper in another
But this is all nonsense In all case
where the bodies have remained Ion!
enough In the water to be deeomposet
they are floating against the top Of thu
cabin, and if decomposition has no
taken place they will be found stretched
upon the floor or in some of the mos
agonizing positions possible. "-Ceve
land Leader.
L.