The weekly sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1886-1887, 1886-10-28
souNplNcs IN THE DEEP SEA.

SVONIIN00 TN TIE OGGE O6Ts
How the Heavy Iron Balls Are Sunk In
Water Four Miles Deep.
After steaming two days to the east
ward the line of deep-sea soundings was
taken up again in the South Atlantic
ocean, where the Enterprise had left off
on her outward passage around the Caps
Of Good Hope over three years before.
The soundings are taken with iron balls
similar to nine-inch shot slung with wire.
4 hole three inches in diameter through
the middle of the ball reduces its
weight from niety-six pounds
the weight Of nine-inch shot-to sixty
four pounds. Through this hole brass
plunger is inserted several inches
longer than the diameter of the shot.
The plunger is filed with worm, q
cup, and hook, by which the shot Is
fastened to reel containing 1000 faith
oms of steel wire fastened to a swivel
forming the head Of the plunger, md led
over wheel in an iron frame several
feet clear of the ships side, and over an
other wheel a little below the frame.
This leads the wire still farther clear OF
the ship. The frame on which the upper
wheel hangs has five hollow stanchlons,
IN which are springs, to each Of which
rope is fastened, roll over roll, as In the
top of the frame, and to which the wheel
hangs so az to give it chance to give
way several feet to ease the strain which
naturally comes on the wire and would
surely break it on a heavy roll of the
ship, as it has done once, causing loss
Of 1, 900 fathoms of wire.
When everything is ready the shot Is
dropped overheard and the wire runs off
the reel at a rate of !, 900 fathoms in ten
minutes. As soon as the pfunger reaches
the bottom the hook to which the shot is
fastened turns over by the slackening OF
the strain, and so releases it. A tell-tale
on the axle of the reel tells how many
fathoms of wire have run off. A steam
engine then winds the wire with the
plunger on the reel, minus the shot,
which forever remains at the bottom of
the ocean. The plunger consists of
hollow brass tube ten inches long, in
which is inserted worm with cup on
the lower end. The worm serves for
the purpose of twisting the cup into the
bed of the ocean and fetching up
sample from the bottom. The contents
Of the cup, after the water is drained off,
aTe put in small bottles and labeled with
latitude, longitude, and depth. These
bottles are packed into boxes and sent
to the photographic office in Wash
ington.
When under steam alone the engines
are stopped fer sounding, but when un-
der sail alone steam has to be gotten up
and all sail taken in, as the ship has to
he perfectly quiet and to be under con-
troll, which is impossible under sail.
Soundings We're taken about 100 miles,
the depth usually being 1000 or 5000
fathoms. The greatest encountered was
1880 fathoms or about four and half
miles. In latitude 80 degrees south and
longitude 80 degrees west shoal water
of about 400 or 500 fathoms was found,
revealing the existence Of range of
mountains on the bottom of the ocean.
These the Challenger, an English man
6-war, on deep-sea sounding eXpedl-
ton around the world ten years ago, had
failed to discover. That day fifteen
soundings were taken, one every five
miles, till deep water was found again.
The cost of a shot is 81. Lieut.. Mark,
the navigator, had charge of the work,
and it required a quartermaster, an as
sistant and fireman to run the engine
to take a sounding, which altogether
Lasts about an hour. Should the shot
fail to discharge, as it did once during
the cruise, the whole has to be wound up
again by hand, which takes three hours
for depth Of 5000 fathoms, as the en-
CINE is not powerful enough to wind up
wire, shot and aI.-Baltimore Sun.
Harps in tho Human Ear.
Few persons, perhaps, are aware that
they possess pair of harps. They are
called the organs of Corti, after their
discoverer and are located in the ear.
They are estimated to have $500 strings,
being, of course, microscopic and vary
ing in length from 1-500 to 1900 of an
inch. If you hold properly tuned VIC
lin near piano when the E string is
struck the E violin string will vibrate
and sound too; SO with all the rest. Now,
the $500 strings Of the human ear harp
have such wide compass that any APP
preciable sound in the universe has the
corresponding tone string, and the sound
is conveyed through the connecting fila
ment t. the auditory nerve, thence to
the sensorium, and thus knowledge of
the sound is received by the mind.-Chi-
oago Herald.
An Old Long Island School-House.