Rock Island daily Argus., 1888-05-17

The Diving Dress Invented by II Native
of Switzerland signaling While Under
Water.
| ~ first began diving in 1868, said Capt
| Anthony Williams, the famous English diver
| 81 was u wrecker then, and was raising 4
| sunkcn ship oil the coast of Cornwall. had
wurisng for uie diver who seemed a very
| lazy, careless sort of fellow. | wus paying
| him 10y the day, aud once, after being under
water for II long time, he came up and re-
| ported very little progress in his work was
angry aud expressed myself strongly. He
retorted with: TRY it yourself il you can
| do any better
"'All right, said |, let me have your div
| ing dress and | will try it myself He
thought was only joking, but wasn't. He
| dotled the dress put it on ana down went.
discharged him when | came up and have
been doing my own diving ever since.
Did you ever see "A diving dressl Nol
Then will put mine on and give you an idea
of one" and the captain retired to his state
room, whence he presently emerged in full
diving costume, except the heavy cast iron
helmet, wkich several Of the company raised
from the deck and placed upon him, thus
making his outfit complete. The dress is
really two dresses, one within the other, each
y,
shirt are all made together as one garment
which the diver enters at the neck, feet first
The hands are left bare, the wristbands Of
the rubber shirt sleeves tightly COMPRISING
tue wrists, There is copper breast plate,
bearing upon its outer convex surface small
screws, which are adjusted through holes in
the neck of the shirt, which by means of
nuts fastened upon the screws, is held so
firmly in place as To render the entire dress,
from the neck downward, absolutely air and
water tight. Fitting with equal closeness
to this breast plate Es the helmet mentioned
above 1t completely encloses the head, and
is supplied with three glasses-one in front
and one at each sids-to enable the diver to
look i'll any direction. A pair of very thick
leather shoes, made to lace up the front, and
snppliei with heavy leaden soles, completes
tine outfit
You see,n said the captain, when his
helmet had been removed, after everybody
had had ample time to criticise his aDpear-
nnce in it, sit takes about fifteen minutes to
put these togs on, and when the diver is
rugged in them all but the helmet there are
placed across his shoulders ropes sustaining
two leaden weights, one hanging at his bnck.
the other at his breast He then goes down a
ladder into the water up to his armpits, and
then the helmet is placed on him, the glass in
front Is screwed i'll place, and when every
thing Is made ready he is made aware of the
fact by blow on the top of the helmet He
then goes down by means of II rope previously
lowered, hand under hand, to the bottom Of
the sea. sometimes, in very strong currents
it is necessary to make the weights extraor-
dinarily heavy in order to hold tho diver
down, notwithstanding the fact that the
dress alone weighs nearly POO pounds, and
yet ! do not fe0l the weight of it down
among the fishes any more than | do that of
an ordinary suit of clothes out of the water.
1t was invented in Switzerland by "A native
of that country named Bauer, who spent n
small competency in having it patented and
in trying to bring it into use, but he died a
disappointed, heart broken pauper, leaving
others to reap the benefit of his invention
Can you breathe as freely in your diving
dress as you can out of itP'
YES Indeed When ten or twelve faith
oms under water my breathing is as wholly |
devoid of effort as it is when am walking |
about ON dry land. You know that by |
means of an dir pump, worked by two men, |
the diver is supplied with air. Through a |
hose this air passes into the back of his he'll |
met, and near its place of entrance is /
spring valve for its escape This valve can |
be controlled by the diver but he usually |
SS'~'
dom disturbs it afterward. The pressure of |
the air being greater than that of the water,
a surplus of the former readily escapes.
When this valve is not sufficient, the diver
can open i'll his breastplate similar spring
valve, intended only for such an emergency. |
He can also regulate the amount of air
pumped to him by signals upon the air hose
TO the men engaged in pumping. One pull
upon the hose means more air; two pulls, |
ess air, and two pulls and shake, II want
% come up" These signals on the air hose
ire generally used by all divers, but each
me of us has his own private code of signals
IN the life line, which is always fastened to
he divers waist, and by means of which he
S drawn up out of water. These signals
,ach diver writes down very carefully and
,ives to the man i'll charge of the life line
By means of these we can send up for tools.
Material, etc When a lengthy communica-
ion is to be made we send up for a slate and
write all we want to say. 1t is just as easy
o read and write under water as out of it.
)ne can see very plainly, all objects be-
ng greatly magnified. "-Geoffrey Williston
jhristine in Chicago Journal