Wichita eagle., 1889-11-14
A DIVERS EXPERIENCES.
A VETERANS TALK CONCERNING
AFFAIRS UNDER WATER.

AFFAIRS UNDER WA j 6h.
Tho Pressure Sustained by Diver-Dan-
gers from . Too Rapid Ascent to the
Surface Various Interesting Objects
Taken from Wrecks.
Some very interesting facts relating to
diving have been told the writer by George
W. Fuller, the veteran submarine diver and
inventor of submarine appliances. In a
talk with Mr.. Fuller relative to the pressure
sustained by diver when in different depths
of water and other matters of submarine
nature, he has explained many questions
which were perplexing, and corrected some
of the impressions received by the writer
during his recent trip to the bottom of the
bay. Mr.. Fuller has shown me that the
pressure is about forty-four pounds to the
square inch. He goes on to say that ''even
this pressure is enormous, for the surface o.
the body of diver of ordinary proportions;
presents twelve square feet of surface upon
which this tremendous pressure is exertesl,
and he is, when in 100 feet Of salt water, Ell
posed to pressure equal to about thirty
eight tons pressing inwardly toward CON-
mon centern
THE PRESSURE.
Mr.. Fuller goes on to say: The resistance
offered to that pressure, its immediate and
final effects and the means employed to
counterfeit it, form subjects of much inter-
est, and these can be thoroughly explained
only by careful attention to natural and
physical laws and conditions controlling
such actions. The reason one fails to feel the
weight OF his armor when submerged is SIM
ply this: The suit or dress when properly
inflated with air, contains besides the divers
body and wearing apparel, some twenty-five
to twenty-five gallons of air, which, by the
action OF the air pump, is constantly being
changed or renewed.
Now as to his weight after being submerg-
ed. If his escape valve is properly adjusted
to 100 feet depth, the indicated weight of di-
yer and armor combined is less when barely
sunk below the surface, and greatest when at
the bottom. At the surface the pressure
equa,s one atmosphere to in our case.
Now. for every ~ inches depth we descend
In the sea water, we add one pound pressure
per square inch of surface exposed With
this slight amount pressing against our dress,
even the legs of some are fairly well inflated
at the start, hence more displacement and in
creased buoyancy. As we descend the pres
sure increases driving the confined air higher
and higher up the dress, reducing buoyancy,
increasing weight, until, having reached the
bottom, we have no air in tie dress below
the breast, and mighty little there either
Now it is that our weight begins to show
its presence in painful manner The legs
of the diver as well as the lower portion of
his body, succumb to the pressure, and are
for
goes, circulation becoming seriously dis
turbed, or, indeed, totally suspended at times,
and the blood, which should normally circu-
late in the lower limbs, is forced above This
causes numbness Of the legs, and severe head
aches often occur, and if the weights were
suddenly cut adrift, and the diver allowed to
pop" to the surface, death would follow from
effort of air confined within the cavity of the
body to escape, or to establish an equilibrium
of pressure. The air, seeking every natural
passage out of the divers body, drives before
it blood, contents of bowels, ETC. The neces-
sity for a comparatively slow descent and
ascent is readily appreciated, as well as the
precaution on the part of a diver himself to
prevent any sudden or accidental, enforced
or hurried trip to the surface.
With beginner making his first descent
beneath the waves it will be well to remem-
Der this fact, when great deal Of the pain
will be avoided: Always swallow as often as
the slightest pain in the ears Is experienced,
and then the explosion which takes place in
the head will not be sufficiently heavy to seri-
ously attract the attention.
SOME EXTRAORDINARY FEATS.
Mr.. Fuller also showed me some specimens
which he had brought up from wrecks One
was United States 81 bill, and with it was
an old twenty-five cent scrip piece which he
rescued in one Of his maiden dives off Beaver
Tail in 1865. He also exhibited some relics
from Spanish frigate which was sunk of
the coast of South America in 1915, and
which he recovered while there in charge of
an expedition in 1871. In showing some Of
the Spanish dollars to the writer, Mr. Fuller
said that, notwithstanding their long bath,
most Of these coins were very well preserved,
but some which had come in contact with
the rusting iron of the vessel had worn away
to mere ghosts of their former selves The
bills which were brought up off Beaver Tail,
although badly soaked BY the water, still
held together, and the printing ON them re-
NAMED entirely legible.
As has been printed in another story Mr..
Fuller was the first diver who ever accom-.
plished the feat of catching a fish, dressing
and cooking it all under water, and bring
ing it to the surface, hot and dry He was
also the first man to successfully expose a
sensitized Photographic plate and obtain a
negative in considerable depth of water
In speaking of his early experience as q
diver, and of the manner in which he first
went into the business, Mr. Fuller said: In
1857 was employed as foreman in an c1-
tensive watch repairing establishment in
Faneuil Hall square. Hearing that a diver
was at work repairing the outer end OF
Long wharf which had fallen out, spent
an entire forenoon in order to crafty my
great desire TO see such curiosity.
This diver was George W. Townsend, and
he was the first had ever seen. The impress
sion then received haunted me continually.
and in 1860 l left the shop and started in
at my adopted business as submarine oper-
ator. There were not above six or eight
divers then in this country
I'm 1862 had brought out several important
inventions pertaining to the apparatus and
business and had a company Of my own, The
Bay State Submarine company of Boston,
Of which | was superintendent and manager
Since then have had charge Of two other
heavy companies, and our work has taken me
to various parts Of the world In Cd we got
too numerous in and about Boston, and
struck New London, Conn, and for wears
carried on the business there and at Norwich.
where / resided Boston Globe.
THE WEDDING RING.
How It Has Been Regarded by the Fec