The St. Johns herald., 1897-12-18
1ECTRIC SOUNDING.
Eirding the Depth of Water Two
 Thousand Feet Ahead.

Finding the Depth of Water Two Thousand Feet Ahead.
 An enparatus known as the electric
 sounder has been invented by John P. Buckley, by means of which captains
 may be able to ascertain the depth of
 water for 1000 feet ahead of their yes seIs. The inventor expects that it will
 supersede the lead and line. Mr. Buck
 lev is confident that his apparatus will do away with the present tedious man.
 ner of making soundings, and that yes sells will no longer have to feel their
 way into port when the air is foggy.
 With his invention the sounding is done by means of bell circuit, which
 passes through a carrier, and thence to a non-conducting cylinder filled
 with quicksilver. When the cylinder
 strikes bottom a circuit is completed.
 which rings a bell on board the vessel and gives warning that the vessel is in dangerously shallow water
 The apparatus, to speak more in de
 tail, consists of an airgun, about 2.OOO
 feet of wire, or, rather, of two wires
 bound around each other, a hollow
 shell, which will float a cylinder of
 quicksilver, and an electric battery. The air is forced into the chamber of the airgun by turning a wheel. The cyl finder with the wire attached is loaded into the gun. The wire is placed upon a reel, and as much is wound off as the nf hn In foI ho cylinder is hurled through the air for anywhere from to 1000 feet. The distance depends upon the number of turns the operator has given the wheel by which the airgun is loaded.
 The cylinder strikes the water and sinks. The length of wire which in- tervenes between the cylinder and the hollow floating shell, or carrier, repre- sents the depth of water in which it would be safe for the vessel to ven ture.
 Most large ocean steamers draw 30 feet. When the wires enter the cylin- der they are separated. They run in to the cylinder separately and termi- nate within only a short distance of the surface of the quicksilver.
 If the water is deep enough the cy- finder will simply hang to the end of the line. If the water is too shallow, however, the cylinder will tumble over on the bottom, for the end of it is rounded. The mercury, which the cy finder contains, will then rush about the end of the wires, complete metal lie current and cause the ringing of a bell on board ship, with which the wires are connected.
 The efficacy of this invention de bends upon the certainty with which the cylinder will fall over when 1t strikes the bottom of the channel. Mr. Buckley said that he had experiment. ed with the device for twelve years, and that he was sure that 1t would ac- complish all that he asserts that it 1 will.
 "The weight of the cylinder and its I he said, ito say nothing of | the action of the waves, will cause it 1 to fall over at once. Besides that. the | end of it is rounded like the bottom of | a ginger ale bottle. I tried a model of this device in Lake Pontchartrain. In all the experiments it worked per fectly."
 AS soon as the cylinder sinks the man in charge of the apparatus pro- ceeds to draw in the line. If he hears no warning bell he may be sure that the course is entirely clear. The yes sel may then proceed for the distance to which the line has been cast. If 2,000 feet have been sent out the mariner may know that his course is clear for that distance. He may then proceed. When the vessel has gone half the course he may discharge an other cylinder. When he has reached the end of the course which the first cylinder has told him was safe he will have determined the nature of the channel for the next 2,OOO feet.-New York Herald.