Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-07-29

the bottom is smooth and firm. the vessels
buoyancy will be reduced only enough to
make her rest very lightly upon the
ground, the great wheels will be discon-
| volve freely, and the propeller will furnish
| the driving power. Should there be
| heavy current, the vessels buoyancy will
be further reduced. and her pressure upon
| the bottom varied all the way from few
pounds to a ton or more the case re-
| quires, and then the wheels will have
power applied to them.
Down to the Bottom.
Under ordinary circumstances, when the
place has been reached where 1t is desired
! to descend to the bottom, water enough is
taken Into the tanks to bring the ship
shaped hull quite down to a level with the
waters surface. Then the two anchoring
weights-''I' "F'-are lowered by wire rope
from within their recesses and under the
power control of their winding drums till
they have settled upon the bottom; more
water is taken into the tanks to make up
for this loss of quite two tons of dead
weight and then the vessel is slowly
drawn to the bottom by winding in the
wire rope over the drums again Should IL
be desired to hold the vessel anywhere. be-
tween the bottom and the surface, all that
is necessary is to stop winding in the wire
rope, and there she will remain without
hndrance The vessel can be sunk simply
by taking in enough water. but she is apt
ried some way before bottom is reached
Easily Propelled.
Should the vessel intend to travel after
reaching the bottom the anchors are drawn
in, the buoyancy is reduced to suit the cir
cumstanceS and all Is ready for progress
along the bottom. The great search lights
at the bow send their piercing rays along
through the inky depths of the sea- lighting
up the water before and the ground ahead
and beneath the boat to such an extent as
to make collision possible only IN case OF
gross negligence on the part of the navi-
gator
1t has been found that the first cargo
maui went along without hindrance in
light mud waist deep, and she had no diff
Guilty in surrounding anything over when
she could poke her nose. This is due to the
fact that under ordinary conditions the
vessel has a dead weight on the bottom OF
only a few pounds and the driving force
of the propeller was enough to mt her up
and make her ride over such obstacles just
as a balloon inflated almost to the rising
point will skip lightly over the ground. 1t
is easy to see how the force of COLLISION
would also be greatly reduced by this prac,
teal absence of corresponding weight, ana
in this lies Of the safeguards in SUBJ
aqueous navigation.
The Divers Preparations.
The vessel is now on the bottom, ana II
is the intention of one of the divers to so
the kind He dons his diving suit with the
exception of the helmet and passes, with
his assistant. into the divers room through
the air lock both doors being closed behind
them. A once valve is turned on. winch
let's the compressed breath out of the stout
steel lungs up in he shlp-shaped super
structure. In 1t comes Till the gauge pal
ances with another indicator, which tells
of the water pressure without. When this
is accomplished small pet cock Is tufnen
,.-ftl ,,.g,+ pgaYh -
bottom door. For n moment small JET
of water comes in, then the steel door IS
dropped outward and the water OF the sea
comes in only to the rim OF the mannoie'
and it. too stops as though controlled by
some superior bidding. 1t is the diving
hell over again, and just what We can
prove by taking tumbler and putting "
in the water top side down. Only a little
water will rise in the glass, and were We
able to put first little compressed AR in
that tumbler no water in all likelihood
would rise in it a all. There Is now ring
ing sensation in ones ears. especially II d
novice at the work, but this is soon over
come by going through the motions of swal-
lowing.
The diver now has his helmet screwed
upon him, and with electric light in hand
and a telephone attachment fastened to the
inner side of his metallic hood, out he
passes to the bottom, stepping down and
out upon the rungs placed upon the inner
side of the door, which now lowered forms
a ladder. His air piping is paved out to
him and off he wanders amid the waters
his air supply being completely under ms
own control and also coming, without the
intermediate aid of an assistant, from me
same steel lungs. The diving room attend
ant stands ready to do his bidding and to
transmit the divers directions by teie-
phonetic either the skipper VINO Is sealed
up in his compartment just ahead or TO the
engineers and others in the compartments
to the rear.
Presently we are startled by voice
which seems to come from all around us,
and we discover that the compressed air of
the divers room has converted the whole
compartment into one great telephone re-
ceiver and it is not needful to place our
ears at the instrument we ordinarily
have to do. We can also talk back to the
diver in the same way, or to any OF the
other compartmentS-al of which nave
their telephone communications.
The whole thing is so beautifully simple
that one wonders why the scheme should
not have been applied before. The limit of
depth for exterior exploration is the simple
limit of divers physical endurance, while
the power of the boat to investigate by
using its own great eyes Is bounded only
by the pressure to which the craft can be
ubjected-something many times greater
than that of the diver in his rubber suit.
Useful in Many Ways.
The commercial uses to which the boat
can be put are many. She can examine
wrecks and make such repairs as may be
needful to insure their raising. She can re-
cover treasure of gold and precious stones
and other substances but little injured by
water. Her sand pumps-one of which is
marked ''P"-will pump away sand or coal
as ordinary pump would remove water.
The derrick which will be fastened to the
standard reaching down to the main body
of the boat just abaft the inner end of her
bumper bowsprit will life heavy weights
and carry stone for the laying of submarine
foundations She can locate and work the
rich beds of coral and the sponge and pearl
fisheries of the West Indies. As a scientific
investigator the boat will prove of ines
Unable value.
From a military or naval standpoint, the
little craft can be of great service either in
planting torpedoes or removing the mines
of an enemy, while also being able to plant
herself fairly in the way of foeman's
craft and to blow her up in passing.
The question has been asked What will
happen to the boat in case she is on the
bottom and her pumps and engines fail to
work? All that is necessary is to drop that
section of the keel marked H." H." HI
the parts *, * being permanent
which weighs quite three tons and by cast
ing loose the two anchors, each of which |
weighs q, ton, and up will jurup the vessel