Elk City mining news. (Elk City, Idaho) 1903-1913, 1913-02-20
WHISTLING BU0YS
They Are Simple In Principle and
Certain In Operation.
PLAYTHlNGS OF THE WAVES.
The Rise and Fall of the Water Give
Birth to Their Penetrating 5hrieks.
Placing and Removing Them Are
Tasks Frausht With Deadly Peril.

Placing and Removing Them Are |
Tasks Frausht With Deadly Peril.
Sea travellers up and down our coast |
lines often hear strange, weird sound
to port or Starboard, q sort of COM
pound of moan and shrek, at once soA-
and insistent, subdued and penetrating.
1t is the call of the whistliDg buoy to
the man at the helm, warning him of
shoal or dangerous place.
These whistling buoys, which are
enormous masses of iron, often weigh
ing several tons, are as simple IN prin-
ciple as they are certain i'll operation.
The buoy proper consists of a huge
pear shaped bulb, little end up, on top
of which is a powerful whistle pro-
tected from accidental blow or collision
by a framework Of iron bars, and an
air intake. Below and projecting far
down into the water is an open tube of
metal. The whole thing is secured in
position with an anchor and a chain,
which last is long enough for the depth
Of the water in which the buoy is
placed to permit the free movement Of
the mass up and down.
When a wave lifts the buoy up in the
air the water in the tube, acting as a
1t is confined in the bulb of the buoy
by simple valve which prevents its
egress through the intake When the
waves drop the buoy in the trough Of
the waves the water in the tube
presses up on the confined air and COM
presses it. 1t finds exit through the
whistle, which thus sounds its warning
note.
1t might be supposed that, having no
mechanism but a valve, such buoys,
once put in position, could be left there
for an indefinite period of time. But
! the sea has strange ways with her
playthings, and even If the necessity Of
/ constant painting of the buoy to pro-
tect it from the action of sea water was
not existent it would still be necessary
to keep a watch on these signals and
to take them up and replace them
rather often, for the big tube project
ing down into the water is great at
traction to barnacles and seaweed, and
not infrequently these marine growths
so interfere with the action of the buoy
as to keep it silent in ordinary weather
and to dim its voice in bad weather.
1t then becomes necessary to "work'
Il new whistler in position, which is "a
regular part of the duty of a lighthouse
tender or buoy tender. of which YES
sells there are many in the service.
When a buoy is to be worked the
tender repairs to a yard or station and
by means of her crane lifts on deck the
freshly painted and thoroughly repair
ed new buoy which is to replace that
one which is either silent or which has
served it's allotted time and is now due
for replacement.
There is nothing difficult about this.
1t is getting the enormously large and
unwieldy mass of iron overheard and
taking on board the one which is in
the water which causes the difficulty.
The very waves which are necessary
to the successful operation of the buoy
make it hard to manage at the end of a
. crane on board comparatively small
vessel.
When a buoy tender goes to "work''
a whistler she clears her deck of every
thing else but the buoy, which is Sc
cured with checks and chains against
the roll of the vessel The old buoy is
approached cautiously, within couple
of hundred feet, and the new buoy is
allowed to slide overheard rather than
picked up and placed in the water, the
crew SululllS IL ny Suy rupees, Nnlle TIE
powerful crane lifts just enough to per
NIT the buoy to move. With the vessel
slowly rolling from side to side on the
slow seas of even quiet day-the good
days are purposely picked for this
. work-the mass of freshly painted iron
with its long tube presents potential
ties for evil which must be closely
watched. Let the buoy but get cleal
of the deck and the fall tackle gel
jammed and there would come into be
ing a three ton pendulum with an iro1
fail thirty-siX feet long capable OF
smashing the boat to bits and certainly
: of sweeping broken boned men abou
the deck with no more effort than i
t they were so many flies.
!; But, if getting the new buoy over
l. board is dangerous work, hauling the
old one in is more so. The buoy is frs
secured by good seamanship, managing
the steam vessel, with a rope through
, the iron cage at its top. Workin:
= from this, ropes, chains and springs
+ or heavy cables are brought into play
a and the whole very cautiously lifted
and secured as 1t comes over the side
H..