The Washington times., 1914-07-13
Patented Tube Allows Films to
Be Taken Of Fighting Fish,
Old Wrecks, and Marine
Gardens.
Native, in Fierce Combat With
Man-Eating Shark, Caps Ex-
ceIIent Results Which Will
Be Shown Here Thursday.

With the floor OF the ocean as q
studio, the beautiful vegetable and
coral growths for background, series
Of moving pictures has been maze
which will be exhibited before scien'
tific men next Thursday at the Smith
sonian Institution that are the most
unusual ever taken. 1t would seem
that the limit of human ingenuity had
been reached, that with the moving
picture bringing all parts of the world
together on a celluloid him. sclenUinc
achievement would take a rest. But
the unexplored depths OF the sea, SO
filed with mystery and romance, were
vet to be plumbed, and 1t has been
the moving picture machine that has
done 1t.
Thursday afternoon a party OF scien-
tific men will gather at the Smithson-
ian Institution to view the result OF
a long season of investigation or the
sea bottom of the Bahamas. with a
moving picture camera Not only Will
there be displayed the beauties OF ma
rine vegetation and of life below the
water line of the world. but there will
also be shown the moldering bones OF
long-lost ships, the fierce struggles of
giant sharks with each other and with
their prev. the smaller fishes.
As climax, there will be shown a
series of pictures of an actual fight
between a man-eating shark and a
diver. staged for the purpose of making
this film.
There are more than 1000 feet OF
flm showing the ocean depths that
we're made at a depth of eighty feet
below the surface.
DR.. Rathbun In Charge.
The exhibition Thursday will be un-
der the direct charge of DR.. Richard
Rathbun. assistant secretary of the
institution ard director of the Ma
tional Museum. DR. T. w. Vaughn. of
the Geological Survey. will tell the
assembled guests something Of the
manner in which the pictures were
made. as DIR. Vaughn was present at
the time as member of the party
aboard the Carnegie Institute yacht.
which was me king marine surveys in
the same locality when the picture
men started making their films. Some
Of the film making was superintend-
ed by the scientists. and results were
obtained that astOnished even them.
Later in the week the film is to be
exhibited in the assembly room of the
Press Club.
The experiments in the waters of
the Bahamas were made to secure A
scientific motion picture nlm one
that would show the actual conditions
on the bottom and the daily life OF
the many forms Of sea life that
abound in the waters of the tropics
The apparatus used was curious
mechanical contrivance. the invention
OF Cart. G. Williamson. Of Norfolk,
Va. who began working to perfect an
invention that would take the place
of the ordinary diving suit several
years ago.
II was his idea that some means
should be developed by which Il man
could 20 down into the water unham-
pnred by weights and ropes and com
pressed air and water pressure. His
experiments extended over y long
time, but finally he was successful.
and the Government granted him a
ba-ic patent.
the tube It is made of steel, in sections
of varying lengths. Each section is
composed OF an upper and lower fiange.
and these are connected by a set OF
steel hinges so arranged as to open and
shut. but at all times to At against each
other SO closely as to be water-tight
Some OF the sections have only one set
Of hinges, and when collapsed the
sanges rest upon each other. To the