Smyrna times., 1915-06-30
DELAWARE BOY TESTS OUT
A WONDERFUL INVENTION
W. S. BOND WILMINGTON. STAYS
HOURS SUBMERGED IN BOX
By Use of Chemicals He Shows Navy
Officials and Others a Wonderful
Air Reviving Experiment


nations may some time bid fortunes,
William s. Bond, a % year-old chem
ist of Wilmington. Wednesday,
climbed into a 90 cubic foot air-tight
box and allowed himself to be sub
merged into a tank Of water for more
than seven hours. at the end of which
time he emerged in good condition.
Professor Abraham HenwoOd, instruc-
tor in chemistry at the Drexel lnsti-
ute. who witnessed Bonds expert
ment. stated that in his opinion
man could stay in the box approx |
mately four hours without losing |
consciousness. The experiment which |
took place in the Mechanical Engi- |
neering Laboratory of the Drexel In
stitute, and which was witnessed by |
Captain Lloyd Bankson. Of the Bnr-
eau of Naval Construction of Cramps
Ship Yard; Lieutenant d. N. Fedo-
toff. the junior naval sttache of the
Russian Embassy, and Abraham Hen
wood. professor of chemistry of the
Drexel Institute. was to demonstrate
the power Of Bonds $ discovery to
purify air by the absorption of poison
Gus gases thrown off by the Lungs.
According to Captain Bankson, such
a discovery. if entirely applicable,
would be of immense value in purify
ing the air in submarines and allow
ing them to stay submerged for a
long time. The compartment in
which Bond ate, worked, read and
sweateG for almost eight hours was
made Of thick pine boards rendered
bscutely air-tight. This was placed
in a tank of water, also made Of
boards which reached half way up the
outside of the latter, was surrounded
and topped with an outer casing like
the outer shell of a thermos bottle,
except that the intervening space was
filled with water. On top Of the
compartment was a manhole. the lid
of which was screwed tight after
Bond had entered. In this lid was
small window. The advantage Of
this extraordinary contrivance whie h
seemed to tickle Captain Bankson was
to diminish the pressure of the water
on the outside tank. At 10 o'clock
Wednesday morning. clad in a bath
ing suit and pair Of rubbers. climbed
into this compartment with his pre-
cious suitcase, lunch, supper, appara-
tus and a current magazine. A min
ute later he was sealed in and water
was run over the top Of the manhole
lid.
Inside of the compartment there
was an electric light. telephone and
an electric fan. besides the appara-
tus. which consisted of four plates
such as can be bought at any notior
store Bond dissolv ed some of his
invention on these plates and allowed
the fan to circulate the impure air
over the surfsee of the solution. The
solution took up the carbon dioxids
and thus purified the air. Every hall
hour his friends called him up on tn
top Of the box to gaze at him through
the window Then at times they drew
out samples of the air by a rubbe
tube and tested it for the percentqe
Of carbon dixoide.
Things were going on finely, unit
suddenly at l O'Clock the light wen
out. The bell on the outside ran
and some one took up the receiver
but could hear nothing. For momer
no one knew what to do. They wer
about to drain off the water and ope
up the apparatus when Bond ran
several times from the inside. Tn
let his friends know that he was a
right, and moment later wire w'
found loose on the electric eonre,
tions. After this was mended nothir
happened until about 4.43 o'elocl
when Bond telephoned that he wou
StOp using his invention. Immediate
the percentage of carbon dixoir
started to run up, and in half an hOl
il was registered at more than 3 p
] cent. The temperature Of the cor
- paTtment also had risen from so to
degrees. At s 10 o'clock he turn
off the fan, and the spectators beg
Z to wonder wether Ee was trying
7 commit suicide.
! Then at 3 80 o'clock Bond phon
Z that he had had enough. A big pl
= was pulled out, three Hssistsr
7 jumped on top Of the box and d
Z screwed the lid and the next n
4 ment Bond emerged. perspirati
Z pouring from bis face. He sat on
Z of the box and blinked at the came
4 men and called for some one 70 bri
\ him a cake of soap to wash the ST
Z Of the chemicals from his hands.
Z Mr. Bond graduated from
\ Drexel Institute in 1900. and is n
Z a consulting engineer in Wilmingt'
~ l. HE awuaw..sa.sa ~ = hafror Er