Palisadian. [volume] (Cliffside Park, N.J.) 1906-current, 1920-02-14
Ingenious Mechanisms Devised
to Recover Some of Wrecks
Beneath Waves.
ARM0RED SUIT IS DESCRIBED
inventor Explains Device Which En-
ables Him to Work Freely Under
7,000-Pound Pressure - Two
Claim Deep-Sea Record.

II was estimated that there were
strewn upon the floors of the Seven
Seas, $7,0OO,OOO,OOO worth of ships and
cargoes, and records indicated that
large part of these were recoverable.
Since the war the sum of the oceans
buried treasure is practically meal
culable.
Naturally nations now vie with one
another for the recovery of choice
morsels of this treasure trove, and
individual inventors are devoting ge-
MUS and energy to the evolution of
salving devices ranging in size from
the one-man diving suit to complicat-
ed mechanisms so large that they
dwarf the seagoing vessels Of which
they are integral parts.
Benjamin Franklin Leavitt of
Brooklyn, inventor of a diving suit,
who claims the deep-sea record, talk
ed enthusiastically yesterday about
what can be accomplished in recov-
ering the shimmering treasures of
gold and silver and precious stones
with which old oceans floor is car
peted.
incidentally, Mr.. Leavitt protests
most emphatically against the assump-
other diving armor than his own He
backs his protest in these statements:
Il not only hold the record for deep
sea diving, but for deep-sea salvage.
I went down 361 feet in Grand Ira
verse Bay, Michigan, and remained
down for As minutes the first time,
and at another time nearly two hours.
This is the worlds record descent.
Capt. John Morgan of the Morgan
transportation company, a cousin Of
the late J. P. Morgan, did the sound
ing. He took three soundings, using
wire sounder and there is no posi-
bility of error. Twenty-six persons
witnessed the descent This was in
1916.
Two Claim Deep-sea Record.
II see by some of the newspapers
that Mr.. Turner claims the world
record. The statement is made that
Mr.. Turner went down 800 feet Is
miles off Graves Light Massachusetts,.
Look at this chart. Conceding that
Turner went down and did everything
he said he did, if you can find a 800
foot depth anywhere Is miles off
Graves Light I'll eat the map. Here's
40 fathoms-294 feet-the deepest wa
ter Is miles off the light"
Coming now to the question of his
diving suit, Mr.. Leavitt said that it's
principal point of advantage is in the
air-supply arrangement.
''My suit" said he, sis self-contain-
ed, carrying enough air for four
hour submergence. The oxygen tank
Is connected with a reducing valve
which reduces the pressure from 1,SOO
pounds to 2 pounds to the square
inch, and, spraying through a nozzle
sucks nitrogen through caustic soda
cartridge. 1t mixes with the nitrogen
and is discharged over the shoulder
Of the diver from tube. The caustic
soda absorbs the poisonous carbon
dioxide and moisture. To protect the
man from the caustic soda, I use an
automatic valve that closes In three
seconds after the water reaches 1t.
'"The suit itself weighs $50 pounds
and with me in it weighed just 500
pounds. The suits buoyancy, how
ever, counteracts 425 pounds of that,
leaving a balance Of rs pounds that
I bear on the bottom Of the sea.
Nv oov;t+ ynnrafta6 thot no could
not show the armor just as it was
when he went down Il Grand Ira
verse Bay, but he explained. he had
made several important improvements
since that descent.
II learned a lot" he said; "in fact,
1 might say 1 learned more from my
first 45 minutes actual experience
down on the bottom, in my armor,
than 1 learned from years of theoriz-
ing. Take the jointed strut rods down
the sides of the legs and both sides
of the arms, for instance. They were
added after my descent"
Leavitt's Diving Armor.
Here he reassembled the armor to
show how it worked. The legs and
arms, which are very flexible, are
made of hard-rolled copper tubing,
guaranteed to stand 700 pounds of
pressure to the square inch.
"These hinged strut rods down both
sides of the arm" said Mr.. Leavitt,
take the pressure from the wrist to
the shoulder. The shoulder is solid
casting of manganese bronze and has
a ball-bearing which allows the man
within to move his arms, which would
not be possible without ball or roller
bearings" Here Mr.. Leavitt whirled
the arm around freely to illustrate his
point. "At submergence of 361 feet
there is 6,664 pounds pressure here"
He called attention to the fact that
the cable attached to the top of the
helmet has a guaranteed lifting
of 10000 pounds. In the cen
ter of the cable is the telephone wire,
connected directly with a small COM