The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1920-02-20
ingenious MeChaniSmS Devised
to Recover Some of Wrecks
Beneath Waves.
ERMORED SUIT is DESCRIBED
Inventor Explains Device Which En-
ables Him to Work Freely Under
7,0O0-Pound Pressure - Two
Claim Deep-Sea Record.

New YOrk.-Before the Germans
sank a single vessel in the late war,
it was estimated that there were
StreWn upon the floors of the Seven
Seas, $7,OO0,OO0,00O worth of ships and
cargoes, and records indicated that a
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 q 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-
ton of world-record honors for any
other diving armor than his own. He
backs his protest in these statements:
HI 800 1-Ix, Lo11 %lo .oaAxJ e.. lA@-
sea diving, but for deep-sea salvage.
I went down 361 feet in Grand Ira
verse Bay, Michigan, and remained
down for 45 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
a 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 a Mr.. Turner claims the world
record. The statement Is made that
Mr.. Turner went down $50 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 10 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, 'is self-contain-
ed, carrying enough air for a four
hour su~bmergence. The oxygen tank
Is connected with a reducing valve
which reduces the pressure from 1,SO0
pounds to 2 pounds to the square
inch, and, spraying through a nozzle,
sucks nitrogen through a caustic soda
cartridge. 1t mixes with the nitrogen
and is discharged over the shoulder
Of the diver from a tube. The caustic
soda absorbs the poisonous carbon
dioxide and moisture. To protect the
man from the caustic soda, l 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
A. h "a A.
Mr.. Leavitt regretted that he could
not show the armor just as 1t was
when he went down in Grand Ira
verse Bay, but he explained, he had
made several important improvements
slnce that descent.