The Powder River County examiner and the Broadus independent. [volume] (Broadus, Mont.) 1919-1935, 1920-03-05
ingenious Mechanisms Devised
to Recover Some Of Wrecks
Beneath Waves.
ARMORED SUIT IS DESCRIBED
inventor Explains Device Which En-.
abIes Him to Work Freely Under
7,oOO.Pound Pressure - Two
Claim Deep Sea Record.

New YOrk.-Refore the Germans
sank single vessel in the late war.
it was estimated that there We're
Strewn upon the floors Of the Seven
Seas. $7.OOO.ON.GON worth of ships and
cargoe>. and records indicated that
large part of these were recoverable.
Since the war the sum Of the oceans
buried treasure is practically meal
cuahlr.
Naturally nations now vie with one
another for the recovery of choice
morSel> of this treasure trove, and
individual inventors are dcvoting ge
rA.s and energy to the evolution of
salving devices ranging in size from
the one-lnan diving suit To cnmplicat-
ed mechani>in> so large that they
dwarf the sea"oing vessels of which
they are integral parts.
Benjamin Franklin Leavitt Of
Brooklyn. inventor Of Il diving suit.
who claims the deep-Sea record. talk
ed enthusiastically yesterday about
what can he accomplished in recov-
ering the shim,nering treasures Of
gold and silver and precious stones
with which old oceans floor is car
peted.
Incidentally. Mr.. Leavitt protests
most empliatically against the as>ump-
ton of world-recnrh honorS for amy
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 :61 feet in Grand Ira
verse Bay. Michigan and remained
and ut another time nearly two hours.
This is the worlds record descent.
Capt. John Morgan of the Morgan
Transportation company. Il cousin of
the late j. r. Morgan. did the sound
ing. He took three soundings. using
a wire so,inder. and there is no posi-
bility of error. Twenty-siX persons
witnessed the descent This was in
1916
Two Claim Oeep.sea Record.
II see by some Of the newspapers
that Il Mr.. Turner claims the world
record The statement is made that
Mr.. Turner went down 36O feet L:
miles off Graves Light. massachusetts
Look at this chart. COnceding tina,
Turner went down and did everything
he said he did. If you can find 800
foot depth anywhere Il miles of
Graves Light I'll eat the map. Here,
~ fathoms-:29+ feet-the deepest wa
ter II miles off the light"
Coming now to the question OF hi
diving suit. Mr.. I.eavitt said that tt
principal point Of advantage is in tn,
air-supply arrangement.
MY suit" said he. us self-contain
ed. carrying enough air for four
hour Suhmergence. The oxygen tanl
| Is connected with reducing valv,
which reduces the pressure from l so
pounds to 2 pounds to the squar
inch. and. spraying through nozzle
sucks nitrogen through a caustic sod
cartridge. 1t mixes with the nitrogen
and is discharged over the shonlde
| of the diver from a tube. The causti
soda ahsorbs the poisonous carhO
dioxide and moisture. To protect tn
man from the caustic soda. use a
automatic valve that closes In thre
seconds after the water reaches It.
1.-THE suit itself weighs $50 pound
and with me in it weighed just SO
mounds. The suits buoyancy. how
ever. counteracts 4o5 pounds Of tina
leaving a balance Of Is pounds this
I hear on the bottom of the sea.
Mr.. Leavitt regretted that he cOul
not show the armor just as 1t VIZ
when he went down In Grand Tr
verse Hay, hut he explained. he ha
made several important improvement
since that descent.