The Benson signal., 1920-02-14
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,O00-Pound Pressure TWO
Claim Deep-Sea Record.

New York.-Before the Germans
sank single vessel in the late war,
it was estimated that there were
Strewn upon the floors of the Seven
Seas, $7,000,000,000 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 incal-
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
saiving 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-
eling the shimmering treasures of
gosd 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: 4:
Il not only hold the record for deep
sea diving but for deep-sea salvage.
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
wire sounder, and there is no pOssi-
bility of error. Twenty-six persons
witnessed the descent. This was in
1916.
Two Claim Deep-Sea Record.
81 see by some of the newspapers
that a Mr. Turner claims the world
TpCOEu. 1UC SlOlCIuCllI 10 lllttC
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 300
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
supply arrangement.
f'My suit" said he "is Self-cOntain-
ed, carrying enough air for a four
hour submergence. The oxygen tank
is connected with a reducing valve
which reduces the pressure from l 800
pounds to pounds to the square
inch, and sp. .sying through nozzle,
sucks nitrogen through a 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
dioxde and moisture. To protect the
man from the caustic soda, l use an
automatic valve that closes in three
seconds after the water reaches it.
"The suit itself weighs $50 pounds
and with me in it weighed just 500
mounds. The suits buoyancy, how
ever. counteracts 425 pounds of that,
leaving a balance of Is pounds that
Z hear on the bottom of the sea.
Mr.. Leavitt regretted that he could
NOT show the armor just as it was
when he went down in Grand Ira
verse Bay, but he explained, ne had
made several important improvements
since that dascent.