The star-progress. (Opelousas, La.) 1917-1921, 1920-03-13

sucks nitrogen through a caustic soda
cartridge. 1t mikes 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, 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
pounds. The suits buoyancy, how
ever, counteracts 425 pounds of that,
leaving balance of Is pounds that
l bear on the bottom of the sea-"
Mr.. Leavitt regretted that he could
not show the armor just at is was
when he went down in Grand Ira
verse Bay, but he explained he had
made several important improvements
since that descent.
II learned lot, he said; Gin fact,
l might say learned more from my
first As minutes actual experience
down on the bottom, in my armor,
than 1 learned from years of theoriz-
ing. Take the pointed 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 a solid
casting of manganese bronze and has
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 1864 pounds pressure here"
He called attention to the fact that
the cable attached to the top of the
helmet has a guaranteed lifting
strength of 10000 pounds. In the CEN
ter Of the cable is the telephone wire
connected directly with a small COM
plete telephone in the top of. the he'll
met. The diver is connected" sim
ply with dictaphone ear piece. The
helmet is also equipped with glasses
which are triple ar .-cl-=hatterable
The top of MrLe SIX boasts
miscellaneous azeo. tt.aart of orna-
ments. Here is piecesof hardwood
brought up from a wreck. The wood
had been So years beneath Lake HUI
ron, Mich, but shows no i'll effect
from its long submergence. Less
pleasant, if more interesting, is a
old black shoe with wide,
square toe.
"a piece ofthe foot Of the girl who
had been wearing it slipped out Of
The shoe after we'd had it here a
Rhile,' said Mr.. Leavitt.
ssIving Copper Cargo
He wears a strange old ring fishel |
Up during his salvaging operations. |
This was found in connection with
he $50 tons of copper which went
own in the Pewabic in Lake Huron,
n 1865. The copper was salvaged
rom depth Of $50 feet. Mr.. Leavitt
avs other salvagers had tried to get
and failed, and no less than seven
iyers in rubber suits had lost their
YES in vain attempts.
at is not possible to do salvaging
'ork in winter, except in southern
aters. Winter is the off season."
lid Mr.. Leavitt. "But next summer,
Iong about June, we propose to go I
fter the Merida, which went down {
miles off Cape Charles. She was
FRYING $1,s00,OOO in silver bars