Evening star., 1947-08-19
By Jacques Denis
1947, by North Amerieon
kewsncper Alliance. Inc


ANTWERP, Belgium. Aug 49,
Hidden amid the corridors of the
University of Brussels is Prof.
Auguste Piccard's laboratory. 1t is
a quiet place, suitable to what is
perhaps the only acknowledgement
scientific study under way in the
world today.
My appointment was for II am.
I was a little early. The professor
was deep in some calculation when
I came in. He didn't notice me,
and I was able to watch this man
who so closely resembles his news
paper photographs: Slide rule in
his left hand, a pencil in his right,
bifocals raised on his forehead,
above which his gray hair sat like
a halo.
A second later, he lifted his head
and saw me. We exchanged a few
questions. Then I asked him:
What struck me most when I
came in here was your carpet ?"
Checking Ballast.
"Oh, you mean the steel pills?"
he replied. "Yes, some must have
fallen to the floor. AS a matter of
fact we're just checking the ballast
release arrangements. AS you know,
we have no mechanical controls
through the hull to the outside. So
our ballast is held on outside by
electromagnetic"
What you felt under your feet
are little steel balls which will be
held in a sort of basket. At the
bottom of the basket will be an elec-
tromagnet which will hold the balls
in. We have only to cut off the
electric current, however. for the
steel balls to pour out, tightening
us that much. It's very simple -"
Eyes, simple after you've thought
it out" remarked.
Its very simple" the professor
went on. and that means 1t can't
go wrong. In the worst emergency,
we even cut the electric wire which
maintains the magnetic connection.
AS you know, the electric wires
pass through the hull into the cabin
in plexiglasS cones ="
Tries Out Model.
Before I could say anything, Prof.
Picard turned toward a fun-sized
working model of his ballast-release
mechanism. Without hesitation he
put his finger on one lever out of
nearly hundred on control panel
and, smiling, said: TRY it yourself"
Timidly I touched the lever and
Immediately thousands of tiny steel
pills poured from the basket. I
wondered if the basket was big
enough to contain all the ballast
necessary to bring them back to the
surface.
"Of course not" the professor said.
That basket contains only a few
score pounds. enough to up or down
little or to balance ourselves up
right But to get to the surface
rapidly, we need heavier ballast;
we'll have heavy blocks of REIN
forced concrete and iron, also held
on to the outside of the hun by
electromagnetic"
DO you know exactly how much
pressure you'll meet at those great
depths?" asked.
The professor laughed; it was,
suppose, a silly question.
Pressure Is Estimated. o.,
"Of course he said, pressure
goes up by one atmosphere-that is
to just over IA pounds to say by just
IA pounds 10 the square inch-for
every 1928 feet we go down. Thus,
at a depth of $3.50 feet-a little
more than Prof William Beebe's
depth in his Bathysphere-we'd be
subject to a pressure of 100 atmos-
pheres, without taking into account
the air pressure at the surface
which, itself, is of nearly one atmos-
phere. At 1920 feet down-about
our limit on this trip-we'll be sub
ject to 400 atmospheres of pressure
that's weight of some $4,000 tons
pressing one the 161 square feet of
our cabin. But land I hope you
enjoy fgures) for safety's sake, our
cabin will have to be able to with
stand at least four times that-or
a weight of pressure close to $50, 900
tons and that is equivalent to
good deal more than the total
weight of four of the biggest battle
ships in the world"
Land Tests Impossible.
Since I myself began to feel
crushed under these figures, I asked
another question: "Of course you
can't try out the cabin under such
pressureS on land? I mean as a
test?"
mo, we can't" Prof. Picard re-
joined. But we do have a pressure
chamber therein which we can
test scale models under equivalent
pressures. And all our tests have
proved conclusively that the Bathy-
scaphe we're now building full scale
will more than stand up under the
pressure we anticipate"
It did indeed all seem so simple
and SO well thought out that was
momentarily at loss for question.
1 pointed to an apparatus on a
table: rs that a special battery?"
No" Prof Picard smiled, that's
one of our radios. When we're at
the surface, We'll be able to talk to
the mother ship by radio"
But the wireless won't work when
you're two and a half miles down."
mo. Water is an obstacle which
Hertz waves cannot clear-partieu-
larly so much mater. But we wont
be out of touch with the mother
ship; we've another means of COM
munication-supersonic waves"