HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Herald, 1913-07-11, Page 6Y It eaV V111
FEW DIVERS HAVE . DESCEND*
ED ONIf HUNDRED FEET,
Most. Unlikely That the W.r
the Titanic Will Ever
Be gentled.
' Hundreds of millions of d
worth of gold, silver, copper
precious scones are lying .o
bottom of the :sea, ready to
hand of the first : person who
devise means of recovering
Investors in every part .of the
are building submarine boats
ing armor, dredging appa
and other device,,, solely fo
purpose of finding and bringi
the surface these sunken tress
The two main problems t
solved are those of prote
against water pressure and of
siding light in which to work.
latter problem is mere"easily s
than the former, Modern dev
in electric lighting ma
practically certain that pow
searchlights can be devised
will eye sufficient illuminatio
salvage operations at depths
great as 400 feet. Divers who
been down 150 feet; agree that
when. the •sun is shining brig
.the ocean depths are. in semi -d
ness, which increases as one
• Bends.'
ProSbieiu of Pressure.
The other' and more serious,p
leen.is.that of pressure. The o
nary diver's equipment depends
en a constant supply of air pum
in from above, and a rubber
with a metal helmet, all. air-li
or nearly so, to keep the
from rushing in the minute
pressure of air pumped through
hose becomes less than the
pressure from the outside. The
etically, of course, the air press
could be maintained at a point
would equalize the water pressu
but what would become of
diver? Men working in compres
#Lir.' caissons under a pressure of
pounds to the square inch are ri
ing their lives—and 45 pe,
means a depth of only 104 feet
water. At 200 feet the water pr
_sure is a little over 861-2 poun
to' the square inch, at 250 feet .it
over 105 pounds, and at 300 feet
is 130 pounds, and many •of
' sunken treasure'..,_ ships lie at ev
greater depths.
'V'ery : few d'ivhave descend
as deep as 100 feet: One adven
One young man went down 196 f
in Puget Sound, but on a sero
attempt his' helmet was crushed
the 85 -pound water pressure a
he was hauled up dead. Two En
dish naval officers are said to h
descended 210 feet, but `could
main at that depth only a few se
onds.
Hooking a Copper Ingot.-
The problem of getting down to
the deep -lying treasure ships, there-
fore, is essentially one of construct-
ing a mechanism sufficiently rigid
to withstand the terrific water -pres-
sure. It must carry its own supply
of oxygen, since any sort of flexible
air tube would be crushed flat long
before a depth of 400 feet is reach-
ed, and it must be so constructed
that the diver inside it can accom-
plish something after he reaches the
wreck, even if he can do nothing
more than attach a grappling. hoop
to a copper ingot.
Ellcouraging Inventors.
eek of
()liars,
and
n the
the
will
them,
world
, div-
ratus,
r ;the
ng to
ores.
o be
ction
prO-
The
olved
velop-
ke it
erful
which
n for
as
have
even
htly,
ark-
des-
rob-
rdi-
up-
ped
suit
ght,
water
the
the
iter
or -
tire
that
re,
the
sed
46
sk-
unds
of.
es -
ds
is
it
the
en
ed
ttlr-
eet
nd
by
nd
g-
ave
re -
0
The encouragement for inventors
working along these lines is found
in the knowledge already at hand
of wrecks,,bearing treasure, some of
which have been sunk for hundreds
of years. In 1502 a Spanish fleet
carrying quantities of gold from
Santo Domingo sank off the Island
of Santa Lucia at an unknown
depth, in as hurricane that drove the
,ships of Christopher Columbus into
a nearby harbor for safety. From
then on, for two centuries, the re-
cord of the Spanish conquest of
America is filled with reports. of
,sunken treasure ships bearing
the riches of Peru and Mexico back
to Spain,
Titanic Down Deep.
Probably no diver will ever reach
the wreck of the Titanic, which lies
two miles deep in olid -Atlantic,
where the water pressure reaches
the tremendous force of 4,574
pounds to the square inch,but it is.
easilypossible that some of the in-
ventors now working on the main
problems involved will reap incal-
eul'able riches fromwrecks yet to.
Se discovered at depths of a thou -
send feet or more. •
1 . One way, to keep the boys on the
farm itto instal a motor to turn
the grindstone
Now Finds Ita Pleasure to Enjoy Meals
'Here is a case whichseemed as bad
end as hopeless as yours can possibly be.
Thisisthe experieuceef Mr. }I. r,, Brown,
384 Bathurst ,St,, 'pronto, in his own
words
"Gentlemen.- I