Jasper County Democrat, Volume 20, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 May 1917 — NEW APPARATUS FOR- DIVERS [ARTICLE]

NEW APPARATUS FOR- DIVERS

Air f eck I‘l:u es Worker’s Ba.se of ■ Operations at the Bottom. | A recent development Of the apparatus of deep sea diving is the j , air lock, a German invention. This*! is a steel chamber —-it is made in ' all sizes for two or mote divers—-j which is lowered, to the sea.’<s bottom (limit 325 feet) to become, the diVer s base of pperations. The chamber is, of course, connected' with the surface by the usual air hose, containing. telephone cable,! etc. It contains all the modern improved tools used by the diver in his work and serves as a ready and convenient refuge in case anything’ goes wrong with his suit or apparatus. The advantage of the air lock over the method of “ working from the surface are described in an illustrated article in the Scientific American. The diver, says • the ■writer, is enabled to use the selfcontained diving suit, r “Equipped with this, he is cumbered with no air hose, and can not be suffocated by the failure of the hose or the formation of a kiak in it by current or other means. He carries his own air with him in a compression chamber strapped to his back. * * He has an air purification circuit, by means of which the carbonized air which he exhales is passed over caustic soda 0 r potash, restored to its pure state by chemical reaction, and returned to his nostrils. This operation is repeated indefinitely. Finally, he is much less at the mercy of the rapid currents which are so common under the surface. • • The effects of strong cur■rents upon a vertical cable are to drag the diver up to a higher level and make a sharp kink in his cable and hose. This danger is eliminat- •

■ed by the air lock, for the latter i can be lowered to the level on 'which the diver is to work making all his connections horizontal.’’ — Kansas City Star,