Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 October 1874 — Deep Sea Soundings. [ARTICLE]

Deep Sea Soundings.

The curious in such matters will read with interest a brief description of the process by which navigators are able to obtain samples of the earth lying at the bottom of the ocean. The machine used n sounding is known as the Thomson machine, having been patented by Sir William Thomson, of London. It consists of a drum or wheel thirty inches in diameter, on the edge of which is a V-shaped flange in which the wire is wound. This drum is mounted on a platform extending over the ship’s side, and has on the axle a register which shows the number of revolutions. There is also an apparatus to control the running out of the wire, and another for reeling in the wire. The sounding cup is the invention of Commander Belknap, of the United States navy. It consists of a rod about two feet long, with an auger at one end and a sliding cup which, w*hen the rod descends, incloses the auger and retains the mud. ooze, or gravel which is collected. To the rod is connected a fifty-five pound shot, and the material used for lowering and raising is the No. 22 piano wire, weighing fourteen pounds to the mile. The wire is made to run slowlv at first, the velocity being gradually increased. When bottom is reached the drum stops turning, but with the motion of the ship w ill start again and make three or four turns in a sluggish way, which to the experienced is a sure sign that the sinker is on the bottom. Sometimes, when the ship is rolling badly, the drum will come almost to a dead stop, and those unaccustomed to the machine would think that the sinker had struck, but in a moment the drum starts-again, and runs more rapidly than ever. The machine itself is so simple, and occupies so little room, that any cruiser might carry one as a part of her outfit and. make soundings from time to time, when getting up steam in calm weather, or for the purpose of going into port. Commodore Ammen is now* having manufactured some piano wire weighing twenty pounds to the statute mile, which is designed for use in the upper splices where the depth is 2,000 fathoms or more. This will decrease the liability of breakage and consequent loss of large amounts of wire. With the above machine and apparatus Commander Belknap has recently taken a series of deep-sea soundings in the Pacific, the result being an important addition to geological science, together with more valuable information as to ocean currents.— New York Observer.