By: Steve Wood
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In the late 1920's, two men, William Beebe and Otis Barton had a
yearning to go deeper into the oceans than any man had ever gone
before. At that time, none had been deeper than 350 feet. Otis Barton
had invented a diving tank that would survive a depth of 5000 feet.
This steel ball was built by a man named John Butler. Willian Beebe, a
naturalist/adventurer/scientist/writer named this tank the Bathysphere.
William Beebe was a very influential man with the New York Zoological
Society (The Bronx Zoo) and secured funds to do these deep dives. Otis
Barton accompanied Beebe on these dives but he felt he never got enough
credit for his role.
The Bathysphere was cast from a single piece of steel and had an inside diameter of 4 1/2 feet. It carried it's own oxygen supply and they used trays of Soda Lime to control the carbon dioxide and sodium chloride to remove moisture from the air. They were in communication to the surface via a telephone, supplied by Alexander Graham Bell and they had electricity to power a searchlight. Originally the shere was to have 3 windows. 1 for the searchlight and 2 for viewing, but one of the quartz glass windows cracked during installation. The large wingnut on the back of the sphere was a 4 inch plug that could be opened quickly upon surfacing, just in case their oxygen was running low or any other emergency. Beebe and Barton made many trips into the abbys near Bermuda, the deepest being 3028 feet on August 15, 1935.. |
| Another awesome project from you Steve. You never fail to amaze me with all the cool stuff you can create for 1/6th. A very unique project here all the way around, and a great history lesson as well. Special thanks for sending it in and sharing it with us. -- GL |
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