94 THE BIRTH OF THE BATHYSPHERE 



separating the strands of the end of the cable until they 

 spread out into a truncated cone, between the interstices 

 of which white metal was poured. This cone was then 

 pulled up into the correspondingly-shaped portion of the 

 swivel. 



Close to the swivel the electric cable, carrying light and 

 telephone wires, entered the sphere through the tightly 

 packed stuffing box. The latter was one of the more im- 

 portant danger spots of the apparatus. It was formed of 

 an inner brass gland and an outer stainless steel gland 

 through which the cable ran. Special packing was placed 

 between the outer and inner glands which were then 

 tightened by means of wrenches. The electric cable, one 

 and one-tenth inches in diameter and heavily insulated, 

 contained two wires for the telephone circuit and two for 

 the electric light. 



The all-important question of the air supply was to be 

 solved by manufacturing it as needed right inside the 

 sphere. Oxygen tanks with automatic valves were to be 

 fitted to the sides, and above these were trays on which 

 powdered chemicals, for absorbing moisture and carbon 

 dioxide, would be exposed. 



As the great metal chamber took shape, we found the 

 need of a definite name. We spoke of it casually and quite 

 incorrectly as tank and cylinder and bell. One day, when 

 I was writing the name of a deep-sea fish — Bathytroctes — 

 the appropriateness of the Greek prefix occurred to me: 

 I coined the word Bathysphere, and the name has stuck. 



