96 THE BIRTH OF THE BATHYSPHERE 



sphere. The path of the cable from the winch to the sea 

 may be followed in Fig. 122: It passes first from the winch 

 to the sheave near the bow of the barge, thence to a 

 pulley near the mast fastened to the deck, before it finally 

 passes over the sheave at the tip of the boom; from it the 

 sphere depends, at rest on deck, or finally descending into 

 the sea. A meter wheel for measuring the amount of cable 

 paid out is shown attached to the boom. 



The generator adopted for electric lighting purposes 

 was a 1 10- volt Kohler plant of 1500-watt capacity. We 

 set it up near the bow and connected it with the sphere 

 through the three thousand feet of insulated cable which 

 was coiled up on deck, ready to be paid out during the 

 descents. The distance between the generator and the 

 bathysphere caused a drop in the voltage, so that it was 

 necessary to use especially made 90-volt lamps. "We ar- 

 ranged it so that when the divers required electric light 

 they were to ask for it, and the generator would be started. 

 The electric light circuit was also to serve as an auxiliary 

 signaling apparatus, as, in case of breakdown of the tele- 

 phone lines, signals could be sent by turning the electric 

 light off and on by means of switches, situated one in the 

 bathysphere and one at the generator. A control lamp was 

 placed in the circuit, so that those on deck would be able 

 to tell when the light was on below. 



The telephones, too, were in readiness. They were of 

 the ordinary type and operated on 16- or 2 2- volt dry 

 batteries. The instruments were furnished with head 



