THE BATHYSPHERE OF 1 9 34 247 



the communication hose. As it descends, the ball turns 

 until the cable takes its correct lay. Thereafter not more 

 than two or three turns are found in a thousand feet. 



In the early test descents, whenever the electric hose was 

 twisted about the cable, the turns, as they arrived at the 

 surface, were tied together in large loops, through the 

 center of which the main cable ran. This procedure oper- 

 ated efficiently and required but little effort or time. After 

 the bathysphere arrived on board, the coils were unwound 

 by removing the end of the cable from the stuffing-box 

 and uncoiling it on deck. 



During the 1930 descents the electric hose was fastened 

 by double-jawed clamps direct to the supporting cable. As 

 a final evolutionary chapter in fastening hose to cable, the 

 clamps were discarded entirely and the lines are now fas- 

 tened together by six foot lengths of ^ inch rope. Clove 

 hitches were found to be the simplest and best method of 

 attaching the two. Rope fastenings have certain advantages 

 over the others, — they can be made fast more rapidly than 

 clamps, they can be slashed by a knife and removed with- 

 out stopping the ascent in case of an emergency, and lastly, 

 if twists occur, the rope takes up the turns and not the 

 cable. 



One feature of the cable's use that Is of considerable in- 

 terest Is Its winding on the drum. The original ten inch 

 diameter of the steel core of the large winch was consid- 

 ered too small for this size of cable. To remedy this heavy 

 pieces of wood were installed, bringing the diameter to ap- 



