804 



Popular Science Monthly 



5eam 

 Bolt 



ing and preventing them from collapsing 

 or lifting. If weakness is suspected or 

 reported by the divers, a mixture of 

 paraffin and small blocks of cork is used 

 in preference to either of the materials 

 alone, as it forms a stronger and more 

 binding mass, extending as a beam from 

 one side of the ship to the other. After 

 the upper decks have been sealed in this 

 manner, air can be pumped into the vessel 

 to force more water out, either through a 

 pipe provided for this purpose or through 

 breaks in the bottom. In 

 the case of torpedoed ships 

 with large openings in the 

 sides, considerable pre- 

 liminary repair work by 

 divers may be necessary 

 to close the upper portions 

 of the rents or to con- 

 struct bulkheads extending 

 far enough down. 



The operation is readily 

 understood by reference 

 to the description under 

 the accompanying illustra- 

 tion. When the seacock 

 is opened, water rises in 

 the hopper to the level of 

 the sea. When now the 

 centrifugal pump is started 

 it pumps water into the 

 sunken vessel. If there 

 are no holes in it, an out- 

 let for the surplus water is 

 supplied by means of a 

 pipe raised in the ship's 

 bottom. The buoyant 

 material — small blocks of 

 cork or balsa wood boiled 

 in paraffin — is now dumped into the hopper 

 till its weight forces it to mix with the 

 inflowing water, and it is thereby taken 

 into the pump and forced down through 

 the piping. Released at the lower end of 

 the inner pipe it rises, but the water with 

 which it is mixed, seeking the outlet pro- 

 vided for it in the other hatch, produces 

 currents carrying the cork along, so that 

 eventually it reaches all parts of the ship, 

 rising the while against the decks. When 

 a sufficient amount of this buoyant ma- 

 terial has taken the {)lace of water, the 

 ship rises. 



If the ship is too weak from prolonged 

 corrosive action of the water, and the 

 decks liable to lift, heated paraffin is run 



into the hopper with the cork. To pre- 

 vent it from cooling and hardening too 

 soon, air is pumped into the space between 

 the inner and the outer tubing. Some 

 air is allowed to be forced into the hold 

 together with the cork and paraffin and 

 helps to carry these substances toward 

 leaks and sealing them. 



How Decks and Hatches 

 Are Secured 



The upper deck of a sunken 

 ship may be strengthened by 

 hardened deposits of cork and 

 parciffin under it. To secure 

 the hatches, heavy beams are 

 weighted and lowered into the 

 hold and placed in position by 

 divers. Next the weights are 

 removed and the buoyancy of 

 the beams holds them in posi- 

 tion. Bolts are lowered and 

 connected with the beams. 

 Then a second set of beams is 

 placed on top of the hatch and 

 connected with the tie-bolts. 

 This arrangement effectually 

 distributes the strain on any one 

 deck to all the decks of the ship 



Lighting Up East India — How 

 America Helps 



INDIA is making slow 

 but steady progress in 

 introducing more mod- 

 ern lighting methods. All 

 public lighting in the large 

 cities of India is by elec- 

 tricity ; but in smaller cities 

 the methods of lighting, 

 public as well as private, 

 are still very primitive. 

 The use of illuminating 

 gas is extremely restricted 

 and lamps in which pe- 

 troleum or vegetable oils 

 are burned are used to 

 some extent, though not 

 generally. 



For native festivals — 

 and there are a great many 

 of these — large kerosene 

 lamps of an elaborate pat- 

 tern are much used. They 

 are known in many locali- 

 ties as "Washington 

 Lights" and were original- 

 ly brought to India from 

 the United States. At 

 various religious proces- 

 sions and especially at wedding proces- 

 sions as many as twenty or thirty of these 

 lamps are carried on the heads of bearers 

 who are engaged for the occasion and paid 

 a fixed fee. 



These lamps are high-pressure kerosene 

 lamps constructed upon the principle of 

 the kerosene torches used in the United 

 States. The light is protected by a mica 

 chimney and is very brilliant. Colored 

 globes are sometimes used. These lamps 

 are no longer imported from the United 

 States but are manufactured in Bombay. 

 The "Bombay Lights" cost about five 

 dollars or six dollars, while the imported 

 kind can not be bought for less than 

 sixty-five dollars apiece. 



