to show up (8 ppm). The carbon monoxide 

 level continued to rise and when it reached 

 20 ppm the active contaminant removal sys- 

 tem was operated, but with no effect. The 

 level continued to build up and by mission 

 end it was 40 ppm. The carbon monoxide 

 level projected for the 6-man, 30-day mission 

 was approximately 34 ppm. In the first full 

 contaminant check (Day 8) a trace (0.2 ppm) 

 of ammonia and 200 ppm of acetone were 

 detected. Periodic rechecking of these two 

 items throughout the mission showed little 

 change. 



Cold water was used primarily for personal 

 hygiene and for washing dishes (1 gal/day). 

 Very little cold water was consumed in drink 

 or food preparation primarily due to the cool 

 temperature of the vessel and the repugnant 

 taste of the iodine-treated water. In fact, 

 cold water consumption was so low that it 

 was necessary to run it periodically just to 

 keep the mini waste tank from going dry. 



The mission was started with two of the 

 four hot water tanks not working properly, 

 in that the vacuum had been lost, and the 

 tanks cooled rapidly. Water was drawn from 

 one of the defective tanks on the first day, 

 after which it was necessary to switch to the 

 two good tanks. Approximately 20 to 22 days 

 later the hot water was depleted and it was 

 necessary to reheat water for food prepara- 

 tion. 



Acceptance of the food by the crew was 

 varied. Many items were not enjoyed be- 

 cause the water was not hot enough to pre- 

 pare the food properly. A few of the items 

 were totally rejected on the basis of flavor or 

 consistency (biscuits, milk shakes, chocolate 

 bars). The overall consumption by the crew 

 was less than planned (about 2,300 calories 

 per day) and four of the six crew members 

 lost an average of 11 pounds each, while two 

 showed no change. Of the four who lost 

 weight, one used the mission as an opportu- 

 nity to diet and two others drew heavily from 

 their personal cache of dried fruit and nuts, 

 using the freeze-dried foods for dinner only. 



The 30-day drift of BEN FRANKLIN pro- 

 vides the only data available for long-term 

 life support in a contemporary submersible. 

 While this submersible's life support system 

 may not be the ultimate, it did provide all 

 requirements for the crew who emerged in 



good health and good spirits. For this reason 

 one might consider utilizing various life 

 support features of BEN FRANKLIN in pres- 

 ent or future vehicles. 



HABIiABILITY 



Mr. Wesley Blair of Lockheed Corporation 

 presented a comparison of the space availa- 

 ble (free volume) per occupant in several 

 submersibles versus the space available in a 

 variety of other familiar human habitations 

 (18). Blair's comparison is reprinted in Fig- 

 ure 9.23 and shows, for example, that a com- 

 mercial coffin offers more free volume than 

 the bathyscaph TRIESTE; the other sub- 

 mersibles in this figure barely exceed the 

 coffin's volume. 



Of the small contemporary vehicles, Texas 

 A&M's PC-14 is more or less representative 

 of volume available, and a glance at the 

 observer's position in Figure 9.24 reveals 

 that space is at a premium. Shifting our 

 attention to the interior of PCS (Fig. 9.25), 

 which is similar in diameter to PC-1 4 , a wide 

 variety of hard, sharp projections are seen 

 from which the occupants will undoubtedly 

 receive several whacks, bumps, pricks and 

 jolts before the dive is over. The Perry vehi- 

 cles are not unique, however, in their poten- 

 tial for discomfort, for all small submersibles 

 offer similar jarring possibilities. 



Rather surprising is the fact that even the 

 large vehicles offer little in the way of hu- 

 man comfort. BEN FRANKLIN , for example, 

 had a metal escape trunk in the stern that 

 projected some 2 to 3 feet down into the 

 pressure hull when in a stored condition. The 

 hard, unforgiving nature of the trunk's rim 

 was sorely researched and evaluated on the 

 head and shoulders of the occupants until 

 relief, in part, arrived in the form of foam 

 rubber padding. 



In the very small vehicles, such as TECH- 

 DIVER (PC-3B), head-bumping, knee-crack- 

 ing and shoulder-whacking are much re- 

 duced, because the internal volume is so 

 small that the occupants are forced to sit 

 still until the need to stretch becomes almost 

 unbearable. 



The point being made, unfortunately, is 

 that manned submersibles are not designed 

 for comfort, and the smaller the vehicle, the 



449 



