CO REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [58] 



the reel, cranks, and register, disconnect the arm at i, and unscrew the 

 spindle from the frame. The total weight is 135 pounds. 



In sounding with wire it is absolutely necessary to keep it taut, 

 slack wire always kinks, and a kink is followed by a break. It is also 

 liable, when slackened, to fly off the reel. 



If the ordinary sounding wire (jSTo. 11 music, Washburn and Moen) 

 is used, it is necessary to protect it by keeping the reel in oil when 

 not in use; but with a view to having the machine ready for service 

 at all times, we substitute ISTo. 21 wire, and allow it to remain on 

 the reel without other protection than an occasional oiling. It rusts as 

 a matter of course, but we find by experience that it lasts from six to 

 eight months. 



It is hardly necessary to observe that this heavy wire is x)racticable 

 in depths of a few hundred fathoms only. 



The machine is protected from the weather by a painted canvas cover. 



PIANO-FORTE WIRE FOR SOUNDING. 



The piano wire used for sounding by the vessels of the United States 

 Fish Commission is made by the Washburn & Moen Manufacturing 

 Company, of Worcester, Mass., and is called by them ISo. 11 music. 

 It is 0.028 of an inch in diameter, corresponding to IsTo. 21 American and 

 No. 22 Birmingham gauge. It is furnished by the manufacturers in 

 sealed tin cans containing 50 pounds each, or about 3,850 fathoms in 

 six coils 8^ inches in diameter, containing about 640 fathoms in two 

 lengths. 



The coils are double, wrapped with heavy paper, a liberal sprinkling 

 of whiting being inclosed with the wire. It is practically indestructi- 

 ble a^ long as it remains in the sealed can, and if put in a dry place 

 will keep well in the paper wrapping after it is removed from the can. 

 We have never lost a fathom of American wire from rust in the coil. 

 It is highly polished and resists rust remarkably well when in use. Its 

 weight is 1.3 i>ounds per 100 fathoms in air and 1.13 pounds in sea 

 water. Its tensile strength is quite uniform, the mean of several tests 

 giving the breaking strain 207 j^ounds. The cost is $1.50 per pound. 



We have also used English wire from Messrs. Webster & Horsfall, 

 Birmingham, England, of the same size, ]^o. 22 Birmingham gauge 

 (0.028 inch diameter), corresponding to No. 21 American gauge or No. 

 11 music. 



The tensile strength from the mean of several tests was 214 pounds, 

 practically the same as the American wire. The cost is 75 cents per 

 pound. 



It possesses certain disadvantages, however, for use on board ship, 

 which tend to counteract the advantages derived from its cheapness at 

 first cost. It is received from the makers in 18-inch coils, made up of 

 pieces from 100 to 400 fathoms in length, the coils weighing about 60 



