582 FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES. [70] 



Beneath the reel is a lever intended to serve as an auxiliary brake in 

 case of accident to the friction-line. It is also useful in very heavy seas, 

 when, by reason of the momentum of the rapidly moving reel during 

 the violence of the vessel's movement, even the action of a governor 

 may not be quick enough to keep the wire constantly under tension. 

 In such a case it is well to attach a spring or rubber strap to this lever 

 brake, causing it to press against the reel with a steady force. By this 

 means a few pounds of reserve resistance, entirely independent of the 

 governor, is placed upon the reel, which prevents the reel from acquir- 

 ing a velocity too great for the circumstances. 



In the rear of the reel is a steam engine, having a V-groove pulley on 

 its shaft. Between the reel and the engine is a tightening pulley for a 

 belt to be taken over the V-groove pulley and the V-groove of the reel 

 for reeling in the wire. The tightening pulley is turned to one side or 

 the other by turning its shaft, the latter having a locking-pin at the 

 bottom. 



In front of the accumulator guide-pipes is a fairleader for the wire, 

 and a swivel-pulley to admit of reeling in the wire while the ship is 

 steamed ahead on her course. While paying out wire this pulley is 

 raised on its hinge and turned to one side. For the fairleader a lignum 

 vitce clamp is provided for clamping the wire in case of accident. 



The whole machine is so hinged and arranged in its several parts that, 

 with the exception of bolts or pins to be temporarily withdrawn, only 

 the reel and the cross-head pulley need be unshipped in order to fold it 

 in a very small compass for stowage. The reel then stows in the tank, 

 which contains preservative fluid for the wire. Plates 42 and 43 of the 

 Supplement to Sigsbee's Deep-Sea Sounding and Dredging show the ma- 

 chine folded, also the photographic copies of special drawings on ex- 

 hibition. 



The times made in actual work with this machine are shown in Sigs- 

 bee's Deep-Sea Sounding and Dredging, pp. 73-76. 



Experimental form of the Sigsbee Machine for sounding with piano-forte 

 wire. Represented by a plate (No. 7 of Sigsbee's series). 



United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. 

 This machine was used for three years on board the Blake, previous 

 to the construction of the improved pattern described above. It is rep- 

 resented in the plate as rigged for paying out. 



Original Service Machine for sounding with piano-forte wire, as used on 

 the United States Coast Survey steamer Blake during her first 

 season in the Gulf of Mexico. Represented by a diagram, show- 

 ing the machine ready for paying out (Sigsbee's series of plates, 

 No. 6). 



United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. 



" This machine was practically the same as those originally issued for 

 general use, with the sanction of Sir William Thomson. A reel, having 



