The Dredge. 427 



lift the opening weight as well as close the cover. They are 

 hung to the dredge by snap hooks, to each of which is attached 

 two cords. The first of these is the cover cord, which passes 

 through the pulley on the end of the frame, and is fastened to 

 the cover. By it the weight opens or closes the dredge. The 

 second cord is the releasing cord. This passes through the 

 same pulley and is tied to the wire loop to which are fastened 

 the cords supporting the dredge, and which attaches the dredge 

 to the ]ine. It is long enough to be slack when the weight is 

 hanging at the full length of the cover-cord. Weight-hangers — 

 stout fishing swivels — are attached to these cords at such a 

 place that when they are hung on the weight-pins of the release, 

 the weights are supported close to their respective pulleys, 

 and both cover c?rds are loose. The opening weight is hung 

 to the inner or narrower fork of the release, and the closing 

 weight to the outer one. This arrangment of cords is well 

 shown in Plate VII, fig. 1, where the weight-hangers are on the 

 pins and the dredge is " set. " 



It will be seen that the cover-cord of the closing weight 

 shows a large loop when the dredge is lowered with the cover 

 closed. This loop gave much annoyance at first by becoming en- 

 tangled, and thus preventing the dredge from opening. The 

 difficulty was overcome by an elastic cord attached to the re- 

 lease-cord of the opening weight and having at the other end 

 an eyelet, through which ran the cover-cord of the closing 

 weight. This elastic cord is of such length that it holds up the 

 slack loop of the closing cord when the opening weight is " set" 

 by hooking its weight-hanger on the weight-pin of the release. 

 When the opening weight is released the eyelet falls to the 

 level of the cover, releasing the closing cord. It must not drop 

 far enough to be shut in between the cover and frame when the 

 dredge is closed. The eyelet is kept from being drawn into the 

 closing pulley when the cover is drawn shut, by the loop of 

 wire already mentioned (6r, PI. VIII, fig. 1) through which 

 passes the closing cord just before reaching the pulley. This 

 arrangement of cords reads as if it were complex. It is really 

 simple. The cords do not become entangled, and need no ad- 

 justment. The weights can be set by a single movement — 



