286 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
To one end of a stout spar, a c, was firmly lashed] a block, d, 
and to ojie end of the rope which passed through this block 
was attached a smaller block, G, which allowed the dredge-rope 
c 
or sounding-line, I G ir, to run easily through it. The other 
end of the rope through d was made fast to the “ accumulator,” 
£ F, which consisted of a number of solid vulcanised india- 
rubber springs, about two feet long, connected at each end to 
a disc of wood. In the event of the dredge fouling among 
rocks, or the vessel pitching much in a sea, a sudden strain was 
put upon the dredge-rope and on the block G, and thence 
communicated by the rope g d f to the accumulator, e f, 
which immediately was stretched out, sometimes to three 
times its original length. On the only occasion when a dredge 
was lost, the writer saw a strain upon the indicator amounting 
