388 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
TAKING SERIAL TEMPERATURES. 
Ill order to guard against the loss of instruments, a large and strong temperature 
wire is used. It is steel piano wire, Ho. 21 musie, about 0.045 incb in diameter, or Ho. 
17 American gauge; it is in a single lengtli of 1,225 fathoms, wound on a Sigsbee 
reel, and kept in a reel box in readiness for use. 
Serial temperatures when taken always follow a sounding, and if water specimens 
are reipiired for specific gravities a specimen cup is clamped to tlie wire a fathom 
above each thermometer. An assistant examines the thermometers and water-specimen 
cups in the laboratory and places them in buckets or other convenient receptacles in 
readiness to be carried to the sounding machine. 
Preparatory . — When the sounding is completed. Ho. 1 guides the stray lino on the 
reel and secures the end to its own part, removes the left cap-square and assists in 
dismounting the sounding reel and mounting the temperature reel; then replaces the 
cap-square, secures the roller guide in place, runs the end of the stray line over 
the accumulator pulley and through the guide, and adjusts the friction rope. 
Ho. 2 reels in the stray line, UTiships the crank, removes the register and right 
cap-square; assists in dismounting the sounding reel and mounting the temperature 
reel; then replaces the cap-square and register, assists in securing the roller guide 
and in reeving the end of the stray line. He ships the crank and lowers the siidier a 
fathom below the surface when ordered. 
Ho. 3 brings the deep-sea thermometers and water- specimen cups, assists in 
shifting the reels and in removing the fair-leader and swivel pulley. He bends a 
deep-sea lead to the stray line for a sinker and suspends it by the pawl below the 
roller guide, where it hangs quietly until it is lowered beneath the surface preparatory 
to clamping on the first thermometer. 
Ho. 4 removes the fair-leader and swivel pulley and assists in shifting the reels and 
replacing the cap-s(]uares. A convenient method of mounting or dismounting a reel 
is to use a small watch tackle from the main boom. If the boom is not available, lash 
a handspike across the reel in line with its shaft and four men will readily lift it out 
of its bearings or replace it, as the case may be. 
STATIONS — INSTRUMENTS GOING DOWN. 
Ho. 1 attends the friction rope (plate xxxix), following the same general rule as in 
sounding. He is given the stopping-places in succession, and should bring the wire to a 
stand without jarring the instruments or bringing unnecessary strain on the wire itself. 
When the last thermometer has been lowered to its place and the pawl brought into 
action, he removes the friction rope from the groove and iirepares to oil the wire as 
it comes in. 
Ho. 2 glasses the thermometers to the recorder, who notes their numbers, then to 
the officer in charge. The water-specimen cups are passed directly to the officer. He 
then stands in readiness to use the auxiliary brake. 
Ho. 3 receives the thermometers and water-specimen cups from the officer and 
clamps them to the wire, as directed in sounding. When the last thermometer has 
been lowered to its place, he brings the pawl into action. An interval of five minutes 
is allowed for the last instrument of the series to take the temperature. 
Ho. 4 puts belt on, gets reeling engine in readiness, and ships ratchet crank on 
driving shaft, where it is allowed to remain to assist in bringing the instruments 
carefully to the point above the grating, where they are removed from the wire. 
