(C) International Film Service
The Diving Sphere built for Deep Sea Salvage Operations
A common diver's suit does not protect the diver from hydraulic pressure. Only a flexible suit and a thin layer of air separates him from the surrounding water. This air must necessarily be of the same pressure as the surrounding water. The air that is pumped down to the diver not only serves to supply his lungs, but by entering his blood transmits its pressure to every part of his anatomy. As long as the external pressure is equalized by a corresponding pressure within him, the diver experiences no serious discomfort. In fact, when the pressure is not excessively high he finds it rather exhilarating to work under such conditions; for, with every breath, he takes in an abnormal amount of oxygen. When he returns to the surface he realizes that he has been working under forced draft. He is very much exhausted and he is very hungry. It takes a comparatively short time to build up the high internal pressure, which the diver must have in order to withstand the pressure of the water outside, but it is the decompression when he returns to the surface that is attended with great discomfort and positive danger. If the decompression is not properly effected, the diver will suffer agonies and even death from the so-called "Caisson Disease."
The Pneumatic Breakwater—Submerged Air Tubes protecting a California Pier from Ocean Storms
A HUMAN SODA-WATER BOTTLE
We know now a great deal more than we used to know about the effect of compressed air on the human system, and because of this knowledge divers have recently descended to depths undreamed of a few years ago. When a diver breathes compressed air, the oxygen is largely consumed and exhaled from the lungs in the form of carbon-dioxide, but much of the nitrogen is dissolved in the blood and does not escape. However, like a bottle of soda-water, the blood shows no sign of the presence of the gas as long as the pressure is maintained. But on a sudden removal of the pressure, the blood turns into a froth of nitrogen bubbles, just as the soda-water froths when the stopper of the bottle is removed. This froth interrupts the circulation. The release of pressure is felt first in the arteries and large veins. It takes some time to reach all the tiny veins, and serious differences of pressure are apt to occur that often result in the rupture of blood-vessels. The griping pains that accompany the "Caisson Disease" are excruciating. The only cure is to restore the blood to its original pressure by placing the patient in a hospital lock, or boiler-like affair, where compressed air may be admitted; and then to decompress the air very slowly.
It is possible to relieve the pressure in a bottle of soda-water so gradually that the gas will pass off without the formation of visible bubbles, and that is what is sought in decompressing a diver. After careful research it has been found that the pressure may be cut down very quickly to half or even less of the original amount, but then the diver must wait for the decompression to extend to the innermost recesses of his being and to all the tiny capillaries of his venous system.
In the salvage of the F-4 a diver went down 306 feet, and remained on the bottom half an hour. The pressure upon him was 135 pounds per square inch, or about 145 tons on the surface of his entire body. Some idea of what this means may be gained if we consider that the tallest office building in the world does not bear on its foundations with a greater weight than 215 pounds to the square inch or only about 50 per cent more than the crushing pressure this diver had to endure.