Description of Condert's Diving Dress. 14"/

pencil, for drawing concentric curves, whose difference of radii does not exceed the play of' the slide, as that may be done much more readily by the screw, a.

In this manner, any number of curves may be described [Yore one point, without the least enlargement of the centre hole in lhe paper; a defect to which all other beam compasses 1 have ever seen, are liable. This is subject to so little spring, or irregularities of any kind, that 1 have, in the width of one inch, described one hundred concen- tric curves, of seven feet diameter, precisely equidistant, with as much neatness, accuracy, and clearness, as 1 could have drawn the same number of small ones, with a pair of common six inch dividers.

The instrument is peculiarly adapted to cases where the centre is on the same plane as the drawing, and where the beam will be sup- ported throughout its entire length, or where it may be upheld by intermediate supports, sufficiently near each other to prevent any degree of sagging; but where it is impossible to support it between the centre and the pencil, it is not by any means to be recommended.

When the curves are finished, the needle may be easily withdrawn, either between the legs of a pair of common dividers, or between the blade and back of a penknife. A hole, x~ should be made in the beam, tbr banging it up.

These beams are kept ready made, for sale, by Mr. William J. Young, mathematical instrument maker, of this city.

Description of a Diving Dress, invented and used by CtlXRLES Cos- DERa', of Brooklyn, New York.

T O T H E COM1KITT]~E O N P U B L I C A T I O N S .

GENTLEMEN,~ The diving dress described in this communication, and the disaster

connected with it, have been recalled to my recollection from no- ticing several recent patents for submarine apparatus. It appears to possess some peculiar features, and seems well calculated for small depth; no metallic or other inflexible material is used in its construc- tion~ or in connecting the two portions of it together. It is put on and off with the same thcility as an ordinary dress, and, when in use~ the body is in full possession of its natural flexibility of motion.

It was invented (and frequently used) by Mr. Charles Condert, a machinist, employed in a factory on the margin of the East river, in Brooklyn, opposite this city. In the docks adjoining the work-shop, he repeatedly descended in it, in from sixteen to twenty feet water. While thus engaged, in August, 1832, he fell a victim to his enter- prise. The air in the reservoir had become expended, or, from some accident, (probably by his l:alling,) it had escaped, as the tube that conveyed the air from the reservoir to the interior of the dress, was found broken~ when hauled up. He was, of course, instantly suffo- cated.

Like Mr. Spalding~ the improver of the diving bell, be perished in

148 Description of Condert's Diving Dress.

the bloom of life, at a distance from his family, and in the prosecution of his favourite pursuits. If' a description of 'his dress be inserted in the Journal, it will probably be the only memorial of this ingenious~ persevering, and unfortunate mechanic.

T h e dress consisted of two parts, made of cloth~ coated with gum elastic; the under part was a pair of pantaloons, with India rubber shoes; this portion of the dress extended up to the arms, and was sup. ported by suspenders. The other part embraced the head, arms~ hands, and the body as low as the hips, descending over the panta- loons about twelve inches. A piece of glass was fixed opposite the eyes, as at a.

His method of obtaining a supply of air~ was by condensing a suffi- cient quantity into a portable reservoir attached to the dress. It consisted of a copper pipe, b b, six inches diameter, and four feet long, closed at both ends, and bent into the form of a horse shoe. Two or three staples were soldered on the upper part, to receive hooks at- tached to the ends of suspenders, or slings, which supported it. Into this pipe he condensed, by a pump, (tbrmed of a gun barrel) as much air as he supposed would be required for the time he intended to re- main under water. A small valve cock, el, near one end of the res- ervoir, admitted air into the dress, when required; by opening this valve~ a small pipe, e~ from which entered two or three inches under t h e lower edge of the upper dress, or jacket, where it folded over the under part. The air escaping from it, of course, entered the dress, and kept it inflated, and prevented the water from entering it.

As the air was respired, it ascended to the upper part of the hood, or covering of the head, and escaped by a small aperture in the cloth~ about the size of a piCs head~ or less. He intended to use a

On the 2~leteorlc Display of November, 1834. 149

valve in its place, but found it to act tolerably well. His sitnation below could always be perceived by people above, from the air ascending perpendicularly over this orilice.

Tile round part of the reservoir embraced his back, and the two ends projected in front, on each side of him.

When he descended, by a rope passed through a hole made in the bqttom of a boat, su/ficiently larg% (about two and a half feet square,) a fifty-six pounds weight was attached to one end, and suffered to sink to the bottom; another cord, attached to it, and one end held in his hand, or thstened to his arm, served to direct him to the perpendicu- lar rope, when he wished to ascend.

The reservoir was loaded with about 200 lbs. of lead ; this load was placed too high ; it wonld have been better to have distributed it about his legs and feet; the higher the load, the more difficult it is for the diver to ris% if he should happen to st'umble, or tall.

rim .It . , "~,°

.,Yew York, June, 1835.

2Vote by the .Suthor.--Might not the ordinary jacket of seamen be so constructed, that portions folding over each other might form re- ceptacles of air~ sufficient to prevent them from sinking, when, from accident or otherwise, they fall into water, as is shown at fig. 2? or perpendicular cells might be quilted on them, as at fig. S, without ma- terially changing the present appearance of the dress. In almost every position in which a person could fall into the water, some air would remain in these cells.

Replies to a Circular in relation to the Occurrence of an unusual Me- teoric Display on the 13th of ~ovember, 1834, addressed by the Secretary of War to the Military Posts of the United States, with other facts relating to the same question. By A. D. BACHE, ProK of:Nat. Philos. and Chem., Univ. Penn.

(Communleated by tile Author.)

Having found that the inthrenee drawn from my observations on the morning of the 13th of November, 1834,* at Philadelphia, was

'~ See Am. Jour. So. & Arts~ by Prof. Silliman, for January, 1835, p. 335.