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Show DEEP SEA DIVERS. i Death Always Hovers Round Them While They Toil. PERILS THEY HAVE TO FACE. The Awful Pretiuro of Water and Air That May Bury or Burst ThemThe Helmet Telephone a Wonderful Aid In Work and In Timet of Danger. It Is surprising to learn how many uses there uro for divers. Tho navy, of course, employs many to set submarine sub-marine mines and torpedoes and to attend at-tend to Investigations of tho condition of ships' bottoms. Bridge construction companies use them, as do those who build duuis, waterworks and reservoirs. reser-voirs. Waterworks In largo cities keep a diver on their staff constantly. Wrecking companies need their services, serv-ices, and Iho profession of undcrrlvcr tunneling makes mnny demnnds on tho tlmo nnd skill of the mnn In armor. Slnco Smenton in 1770 designed n pump to supply air to the diving bell little real improvement In the art has been mndc. save in detail of helmet nnd clothes, until tho Invention of tho telephone. The grcntcst advance ever made In Iho art, divers will tell you, is tho combination of the telephone with tho diving suit. Ileforo Its advent divers div-ers had to depend entirely upon pulls on tho life lino for communication with the surface and upon signs to each other when under wntcr if two wished to communicate. Today tho modern diving helmet Is equipped with n telephone, nnd tho diver enn not only henr what Is said to blm from the surface, sur-face, ndvlsc those In chnrgo of bis pump ns to whether the air Is "coming "com-ing right" or not. but he cnn.commuul-cnto cnn.commuul-cnto to n brother diver nnd hear tho Instructions sent to him from tho surface, sur-face, nil of which facilities arc of great assistance In the work. At ilrst thought It may not seem so dlfllcult n thing, this going down under wnter nnd breathing air sent In from n pump by n tube. Ilut the physical drawbacks to the work are enormous. For every ton feet n diver descends ho sustnlns nn nddltlnnnl pressure of four nnd n bnlf pounds over every square Inch of his body. Whnt this means may be better understood when considering con-sidering the grentest depth ever mado by n dlvcr-204 feet. Ills body at that depth sustained n pressure of eighty-eight eighty-eight nnd a half pounds to the square Inch over nnd above tbo fifteen pounds nlwnys sustained when In tho air. Divers must descend very slowly, swnllowlng ns they go; otherwise they mny bleed at the noso and ears nnd even lose consciousness. And they must ascend even moro dlowly than they descend, particularly when coming com-ing from great depths; otherwise they mny literally burst from Internal air pressure. At the least, too sudden n rise may cause nn attack of that terrible ter-rible disease known to tunnel workers called caisson disease, or the bends. In which nlr gets Into the tissues under pressure and causes the most extreme torture. The diver, getting ready to descend, clothes himself in very heavy underwear under-wear of.guernsey or flannel, the drawers draw-ers well Hceured to prevent slipping, and adds a pair of henry woolen socks. If tho wnter be cold two such suits may bo worn, if "the depth to bo negotiated ne-gotiated Is great cotton soaked with oil Is put In tbe ears or a heavy woolen cap pulled down orer them. Shoulder pads. If worn to take the weight off the helmet, nro next tied on, nfter which the direr wriggles Into bis lieary suit of rubbor and canrus. Next come the Inner collar and the breastplate, breast-plate, which are secured with clamps to tho rubber dress, the utmost care being tnken In this operation not to tear or pinch tho rubber. I'lnnlly the shoes are fitted on and the rubber gloves clamped to rings in tho sleeves. The helmet is the last to go ou, nud never before the valves and telephone have been tested. The attendants start to pump ns tho helmet is clamped homo. The helmet Is nttached to the pump with n rubber tube, which Is caiivns and wire protected. No diver descends, after the helmet Is put on. until ho lias tested the outfit and found that his nlr supply Is sumclcnt und tho pump working properly. lie Is supplied with a life line, with which lie ran slgtinl should bis telephone tele-phone get out of order and by which ho may be drawn to the surface should ho become helpless for any reason, He must take great care when walking about on the bottom tint to foul his llfo lino or his nlr tube and for this reason must always retrace his steps exactly to his starting point If he has gone Into n wreck or nbout any obstructions. ob-structions. For the same reason two divers working together must be enre-ful enre-ful tint to cross each other's path. Sometimes the life line may become so entangled In wrerkngo that It must be rut, nnd then there Is danger of tho illur not. rinding his wny back to his boat or float, especially If the bottom Is muddy mil fouls the "seeing." Hut the grentest danger of all. of course. Is that tlie tube be rut or the diver faint In either rnso he Is In desperate straits, If the man handling the life lino "feels" anything wrong he will haul the dlvr up willy nllly and regardless re-gardless of the severe bleeding nt nose and ears which will result from too rapid n rise to tho surface. Ilut If the diver be Inside n wreck or If his life line gets tangled In wreckage such hauling would do no good. It is In situations sit-uations like these that tbo slender connecting con-necting link of telephone wire means so mnrh to Hip men who risk their I lives far lienenth the snrface of the I water Scientific American. I |