Submarine Appliances And Their Uses
Deep Sea Diving, &c., &c.

Sieve's “ Open ” Dress. 1 his, or equally cumbersome apparatus, was the only diving gear in use up till 1819, in which year Augustus Siebe invented his “Open” dress, worked in conjunction with an air force pump. This dress consisted of a metal helmet and shoulder plate atachcd to a water-tight jacket, under which, and fitting closely to the body, were worn trousers, or rather a combination suit reaching to the arm-pits. The helmet was fitted with an air inlet valve, to which one end of a flexible tube was at- tached, the other end being connected at the surface with a pump which supplied the diver with a constant stream of fresh air. The air, which kept the water well down, forced its way between the jacket and the under-garment, and escaped to the surface on exactly the same principle as that of the diving bell, hence the term “ Open ” as ap- plied to this dress. Although plished with excellent work was accom- this dress—work which could not have been attempted before its intro- duction—it was still far from perfect. It Copyright. Photo No. 88. , , was absolutely necessary for the diver to maintain an upright, or but very slightly stooping, position whilst under water ; if he stumbled and fell, the water filled his dress, and, unless quickly brought to the sur- face, he was in danger of being- drowned. "Close'," I ° overcome this and other defects, Siebe carried out a great number of experi- as now merits, extending- over several years, which culminated in the introduction, in the used. 'edl T”o7> °* ”is Close dress in combination with a helmet fitted with air inlet and legislating outlet valves. 1 his type of apparatus was used in the later stages of the Royal George ” operations, taking the place of the “ open ” dress which had been in use from the commencement. 1 hough, of course, great improvements have been introduced since Siebe’s death, in 1872, the fact remains that his principle is in universal use to this day. The sub- marine work which it has been instrumental in accomplishing is incalculable. But some idea ol the importance of the invention may be gathered from the fact that diving apparatus on Siebe’s principle is universally used to-day in harbour, dock, pier and breakwater construction, in the pearl and sponge fisheries, in recovering sunken ships, cargo and treasure, and that every ship in the British navy and in most foreign navies carries one set or more of diving apparatus, for use in case of emergency— clearing fouled propellers and valves, cleaning and repairing ships’ hulls below the water line, and lor recovering lost anchors, chains, torpedoes, etc.