Bathysphere (vessel)

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William Beebe (left) and Otis Barton standing next to the bathysphere

A bathysphere is a spherical deep-sea submersible which is unpowered and is lowered into the ocean on a cable.

The first bathysphere was constructed by Otis Barton and William Beebe in 1930, and consisted of a hollow sphere of one inch (2.54 cm) thick cast steel which was 4.75 ft (1.5 m) in diameter. The sphere was fitted with three-inch thick windows made of fused quartz, the strongest transparent material then available, and had a 400-pound entrance hatch which was bolted down before a descent. Oxygen was added to the air from a high pressure cylinder and exhaled CO₂ was removed using soda lime, while calcium chloride was used to absorb moisture.

In use it was suspended from a one inch (2.54 cm) cable, and a solid rubber hose carried an electrical supply and telephone wires which were the bathysphere's occupants' only means of communication with the surface. The entire apparatus including the cable and associated lines weighed approximately 10,000 pounds (4,536 kg) submerged.

In 1932, Barton and Beebe made a world record descent to a depth of 3,028 feet (923 m), the record remaining unbroken for 15 years.

At extreme depths, the cable suspending a bathysphere becomes unmanageable, and deeper dives must be performed by self-propelled vehicles such as bathyscaphes.

The term bathysphere is composed from the Greek words βάθος (bathos), "depth" and σφαίρα (sphaira), "sphere".

[edit] References

Beebe, William. Half Mile Down. Harcourt Brace and Company. (1934).
Matsen, Brad . Descent - The Heroic Discovery of the Abyss. Pantheon Books. (2005).