Benthoscope

Benthoscope

The Benthoscope was a deep sea submersible designed by Otis Barton after the Second World War. He hired the Watson-Stillman Company, who had earlier constructed his and William Beebe's bathysphere to produce the new design of deep diving vessel, which was named from the Greek prefix "-benthos" or bottom.

The Benthoscope was essentially similar to the bathysphere, but was built to withstand higher pressures, with a crush depth of 10,000 feet (3,048 m). Its internal diameter was 4.5 feet (1.4 m), and its wall thickness was 1.75 inches (44.5 mm). It weighed 7 tons (6,350 kg), an increase in weight of 1,600 pounds (726 kg) over the bathysphere. Two windows of fused quartz were installed, one facing straight ahead and the other diagonally down. Other arrangements followed the bathysphere, with oxygen supplied from cylinders, and calcium chloride and soda lime used to absorb moisture and CO2 respectively.

In August 1949, Barton established a new world depth record with a solo descent to 4,500 feet, which remains the deepest dive by a submersible suspended by a cable

ee also

* Timeline of underwater technology
*Diving chamber
* Diving bell
* Bathysphere


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  • benthoscope — [bɛ̃tɔskɔp] n. m. ÉTYM. 1959; du rad. de benthos, et scope. ❖ ♦ Didact. Appareil destiné à explorer le benthos …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Benthoscope —   [ skop] das, (s)/ s, ein Tiefseetauchgerät, Bathysphäre …   Universal-Lexikon

  • benthoscope — ben·tho·scope …   English syllables

  • benthoscope — ˈbenthəˌskōp noun ( s) Etymology: benthos + scope : a deep sea diving instrument consisting of a hollow steel sphere capable of carrying an observer to depths of several thousand feet * * * benˈthoscope noun A submersible sphere from which to… …   Useful english dictionary

  • benthos — [ bɛ̃tos ] n. m. • 1897; mot gr. « profondeur » ♦ Didact. Ensemble des organismes qui vivent sur les fonds des mers et s y déplacent peu. Benthos, plancton et necton. ● benthos nom masculin (grec benthos, profondeur) Ensemble des êtres vivants… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Timeline of diving technology — This is a timeline of underwater technology. The entries marked ## are about decompression tables.[1] Contents 1 Pre industrial 2 19th century 2.1 Rebreathers appear …   Wikipedia

  • Submersible — A submersible , or bathyscaphe, is a type of underwater vessel with limited mobility which is typically transported to its area of operation by a surface vessel or large submarine. Used by oceanographers and marine scientists. Apart from size,… …   Wikipedia

  • Diving bell — A diving bell is a rigid chamber used to transport divers to depth in the ocean. The most common types are the wet bell and the closed bell. The wet bell is a cable suspended chamber, open at the bottom like a moon pool structure, that is lowered …   Wikipedia

  • Otis Barton — William Beebe (left) and Otis Barton standing next to the bathysphere Frederick Otis Barton, Jr. (June 5, 1899 – April 15, 1992) was an American deep sea diver, inventor and actor. Born in New York, the independently wealthy Barton designed the… …   Wikipedia

  • Diving chamber — The decompression chamber at the Neutral Buoyancy Lab A diving chamber has two main functions: as a simpler form of submersible vessel to take divers underwater and to provide a temporary base and retrieval system in the depths; as a land or ship …   Wikipedia

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