Bathyscaphe
A deep-sea submersible using gasoline for buoyancy and iron shot ballast.
A bathyscaphe is a free-diving, self-propelled deep-sea submersible with a crew cabin suspended below a float filled with gasoline. The float's incompressibility allows light construction, while the crew cabin is massively built to withstand extreme pressure. Auguste Piccard coined the name from Ancient Greek words meaning 'deep' and 'vessel, ship'.
Quick Facts
- Inventor
- Auguste Piccard
- First bathyscaphe
- FNRS-2
- Float capacity of trieste
- 120,000 L (120,000,000 cc) of gasoline
- Deepest dive
- Challenger Deep, Mariana Trench
- Depth reached by trieste
- 35,813 ft (10,916 m) corrected
Facts from the source article.
Mode of operation
To descend, a bathyscaphe floods air tanks with sea water. Unlike a submarine, it cannot use compressed air to ascend because water pressures at operating depths are too great; for example, pressure at the Challenger Deep exceeds seven times that in a standard compressed gas cylinder. Instead, iron shot ballast, over seven times denser than seawater, is released for ascent, lost to the ocean floor. The shot is held in hoppers by an electromagnet at the neck, a fail-safe device: power failure causes the shot to run out by gravity, making ascent automatic.
History of development
The first bathyscaphe, FNRS-2, was built in Belgium from 1946 to 1948 by Auguste Piccard, named after the Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique. Propulsion came from battery-driven electric motors. The float held 37850 L of aviation gasoline, and the sphere had no access tunnel, requiring loading on deck. After initial journeys, the vessel was destroyed in a minor squall. FNRS-3 used the crew sphere from FNRS-2 with a new 75700 L float. Piccard's second bathyscaphe, Trieste, was purchased by the United States Navy from Italy in 1957, with two water ballast tanks and eleven buoyancy tanks holding 120000 L of gasoline.
Accomplishments
In 1960, Trieste, carrying Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh, reached the deepest known point on Earth, the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench. Onboard systems indicated a depth of 37,800 ft (11,521 m), later corrected to 35,813 ft (10,916 m) for salinity and temperature variations. More accurate 1995 measurements found the Challenger Deep slightly shallower at 35,798 ft (10,911 m). The crew observed diatomaceous ooze and a flatfish about 1 foot long and 6 inches across on the seabed, confirming life exists at such depth in complete absence of light.
More in Swiss Inventions
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced