The restless human nature to explore the water depths has always ignited the spark to invent devices helpful in undertaking expeditions deep down various water bodies.
Among these wonderful and unbelievable inventions, the diving bell holds an undeniable place.
Hold on to your nerves for an exciting journey in this article sure to add up heaps of knowledge that would definitely be never explained so comprehensively before.
A diving bell is an ancient device envisioned by Aristotle a Greek Philosopher and Vitruvius a Roman Engineer.
It is a dream come true to swim like fishes for human beings. Before the invention of the diving bell people loved to move on the water surface and swim in shallow water but could not descend down much deep.
What is A Diving Bell?
A diving bell is a bell-like or tea cup-like container open from the bottom. As it is inserted into the water air is accumulated inside the container providing oxygen for the divers going down in the bell.
Types of Diving Bells
There are three types of bell diving.
- Closed bell diving
- Open bell diving
- Rescue bell diving
Closed Bell diving:
This type of bell diving is also known as mixed gas diving or saturation diving. In it the divers make use of the mixed gas along with hot water costumes.
It does not allow divers to descend very deep. Most commonly in this type of bell diving the divers usually perform their job in shallow water enabling them to work for greater time periods.
Open Bell Diving:
It is also known as wet bell diving. It allows the divers to descend down to a depth of almost 50 meters to 300 meters.
Modern bell diving :
Modern bell diving allows the divers to explore the water depths to almost 1000 feet which is approximately 300 meters. Probably 4 divers can travel in modern diving bell systems.
Expeditions Undertaken by Diving Bells:
First known diving bell expedition :
The credit of designing the very first functional diving bell goes to Drebbel who was a Dutch engineer. He did this in the 17th century.
The historical evidence suggested that Drebbel was successful in descending to the depth of 15 meters or 50 feet. If we talk about the construction of Drebbel ‘s diving bell it was made of wooden frame enclosed in an airtight leather or animal bladder.
It contained relatively small glass windows so that the divers inside it can observe the underwater habitats. This simple design later on leads to much better and advanced diving bell models.
Second known diving bell expedition :
In 1930s William Beebes an American Naturalist and Otis Barton an engineer by profession designed a diving bell known as Bathysphere. It was made of steel to withstand greater pressure deep down the water.
The historical records quoted that they were successful in reaching the depth of 803 meters or 2634 feet. At that time it was considered to be the greatest depth explored or reached by any other human being.
Their expedition provided us a much deeper insight into the bioluminescent creatures, how fishes were able to survive in greater water depths and a variety of different creatures found at the bottom of sea.
This expedition definitely set up a standard for future advancements in upgraded diving bell design and detailed exploration targets.
Third known diving bell expedition:
The deepest known underwater point is Challenger Deep and it is located at Mariana Trench.
In the year 1953 Auguste Piccard a Swiss scientist along with his son Jacques Piccard succeeded in designing an upgraded version of diving bell known as Trieste.
It was a steel spherical vessel. On January 24,1960 Jacques Piccard along with US Navy Leutinant Don Valsh succeeded in reaching Challenger Deep.
It is said that they had descended to the depth of approximately 10,916 meters equivalent to 35,814 feet. The steel structure of the Trieste enabled it to withstand greatest pressure at such ocean depth.
Difference of Diving Bell and Other Diving Systems:
As we study further about bell diving we come to know that in other diving systems the workers come back to surface after completion of a work shift.
But in bell diving the divers after accomplishing their assigned tasks are transferred to dry vessels where they have to spend time for almost 10 to 28 days depending on the circumstances.
Limitations of Bell Diving:
We all get too fascinated to think even that we can travel down to the bottom of the sea or any other water body. When we say that a diving bell can take the divers up to the depth of 50 meters to 300 meters the ever curious human nature questions Why can’t we go beyond this?
The answer is there are certain limitations that bell diving offers which are explained as follows :
1) As the divers in bell descend down to the depth of 56 meters or more the partial pressure of oxygen rises up causing oxygen to get drastically poisonous. If the divers do not go far that limit toxic oxygen consumption does not occur. But in modern bell technology this limitation is worked out.
2) Secondly as we all are quite well aware that divers going down in diving bell stay inside the diving container. It means they breathe inside that result in an increase of carbon dioxide level and reduction in oxygen level. It is important to replenish the air inside usually on a daily basis. It depends on how much divers are consuming it, air volume and the time they are spending.
3) As the divers consume compressed air for breathing, the nitrogen level rises up in their bodies. The human body absorbs nitrogen more quickly as we go down deeper. The partial pressure of nitrogen is higher deep down the water. According to an estimate nitrogen level is doubled as compared to the surface level at the depth of 10 meters. Considering this limitation the divers spend less time as they move deeper down the water.
4) Despite the depth related issues one more important factor to be undermined is speed. The divers are required to swim at a slow pace like covering a distance at 18 meters per minute. At the depth of 10 meters the speed should be 35 seconds and at 20 meters depth it should be 70 seconds and vice versa. The air in divers lungs expand while surfacing usually by double ratio when at the depth of 10 meters. If the divers hold on the breath for so long they are vulnerable to the risk of lung injuries.
Conclusion
To conclude, the diving bell has evolved drastically from a simple wooden bell shaped container to a thick steel vessel capable of withstanding great pressure at the bottom of various water bodies.
In today’s modern world we still find the usage of diving bells especially in the gas and oil industry.
We also find its application for underwater marine life exploration and extraction of various chemicals.
