The very first diving bell
The very first time in history that diving was recorded was in 332 B.C. Alexander the Great used a homemade diving bell to defeat the Persians during a sneak attack under the Mediterranean Sea.
A creative improvement in the bell
In 1691, Edmond Halley, an astromer, geophysicist, mathematician, meteorologist and physicist created a wooden diving bell. He designed it in the shape of a truncated cone with the larger opened end, (labelled R in the diagram to the left) facing downward, and the smaller closed end, (labelled D in the diagram to the left) facing upward.
The air was replenished with the use of 2 barrels each containing 36 gallons of air. To demonstrate, Halley and five colleagues dove to a depth of 60 feet in the Thames for a total time of 90 minutes successfully.
The air was replenished with the use of 2 barrels each containing 36 gallons of air. To demonstrate, Halley and five colleagues dove to a depth of 60 feet in the Thames for a total time of 90 minutes successfully.
Creation of the first diving bell suit
In 1825 William James enters the first practical proposal for a "self contained diving dress". It consisted of a copper helmet that was attached to a watertight suit that was sealed off at the waist and the wrists with elastic cuffs. Air was transported from a metal container around the waist to the helmet via a valve that was operated by hand. On the bottom of the container were weights to keep the diver from floating to the surface. The diver inhaled through the nose and exhaled through the mouth. From the mouthpiece a short pipe went up to the top of the helmet. The time spent underwater in the suit was limited.
Creation of the bathysphere
In 1928 this deep-sea, unpowered, sphere-shaped submersible was designed by Otis Barton to be used by the naturalist William Beebe. Beebe was going to explore ocean life at depths no man had reached before. This creation allowed man to record the first deep-sea animal viewing dive. The record for the deepest dive, 3,028 feet, was set by Barton in 1949.
Creation of the bathyscaphe
The bathyscaphe was created in 1948 by a father-son team Picard. The Picards fashioned the bathyscaphe to work much like Barton's Bathysphere, except instead of it being propelled on a sled it was suspended by a series of cables. The most famous bathyscaphe dive was made by the Trieste was made in 1960 by the Picards along with the US Navy. It was the deepest dive recorded in history into the Mariana Trench.