Benthoscope

{{short description|Unpowered spherical deep-sea observation submersible lowered on a cable}} {{one source|date=June 2025}} The '''Benthoscope''' was a deep sea submersible designed by Otis Barton after the Second World War.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/descent00brad/page/234/mode/2up?q=Benthoscope |title=Descent: the heroic discovery of the abyss |website=archive.org |access-date=21 June 2025}}</ref> 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 ''benthos'', meaning "bottom".

[[File:Otis Barton's Benthoscope.jpg|thumb|Benthoscope at the Los Angeles Maritime Museum]] The Benthoscope was essentially similar to the bathysphere, but was built to withstand higher pressures, with a crush depth of {{convert|10000|feet|m}}. Its internal diameter was {{convert|4.5|feet|m}}, and its wall thickness was {{convert|1.75|in|mm}}. It weighed {{convert|7|short ton|kg}}, an increase in weight of {{convert|1600|lb|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 CO<sub>2</sub> respectively.

In August 1949, Barton established a new world depth record with a solo descent to {{convert|4500|feet|m}}, which remains the deepest dive by a submersible suspended by a cable.

The Benthoscope is now on display in front of the Los Angeles Maritime Museum in San Pedro, California.

==See also== * {{annotated link|Timeline of diving technology}} * {{annotated link|Diving chamber}} * {{annotated link|Diving bell}} * {{annotated link|Bathysphere}}

==References== {{reflist}}

Category:Crewed submersibles