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'Allo Monsieur Nekton!
Yep, the retrieval rig was spring-loaded and was
heavily weighted (not shown in the sketch) so that the spacer block was knocked
out when the tongs contacted the winch drum. This was one set-up tailored to a
specific sub - I used it as an example of how it it possible to effect rescue of
a gas-diving bell that has a severed or broken load/lift line, which was the
subject of the paper. The winch/messenger line and down-line tongs were much
before Plasma or Spectra fibers (1970's) - today, you'd simply send up a
syntactic float attached to a Spectra line capable of lifting the whole dissub.
We (Nuytco) have made a numberof such devices - most recently on a major
conversion of the Hawkes 'Aviator' for 'Sub Aviator Systems Inc. ( This was
a conversion from a positively-buoyant-only 'flying' sub to one which had
variable ballast, vertical thrusters, etc., and can either fly positive or stop
and smell the roses - or anything in-between!)
One of the people involved with SAS is an ex-nuke
captain (Fred McLaren) and he jumped on our suggestion of a self-rescue system.
I believe the ultimate is a combination of a fixed syntactic float and a fairly
large inflatable bladder with its own independant gas supply (in case ballast
air is kaput and that's the reason for going dissub) The buoy and bladder have a
pull-pin arrangement operated from the sub cabin - first you try to lift
yourself to the surface by inflating the bladder (which is, essentially, a large
lift bag) while it is still attached to the reel/sub WITHOUT pulling the pin. If
that doesn't lift you to the surface, THEN pull the pin and send the buoy with
it's signalling device to the surface and await rescue.
This is the system we'll use on the new
'Orcasub' (a full redesign of a flight-capable sub which also has all the
capabilities of a conventional variable ballast sub). There's a good article on
diving the modified 'Aviator' (now called 'Super-Aviator') in a back issue of
'DIVER' magazine - it also has a cut-away of 'Orcasub and a treatise on the
concept of 'flying submarines' with various patent drawings which go back to the
turn of the century! Also check out the Sub Aviator Systems
website.
Phil
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