How It Works-Amazing Vehicles

Bathyscaphe Trieste

Type: Bathyscaphe

Crew: 2

Displacement: 51 tons

Length: 18.1m (59.6ft)

Beam: 3.5m (11.6ft)

Draft: 5.6m (18.6ft)

The statistics...

Inside the

Bathyscaphe

Trieste

We take a look at the machiner y and

technolog y that enabled this

record-breaking dive

The Bathyscaphe Trieste is now

exhibited at the National Museum of

the US Navy in Washington DC

Hull

The Trieste’s hull was made

from steel and held numerous

ballast tanks. The pressure

sphere that contained the

vessel’s crew was mounted

centrally to its belly.

Gasoline tanks

Due to the extreme weight of the pressure

sphere, large gasoline-filled tanks were

used to ensure neutral buoyancy.

Gasoline was chosen as it is relatively

incompressible at extreme pressures.

Pellet tanks

Magnetised iron pellets were contained

within special ballast tanks to enable a

fast and deep dive. These were held in

an active state by electromagnets.

Pressure sphere

The heart of the Trieste’s

operation, the sphere was

constructed from 13cm (5in)-thick

steel and housed the crew and the

vessel’s instrumentation.

Electromagnets

The magnetic iron pellets that

allowed the Trieste to descend so deep

were held in place actively by large

electromagnets. As such, if there was

an electrical failure, the vessel would

automatically begin to rise.

Entrance tunnel

The pressure sphere was

accessed from the deck of the

vessel by a narrow vertical shaft

that penetrated the float.

Observation window

The only transparent material on the

entire craft, the obser vation window

was made from a cone-shaped block of

shatterproof Plexiglas (acr ylic glass).

© A lex Pang

One of the specially

designed ballast tanks

which worked with

magnetised iron pellets

DID YOU KNOW? The Trieste was designed by Swiss scientist Auguste Piccard – the father of Jacques who co-piloted it