ft. long by 10-1/2 ft. wide, by 7-1/2 ft. high,
and a shaft 37-1/2 ft. high by 3 ft. in diameter. It is built of steel
plates, with cast-iron ballast, and its total weight is about 46 tons.
The bell is electrically lighted, and is fitted with telephonic
apparatus communicating with the air-compressor room and lifting-winch
room. It is worked through a well in the centre of a specially
constructed steel barge 85 ft. long by 40 ft. beam, having a draught
of 7 ft. 6 in. The wire ropes, for lowering and raising the bell, work
over pulleys which are carried on a superstructure erected over the
well. Two sets of air compressors are fitted on the barge--one set for
supplying air to the bell, the other set for working a pneumatic rock
drill inside the bell. The greatest depth at which this particular
bell will work is 40 ft. The cost of the whole plant, including barge,
was about L14,000.

The diving dress has, however, to a great extent supplanted the diving
bell. This is due not only to the heavier cost of the latter, but more
particularly to the greater mobility of the helmet diver. Bell divers
are naturally limited to the area which their bell for the time being
covers, whereas helmet divers can be distributed over different parts
of a contract and work entirely independently of one another. The use
of the diving bell is, therefore, practically limited to the work of
levelling the sea bed, and the removal of rock.

See also the article CAISSON DISEASE as regards the physiological
effects of compressed air. (R. H. D.*)

DIVES-SUR-MER, a small port and seaside resort of north-western France on
the coast of the department of Calvados, on the Dives, 15 m. N.E. of
Caen by road. Pop. (1906) 3286. Dives is celebrated as the harbour
whence William the Conqueror sailed to England in 1066. In the porch of
its church (14th and 15th centuries) a tablet records the names of some
of his companions. The town has a picturesque inn, adapted from a
building dating partly from the 16th century, and market buildings
dating from the 14th to the 16th centuries. The coast in the vicinity of
Dives is fringed with small watering-places, those of Cabourg (to the
west) and of Beuzeval and Houlgate (to the east) being practically
united with it. There are large metallurgical works with electric motive
power close to the town.

DIVIDE, a word used technically as a noun in America and the