Inflatable Pontoons for Salvaging Ships

Signs Publishing Co. · Melbourne, Victoria · May 31, 1920

FromAustraliasian Signs of the Times, Vol. 35, No. 22.

Inflatable Pontoons for Salvaging Ships

VERY successful results have been obtained in salvaging sunk and mined vessels “somewhere” up North, by means of a new device, the property of Vickers and Co. It consists of light, inflatable pontoons, each capable of raising a certain weight, but which have the advantage of being very strong, capable of standing heavy strain and much wear. Last but not least, they can be packed up in a small space, and carried about in the salvage vessels when not in use, which are then free to cruise about wherever they are needed, without heavy, cumbersome machinery. The weight these pontoons have been found capable of raising leads the designers and owners to hope that in the near future they may be able to raise the Lusitania. In this case pontoons, each capable of raising five hundred tons, will be required, a result which, in view of the recent operations referred to, is not beyond the bounds of possibility.