Engineering

The story of this diving bell which still rests in the port. For its time it was technially advanced. The article covers why it was required, how it was invented and construced, and its success. It is the story of the great engineer Bindon Blood Stoney as well as the story of the men who worked in the Bell.

While there were few diving inventors or innovators in Ireland, it is remarkable that many of the early diving pioneers worked around the Irish coast. Local entrepreneurs and salvors were quick to exploit the invention of the helmet in the early 19th century and rapidly took on salvage work on their own account. ……………………

During the First world war a shortage of steel developed as replacements were being built for the huge tonnage sunk by submarines. Steel was prioritised for construction of warships. Late in the war the USA envisaged a fleet of concrete ships but few were completed before the war ended.

Irish Shipbuilding -Miscellaneous Dublin yards – While the main shipbuilding in Dublin Involved the Liffey yard, later Vickers, and Ross & Walpole several early years have disappeared without trace. – This short article remembers some Dublin shipyars