Diving Bell

Cast-iron and riveted plate-iron diving bell, fabricated c.1870, with chamber 23 feet square by 6.5 feet high, accessed by vertical shaft with iron rungs, incorporating air lock. Located to quay side of Sir John Rogerson's Quay, mounted on modern display structure.

An ingenious diving bell designed by Bindon Blood Stoney (1828–1909), Assistant Engineer of the Dublin Port and Docks Board, used from 1872 for the construction of deep-sea quay walls. It was transported on a floating platform, from which it was lowered into position. A crew of six workmen entered the bell through an air-lock in its vertical access shaft which projected above the sea surface. Working in a pressurised chamber, the men levelled the seabed where the new quay walls and docks, made from massive precast concrete blocks, were to be laid. Stoney's diving bell remained in use until the 1950s. Saved from being scrapped in the 1980s, it was moved to Sir John Rogerson's Quay in 1989. It is striking reminder of the engineering and maritime heritage of Dublin port.