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Pneu-mat′ic Cais′son.

One which is closed at top and sunk by the exhaustion of the air within or by the weight of the masonry built thereupon as the work progresses. Such caissons are necessarily provided with air-locks to prevent the escape of the air, which is forced in at a pressure equal to that due to the water pressure at the depth to which the caisson may be sunk.

Those used by Captain J. B. Eads for the piers of the St. Louis bridge had central shafts 10 feet in diameter, around which the masonry was laid as the caisson descended. The shafts were open at top, and had but a single air-lock, which was at the bottom. See air-lock; caisson. [1753]

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James B. Eads (1)
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