Swivel air lock for airtight connection between submergibles

Connecting air lock provided on a submergible device to permit the latter to connect itself in airtight fashion around an opening of an immersed enclosure, comprising

• a truncated hemispherical bell adapted to be positioned around an opening of a submergible device;
• a skirt having the shape of a portion of a spherical swivel joint nested in the said bell in airtight fashion with a small amount of play for articulation around a center common to said bell and said skirt, said skirt having a peripheral joint on the end face of its end outside said bell, and at the outer periphery of its end nested in said bell, a groove in which a sealing joint is placed between said skirt and said bell,
• said bell having at the inner periphery of its free end a groove containing a sealing joint, the space contained between the skirt, the bell and the two sealing joints being filled with a lubricating liquid adapted to be maintained at a pressure which is slightly different from the hydrostatic pressure,
• means to adjust the constant difference between the two pressures in such a manner as to cancel out the apparent weight of the swivel skirt and thus cause its hydrostatic lift in the said hemispherical bell.