Argonaut Jr and Simon Lake’s Dive Helmet

DougSteel Boat

“My diving suit really should have been preserved in a museum if only as an example of what can be done when one has to do it. I hammered iron into the form of an open helmet, into the front of which I fastened a dead-light, from an old yacht, and covered the whole, except for the dead-light-with painted canvas as far down as my chest. In order to overcome the positive buoyancy of the body I tied sash-weights to my legs, and hoped that this would permit me to walk around on the bottom. No circus clown ever looked any funnier. Bart Champion laughed himself into stitches when I tried the suit on.” –Simon Lake