“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

You never forget your first.

Taking the last steps before taking the big plunge.

She’s a Brick House

Simon Lake did not have a Plasma Table, and that did not even slow him down. We too often use the excuse that we don’t have the proper tools, but what we are often missing is the ability to see the solutions that are sitting right in front of us.

Power tools, CNC Router Tables, Plasma Cutters, and Welders are all at our fingertips. In 1894, Simon Lake had none of these things, yet he built a working submarine.

The brilliance of Simon Lake’s submarine was the wheels. Without any underwater navigation other than a compass, wheels removed drifting with the current and allow measuring the distance traveled by counting the rotations of the wheels.

If you’re going to build a wooden submarine, you might want to see if all the advice about marine plywood is true. The answer will surprise you.

Models are not just a great way to visualize a piece of history but they are very helpful step in the design and construction process.

…and it needs to be done in a very distracting city. Adding this harbor to my Happy Places.