Tin Fish Is One-Man Submarine (Dec, 1938)

Tin Fish Is One-Man Submarine

UNDERWATER FLIVVER DIVES THIRTY FEET, MAKES FOURTEEN-MILE RUNS

SHAPED like a fish, a one-man, homemade submarine built by Barney Connett, of Chicago, Ill., is believed to be one of the world’s smallest underwater boats. Shorter than the average canoe, the craft measures twenty-three inches at its widest point and is thirty-seven inches high. Painted gills and eyes heighten the fishy look of the ship, which has a stabilizing tail fin surrounding its propeller. Fitted with conventional submarine equipment, including blowers, oxygen-supply apparatus, air pumps, and a respirator, the tiny submarine is powered by two sets of electric storage batteries. Connett has made over 300 trips in his queer craft, diving to depths of over thirty feet and navigating under water for as long as fourteen miles at a stretch. Normally, the boat runs about three feet below the surface as its one-man crew navigates by means of a four-foot telescoping periscope that sticks up out of the water.