ELECTROCUTING WHALES
BIRGER HOLM-HANSEN, a Norwegian engineer, has invented a device for the instantaneous electrocution of whales. It consists of a small but powerful generator which is carried in the whaleboat, and a flexible, insulated line conveying a current of high voltage to the harpoon. At the in-slant the harpoon hits the whale the current is thrown on and the electric charge shot into the monster. Read the rest of this entry »

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Fun Under Water

War gear of “Frog Men” will create new sport, save lives

By HARRY SHERSHOW

OUT of the wealth of atom bombs, flame throwers, booby traps, and other World War II inventions, have come some devices that promise to survive and become indispensable in peace. Among them are oxygen-charged respiratory units, perfected for the Army and Navy for underwater offensives against the enemy. Like DDT and the jeep, these breathing machines will be of service to anyone who learns to use them.
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Why Don’t We Build… Underwater Tanks

We need such a weapon for beachhead invasions … we have already solved its technical problems.

By Frank Tinsley

EVEN at the outset of our World War II campaign of island conquest in the Pacific, it became evident that some form of armor was needed to spearhead landing operations. The old technique of wooden landing barges and surf-spattered Marines was obviously inadequate. To pit unprotected flesh and blood against an array of underwater obstacles, mines and wire entanglements, backed up by well concealed and heavily bunkered machine-gun nests, mortars and artillery, was a murderous waste of expensively trained men.
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Weights Keep Ship Bunk Level in Storm, Cut Seasickness
SEASICKNESS, that real terror of the sea, which often makes ocean travel an ordeal, is reduced 30 per cent by the development of a new type steamship bunk, inventors claim.
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House Boat Is an Old Oil Tank
Made from an old 20,000-gallon oil tank, an unusual four-ton house boat built by Rene Tatro, of Kankakee, Ill., skims along the water at almost ten miles an hour. Powered by an old automobile engine, the curious craft has twin propellers and is balanced by five steel drums below the water level. Windows were cut out with an acetylene torch.

This seems like a bit of overkill to me…

Gunboats To Fight Shark Menace
THE gunboats and seaplanes of three nations, England, Holland and Portugal, will soon combine in an attempt to drive dangerous tiger-sharks from their breeding grounds near the Island of Timor. The main weapons used will be torpedos dropped from circling planes and depth bombs released from the gunboats.

This is apparently the second article in the Modern Mechanix series: “How to kill yourself underwater”. The first being Build Your Own Diving Helmet.

They are seriously talking about getting in this thing and being towed 15-30mph at a depth of at least 30 feet. But don’t worry because “The air inside the boat will be sufficient for approximately half an hour’s stay under water”.

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Take Thrilling Underwater Cruise in ONE-MAN SUB

YOU get all the keen thrills of deep-sea diving and underwater cruising in this one-man submarine. Towed by a motor-boat, the novel craft will take you down to a depth of at least 30 feet, where you can explore the river or lake bed. Through a special conning tower you can watch the fish as you dart among them, the while maneuvering about like a real submarine.
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This is another one of those things that would never get by the liability lawyers today.

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BUILDING a DIVING Helmet

Improvement follows improvement in the design of home made diving helmets as amateur divers become more and more acquainted with their use. This one of Hoag’s is the last word in helmets so far published by good old M-M.

ALL the thrills of exploring the lake bottom are yours with this simply constructed diving helmet; and, if you do not dive too deep, you are in no particular danger, either. Besides its use in recovering lost outboard motors at a substantial profit, the helmet will give you one of the most interesting experiences of your life; for until you have breathed and walked at leisure under water, you have missed something. It will take a good deal of nerve to go down the first time, but after that it will just be fun.
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These are really cool. I love the idea of making scale models that you can actually sail around in.

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LATEST BOATING SPORT… Sailing Midget Ships

By ARTHUR A. STUART

AMATEUR boat builders in many parts of the world are going down to the sea in midget ships. They are putting off in men-of-war, square-rigged traders, ocean liners, and superdreadnoughts barely larger than rowboats, yet reproducing in every detail ships that are famous in nautical history.
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Soviet Engineers Building 80-foot “Glider” Boat
SOVIET engineers are constructing a “glider” speedboat for service on the Black Sea. The boat will have two hulls and carry 150 people at a speed of over 40 m.p.h. Four aviation motors of 675 horsepower each will power the novel craft, which will be 80 feet long with a width of 40 feet. A model of the boat has been placed on public exhibition in Paris, France.

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Uncle Sam’s School for Sailors

WHEN you march through the main gate of the Naval Training Station at San Diego, Calif., as a raw recruit you leave the land behind. You will spend two months learning to be a sailor before you are assigned to the battle fleet but even though you are still on dry land, things are a lot like they are at sea.

In a couple of days you will know that a floor is really a deck and you’ll not make the mistake of calling a bulkhead a wall. You will ask whether the smoking lamp is lit instead of whether you may smoke and you will be telling time by ship’s bells instead of by hours.
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This is the coolest boat model I’ve ever seen. You can ride around in it!

German Boys Build Scale Model Liners for Sea Cruises
EXPERT marine constructionists, between the ages of 9 and 16 are being developed in one of the most novel trade schools of the world at Potsdam, Germany. Under the tutelage of experienced marine engineers, the youths receive a thorough technical training in building exact replicas of real steamships on a scale of one to twenty.
Grades are given according to the aptitude and intelligence shown in building the model vessels. The plans from which the youth work are the same plans, scaled down, of such ships
as the Normandie and the Queen Mary. At the end of the school year, advanced students build models that can actually go to sea.