Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 88.djvu/739

 Popular Science Monthly

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��Making Your Own Boat Repairs Under Water

WERE you ever gliding over the smooth surface of a lake in your motor-boat with the satisfaction of hav- ing a perfectly working craft, when a sudden lurch told you that something had gone wrong? The feeling is pleasant. It is only comparable with being stranded at night on a lonely road when your automobile has given out. In an automobile you are better off than in the motor-boat. Every kind of device has been thought of to help out the auto- mobilist, but the yachtsman has been neglected. At last a de- vice has been invented for the lover of boating which obviates the necessity even of towing the boat ashore to find out what damage has been sustained and what repairs are necessary.

The inventor of the device once found himself adrift with a broken rudder. Down through the clear water he could see the broken part. He had the proper tools for repairing it, but there was no way of reaching it. If only he could get down under the boat! The idea of a diving- helmet occurred to him then and there. After a series of experi- ments, the actual thing was produced.

This diving-helmet is of metal. Its lower edge fits snugly over the shoul

��WEIGHTS

���You do not have to be an experienced diver to use this hood. A metal helmet, bearing four weights, rests on the shoulders, and a hand-pump furnishes fresh air. All sorts of emergency repairs can be made imder water with this device

ders. Four adjustable weights, two in

���In the middle picture is shown Rex Beach, the author, just emerging from the water after

testing the diving-helmet. The other two illustrations were made off the Florida Keys by

photographing under water. In case of accident, the diver can rise to the surface

immediately by simply removing the hood

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