Popular Science Monthly 



711 



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 



