James Bond's Underwater Breather?

spog · Jul 5, 2006

Just a bit of fun:

Sean Connery in Thunderball used this piece of equipment:

It was specified as having 'about 4 minutes of air'.

So, what's the maths required to make this work?

From the movie, I guess that's 4 minutes at about 3 metres of depth. And we can safely assume that Mr Bond was in good physical condition - though he was a heavy smoker.

DA Aquamaster · Jul 5, 2006

Assuming a fairly good swimming SAC of .5 scfm, you'd need 2 cu ft at the surface and you would not be able to get 2 cf into a package that small. Think about the size of a 6 cu ft pony bottle or 1.5 cu ft spare air.

I heard though that the makers of the movie got a call from some special ops folks wanting to know if the prop was real and if so where they could get one.

theatis · Jul 5, 2006

Ironically, in Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace, the Jedi have a similar device!

spog · Jul 5, 2006

DA Aquamaster:
Assuming a fairly good swimming SAC of .5 scfm, you'd need 2 cu ft at the surface and you would not be able to get 2 cf into a package that small. Think about the size of a 6 cu ft pony bottle or 1.5 cu ft spare air.

That kind of defeatist attitude would get you kicked out of Q-Branch in double-quick time!

My back of an envelope calculations shows that it would be theoretically be possible.

Unfortunately, my LDS doesn't offer the 18,000 PSI fills that are required to prove it.

SteveAD · Jul 5, 2006

who ever said it was an air storage device? since the depth was < 20 feet and exposure time < 5 min, pure o2 would have done the trick without going toxic. so the end pieces are actually high energy batteries powering an electrolysis reaction cracking h20 into h2 and o2 the o2 is fed to Mr Bond and the h2 is simply released as extra bubbles. its perfectly simple really. and do try to bring it back intact for a change double oh seven.

Vie · Jul 5, 2006

spog:
It was specified as having 'about 4 minutes of air'.

Bond could have connected those tiny cylinders to one of these...

http://www.therebreathersite.nl/Zuurstofrebreathers/Japan/eoba.htm

http://www.therebreathersite.nl/Zuurstofrebreathers/Japan/photos_eoba.htm

evil_xander · Jul 5, 2006

Well, I bet 007 could hold his breath for at least 2 minutes, regardless of his smoking habits.

A small sip of air/O2 from that would give him just enough to hold his breath for another 2 minutes.

2+2=4

And, the depth is to shallow for any problems with holding your breath while 'scuba' diving with that device. Makes sense, and for a 007 movie, makes good sense.

RikRaeder · Jul 5, 2006

I saw a show about movie f/x and of course the thing was just a prop. Interestingly enough, however, the f/x crew was approached by various intelligence agencies including the CIA who thought it was real and were interested. Don't think that biddy little thing could actually do it.

sasscuba · Jul 5, 2006

I would buy one if it were real...pretty cool.

DA Aquamaster · Jul 5, 2006

spog:
That kind of defeatist attitude would get you kicked out of Q-Branch in double-quick time!

My back of an envelope calculations shows that it would be theoretically be possible.

Unfortunately, my LDS doesn't offer the 18,000 PSI fills that are required to prove it.

I thought about extreme high pressures too as a means of packing 2 cu ft into those tiny tanks. It would be interesting to try to figure out the tank wall dimensions needed and to find the point of dimminishing returns where more pressure requires more tank wall thickness and in turn requires larger tanks. (It could be a cool calculus problem, so maybe I'll talk to one of the math profs)

But given that a 6 cu ft 3000 psi pony bottle has walls 1/2 inch thick and a 2400 psi steel tank has walls that are still nearly 1/4" thick, I suspect that point of diminishing returns would be reached at far less than 2000 psi if you had to remain constrained within the dimensions allowed by the prop.

Unless of course Q branch were to make the tanks out of a new wonder metal like Unnobtanium.

James Bond's Underwater Breather?

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