Sport diving bell

[Monilite]

Dear Sam Miller, Gilldiver & Thalassamania;

Wow! You guys have really given me a lot to research and think about. Ever heard of patent searching? The beginnings of seeking a patent is to research prior art. You guys have given me quite an introduction into prior art.

That list, SM, was phenomenal:
A) Submerging –My design includes ballast and synergistic venting control system.
C) Anchoring – My design will be hooked to anchor line of support/tow vessel with a ring and freely ascend and descend while tethered.
D) Storage – If you can store a small boat you can store this.
F) Size – About the same size as a John boat. Can let 2 divers leave the water, or several to get only their heads out of the water.
G) Transporting – Trailerable just like a small boat, towed to operating location by support/tow vessel.

Gilldiver; was that info (100' or deeper... sound of their voices was changed due to the higher air pressure and with narcosis...) applicable to Nitrox operation? Was the voice change up (like helium), or down (Darth Vader)? Was the voice change due only to pressure, or was tri-mix gas a factor? How long did the laughing fits last; was the duration of laughter the problem, or simply a cause of topside humiliation? Whether or not you reply to this I will definitely keep this info in mind during my trial runs and do research on my own.

T-man; I see I will need a no smoking sign inside the chamber. That’s one aspect to the thing that never occurred to me; I have never smoked and my father died from smoking related lung cancer. Your public profile was quite impressive; let me know if you will be speaking in the S. Florida area anytime and I’ll be there! By the way I once hitch-hiked to Hawaii from North Dakota; let me know if you want the details.

THANKS.

[Don Burke]

I would expect weight to be an issue.

[Monilite]

Dear Don;

Read below.

[Monilite]

I have considered that and come up with a solution. I do not want to go into detail just in case I pursue a patent on this. Thanks for the input.

[james croft]

The denser the air, the deeper the voice. As for the patent-Good Luck. It was already patented and used by Maxwell Smart. They called it "The Cone of Silence."

[mirrocraft]

i have to say no one has said anything about some of the dive spots in fl that has these already like the blue gotto and wikki wachii springs i cant spell some of the problems is you have to have a continus air supply do to carbondioxide since the air we breath and release there are a few other places that have these we are also working on one at our local quarry not pordable but you will get the idea as for keeping it down you would have to have enuff weight to sink the air if you have that it wouldnt be hard also i would make shore the shell you use can handle the pressure good luck with your vencher just my 2 cents

[Thalassamania]

i have to say no one has said anything about some of the dive spots in fl that has these already like the blue gotto and wikki wachii springs i cant spell some of the problems is you have to have a continus air supply do to carbondioxide since the air we breath and release there are a few other places that have these we are also working on one at our local quarry not pordable but you will get the idea as for keeping it down you would have to have enuff weight to sink the air if you have that it wouldnt be hard also i would make shore the shell you use can handle the pressure good luck with your vencher just my 2 cents

Sufficient air flow is needed (or you can do what we used to, breath from your reg and then take it out to talk). Pressure is not an issue since it is open at the bottom, but ballast sure is.

[Monilite]

Scott & Thalassamania;

This is the first time I've heard of Blue Grotto; got to check it out sometime. I snorkeled in Weekee Wachi Springs a couple of years ago. The staff calls their devices locks. I was doubly blessed on that occasion to have a guide that was new and didn’t really know what she was doing. It was the last weekend before school started, so the Mermaid summer camp had their graduation ceremony during my paid snorkel time; I got to swim with real live mermaids! Also, the locks (open at the bottom holding only ambient pressure) were supposed to be off limits but my guide didn’t know that (I assume due to danger of lung embolism). My son and I (after I told him the requirement to blow bubbles on the way up) went into the locks.

Weekee Wachi has a compressor supplied system of clear hoses (no regs or even mouthpieces) feeding the actress/mermaids as they perform. It is up to the performers to lay one of the hoses under a lock to keep it supplied with fresh air (thus flushing the CO2 out the bottom). My portable sport diving bell would have tank racks on the inside so conventional scuba tanks would supply the air to accomplish the same thing.

I’ve made preliminary calculations to determine how much ballast weight I need to offset the buoyancy of the enclosed air space, but I expect that an actual test dive will be required to finalize the numbers due to irregularities in equipment weight and my construction techniques and final choice of materials.

[darkmoon3d]

Not only is Blue Grotto fed a fresh supply of air from surface but it is built into the top of grotto ceiling. The problem related to a dive bell becoming a surface to air missle are elininated because of this. In fact Blue Grotto bell seems like it simply large pieces of plexiglass bolted together in a hexagon shape (not sure how many sides it had).

I remember one problem is because blue grotto bell is at top of ceiling sound seems to be amplified even more. Makes it hard to hear someone next to you with the echo. Would be interesting idea to put elevator music in the disorientation er I mean bell chamber.