Sub Post

 No, I don't think this post is lessor than any other (ok, maybe a few), but it's actually about a sub. I have this little guy (about three inches long) that I picked up...somewhere.

Yes, it's the ever popular diving submarine! These have been around for surprisingly long (I was surprised, anyway). It seems that they started out as schoolroom teaching aides in the late 1800s! They were made of light metal or glass back then, and didn't look much like a real sub, since there were precious few real subs back then. 

Still, the idea was the same. You put a little bit of chemical in the unit, and it reacts with the water (or vinegar) and makes bubbles that cause it to float. When the bubbles are released into the air, the object loses buoyancy and sinks. Then the process starts all over again and continues until the chemical has been completely consumed by the reaction. Simple, but kind of fun to watch.

By the time this sub was made (1980s probably according to my exhaustive research) the manufacturers had it down to a...well...science! Here you can see that the deck of the sub contains holes to help it sink and rise in a more stable manner.

And here we see that the superstructure is actually a rubber stopper for the baking soda chamber. Who needs nuclear reactors?

And here we see the bottom of the craft, which contains the bubble nozzle. 

All of this is actually balanced extremely well to insure that the sub dives and rises smoothly. 

By the way, in my research it said that prior to the 50s, these were made of light tin. Plastics in the 50s made them very cheap and easy to produce. You can tell this one comes from the 80s or 90s because earlier ones were unsually molded in colors and later ones were brand marked and more detailed. 

These are still readily available (and inexpensive), so you can build your own navy pretty easily!

Until next time, keep searching for treasure!