“UNDERWATER COACH” INVENTED

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29324, 1 October 1960, Page 10

“UNDERWATER COACH” INVENTED

Israeli Farmer Already Has Prototype

(From a Reuter Correspondent)

TEL AVIV. The idea of building submarine: for peaceful purposes came to : modest Israel farmer, Mr Mosh, Yitzhaki, as he sat on the sand; beach during a visit to Eilath a the head of the Gulf of Aqabi five years ago, trying to see th< enchanting under-water treasure: of coral and fish. Today, the far met, who left his village to settle in a suburb near Tel Aviv, ha: a prototype ready of his firs “submarine coach” which, h< hopes, will be on sale for abou 10,000 dollars (about £3400 ster ling) next spring. His submarine for peaceful par poses is different in design Iron the conventional war models anc bears no relation to the lethal nuclear-powered monsters whict now roam the world’s oceans. I dives by contracting mechanic ally some bf its lighter-than-watei structures, thus changing the ratic between the weight of the vdsse and the weight of the water whict it displaces, explains its 50-year-old inventor. It surfaces by extending these same structures instead of blowing ou> waterflooded compartments by air pressure as in the conventional submarine. * Mr Yitzhaki’s first encountei with submarines was a tragic one On May 1, 1942, as a private ir a Palestinian Unit, he was aboarc an Indian transport vessel whict was carrying British troops Iron Alexandria to Malta. A torpedc launched from a German U-boa hit the ship. It sank within min utes. Mr Yitzhaki was, one o: the few survivors. ( But the inventpr maintains tha this incident had nothing to d< with the idea which has germ in ated in his brain only in the las few years. It was rather his visi to Eilath, he believes, whict started him thinking. He sav holiday-maker s' and tourists goinj for rides in small glass-bottomec boats, trying to peer through the water to discover the mysteries o the seabed. A submarine with glass win dows would serve this purpose much better, Mr Yitzhaki sud denly thought. Back in his cottage in Boit Kama, in the northen

Nogev, he spent all his evenings and a good part of the nights in the workshop of the communal village. He was determined to give sea-lovers the means of gazing from close quarters at marine life and scenery. Now he is satisfied that he has the answer. He has moved to Kiryat Shalem, near Tel Aviv, where he spends all his time in a small, but neat, laboratory perfecting his invention. Already, he has built nearly BO models of his submarine, each being an improvement on its predecessor. He has taken out patent rights—lsrael patent No. 13001—and two Israeli firms arid one Venezuelan company are ready to invest in the production of his simple, plasticbody, under-water vessel. The Government Tourist. Corporatibn, appears to be interested in the invention as a tourist* attraction. His last model looks very much like an under-water bus with the driver’s-seat in the front. There are a number of safeguards against mechanical mishaps. The’ apparatus to extend the surface structures can also be operated by hand, and the escape hatches are similar to those in conventional submarines. The Israeli inventor believes that his “under-water coaph” will become very popular with seaside holiday-makers, and may also be useful to archaeologists probing the sea-beds and to geologists.