US3477234A - Submergible housing device - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 11, 1969 v. D. AQUINO 3, 7,

SUBMERGIBLE HOUSING DEVICE Filed March 14, 1968 1 3 Sheets-Shed FIG. 1

INVENTOR. VICTOR D. AQUINO 89 v I I 80 97 v 70 8/ 85' 84 F IG. 4

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SUBMERGIBLE HOUSING DEVICE Filed March 14, 1968 2' Sheets-Sheet 2 az l aag 9 Z F'/G.7 93 Z l 16 /7 v F163 BY VICTOR D. AQUINO United States Patent Office 3,477,234 SUBMERGIBLE HOUSING DEVICE Victor D. Aquino, P.0. Box 144, Hanapepe, Kauai, Hawaii 96716 Filed Mar. 14, 1968, Ser. No. 713,219 Int. Cl. B63c 11/38; E02d 23/02 US. CI. 61-69 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A submergible housing device adapted for vertical rec'iprocatory movement in a body of water having interior chambers, transparent side walls, a dome shaped transparent roof and a bottom portion with openings to allow water to enter one of the interior chambers. Spaced apart guide means comprising post-like means weight anchored to the bottom of a body of water in engagement with sleeve means on the housing device to support the device in a manner that the housing can be vertically reciprocated.

This invention pertains to the immersing of a housing device and the like in water to present a new type of resort or amusement device. Means are provided for sinking an elevator-like structure into a lake or sea and wherein the structure is configurated and designed to provide a plurality of useful chambers or rooms, and this in combination with a swimming pool. The pool automatically having a complete change of water each time the housing is elevated from at Iowa; position and then returned to that same position.

The elevator-type housing device is so arranged and planned that each chamber or room thereof has transparent walls so that the people therein can enjoy the wonders in and beneath the sea, that is, various sea life and coral formations etc. The entire unit or housing structure is transportable so that it can be easily planted in new locations in the event it may become necessary or desirable.

One of the principal objects of this invention is to present a new and novel vertical-1y movable housing device that can be descended and ascended with ease and safety in a body of water which may be a lake or sea, and so balanced that a chamber thereof has its doorway near the level of a dock or the like when elevated.

. Another object is to provide an elevator-like cage or housing which has superimposed chambers of refinement having transparent walls and which chambers intercommunicate through access openings and which openings may be closed by a water-tight door.

Other objects and considerations will become apparent upon perusal of the specifications and drawings which form a part hereof.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of a reciprocable housing structure shown immersed in a body of water;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of that shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a vertical view of the housing device per se with the transparent panels and mullions removed to better show some details;

FIG. 4 is a plan view taken along the line 44 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a detail shown in elevational view of the transparent means and its frame members, but with some parts broken away and shown on an enlarged scale in order to better illustrate certain details;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along the line 6-6 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is :a schematic wiring diagram showing various electrical connections.

3,477,234- Patented Nov. 11, 1969 With reference to the drawings, the numeral 1 indicates the elevator-type housing in general, reference character 2 indicates the supporting structure in general for guiding the shiftable housing 1, and numeral 3 refers to a floating dock or the like so that guests can walk from a land mark to the housing device.

The housing portion of this invention resides in a strong structural frame means consisting of four upright studs or columns indicated at 4, 5, 6 and 7. Horizontal cross floors 8, 9 and 10 are shown as well as a roof or dome type covering 11. The edges of the floors and the dome are firmly secured to the upright studs 4 to 7 inclusive by any suitable means, such as for instance: long heavy spikes or holding pins indicated at 12. The floors may be reenforced plastic material of sufficient strength for the purposes or reenforced concrete. The upright studs may be heavy timbers of wood having a square cross-section, iron, or a suitable non-corrosive structural metal such as Monel or even aluminum, but in any event where metal studs are employed the cross-sectional form thereof would be in the shapes of a channel or H. The spikes or pins 12 would preferably be of the type having their shanks corrugated so as to be more firmly self-securing. However, for the sake of further strength, a supporting ring-like member of wood or metal as indicated at 13 may be employed beneath each floor slab and firmly secured to the upright studs.

The floor is provided with a plurality of holes 14 which are not large enough to interfere with a bathers feet, but large enough to allow water to freely pass therethrough and into the lowermost chamber as the housing is raised and lowered. This low floor has a strong plate member 15 to which the iron eye member 16 is welded or bolted. This eye member has one end of a suitable non-rust cable 17 anchored thereto and this cable has its other end attached to the drum means 18 upon which it can be wound and unwound. The drum is keyed to the shaft extending from a reduction gear unit 19 and which unit is secured to a reversible type electric motor 20. The motor is firmly fixed to the cross-member 21 which in turn has its ends welded to the supporting frame structure. Operation of these parts to be explained later.

The upright 7 is shown as fixed to the threshold portion 22 of a doorway frame. This frame is preferably of structural steel, or other suitable metal, and which is indicated in general by 23. The frame hingedly supports a swingable door 24. Suitable means are employed to make the door watertight to its frame when closed. A short strut 25 completes the structural make-up of the upright and doorway combination.

Each floor 9 and 10 has a manhole-like passage 26 and 27 respectively, and in the event that the passages are to be sealed closed, a watertight door means 28 may be used. Ladders 29 and 30 are provided to gain entrance to the chambers which are indicated at 31, 32, 33. The

chamber 33 may be used as a lounge room, and the chamber 32 as a club room with a suitable bar. The chamber 31 is the pool chamber.

A pressure release vent means or valve 34 is provided in one of the panels of the dome 11. A shelf means 35 supports a storage battery bank 36. The outside top portion of the dome has a plate 37 fixed thereto which supports an air-pump and electric motor unit noted as 38 and 39 respectively. The pump discharges atmospheric air into the chambers of the housing via ingress pipe 40.

The vertical sides of the housing 1 is surrounded by a network of supporting mullions for accommodating panels of transparent plates such as glass and/or plastic. With reference to FIGS. 5 and 6, note that the horizontally arranged mullions are indicated at 41 whereas the vertical ones are indicated at 42. They are preferably of a non-rust metal and adapted to receive the transparent panels on both sides as shown at 43 and 44 and this provides an air space therebetween.

By looking closely at FIG. 6, note that the mullions have a cross-section in the form of a Greek cross and this is preferred so that the transparent panels can be properly sealed Within the spaces made by the network of mullions. To make the entire glass paneled wall waterproof, any suitable cement or gum may be employed, in fact, a cement or glue similar to that found on the common Scotch Tape may be used. Obviously, the top and bottom edges of the wall would be suitably connected and sealed by a water-proof compound.

The outer structure for supporting the shiftable cage or housing 1 comprises four upright guide members 50, 51, 52 and 53. These guide members have a circular cross-section but may be of any suitable cross-section for the purposes intended. The bottom ends are alined with peg holes 54 and these bottom ends snugly fit into pockets or sleeves 55 which also have alined peg holes indicated at 56. By this arrangement, the guide posts or members can be adjusted in accordance to the ground surface beneath the surface of the sea and thus held together in proper position by placing pegs through alined holes in the guide membres and the sleeves.

Each sleeve has a weighted bottom disc or footing means 57 to which the sleeve is welded, and the outer portions of the discs have outstanding studs 58 and 59 upon which is placed heavy doughnut shaped weights 60 such as ones made of concrete, for instance. In slidable engagement with the guide posts 50-53 are the shiftable sleeves 61, 62, 63 and 64, as shown.

These sliding sleeves are concentric with their respective guide posts and the sleeves are connected together by the metal tie beams 65, 66, 67 and 68, and furthermore, they are neatly curved to accommodate the housing 1. Note, that short struts 69 are provided and which have one of their ends slightly curved to agree with the curvature of the sleeves and wherein the other ends are connected to the uprights 4, 5, 6 and 7 to make a strong outer frame means. The connections can be made by means of a passage through the transparent panels and then the seams sealed by a suitable compound to prevent leakage.

The battery bank 36 is kept charged by a generator 70 which is fixed to the top end of a shaft means 71, the bottom end of the shaft having a suitable flanged rotary bearing member 72 and wherein the bottom flange thereof is fixed to a stem 73 which snugly fits into the top end of the guide port 52, for instance. The shaft of the generator is connecetd to a windmill type of propeller 74 and the rear end of the generator is provided with the weather vane means 75 to keep the propeller in facing position to the wind. A flag 76 may be mounted atop the shaft 71.

With reference to FIG. 7, a typical electrical circuit is illustrated for operation of the various electrical units. The propeller 74 rotates the armature of the generator 70 which charges the storage battery bank 36 and keeps the battery bank fully charged at all times when the wind is blowing. The voltage of the battery bank may be 115 or any other voltage suitable for the purposes. The circuit involving the conductors 80 and 81 bridges the battery bank 36 and leads to a suitable source of charging current from, for instance, a portable motor-generator set or from any electrical service rendered by a local electric company. The switch 82 is provided to make the connection to the source of current in the event the wind is not blowing to run the generator 70 when the batteries must have a booster charge.

A conductor 83 leads to a bank of electric bulbs 84 through a switch means 85. A branch conductor 86 leads from conductor 83 through a switch 87, an air pressure regulator 88 and a motor 39. The regulator is shunted by a switch means 89 in the event the regulator is to be made inoperative for a time. The regulator 88 varies the air pressure within the chambers 31, 32, 33 automatically and the regulator is located within the top chamber. Another lead 90 connects with the conductor 83 and the twoway switch 91. The conductors 92 and 93 connect the two-way switch with the motor 20. The electric motor is a reversible motor so that the drum 18 connected therewith can be run in either direction depending upon the contacts made in the switch 91.

Operation: Guests enter the housing when the threshold of the doorway 22 is near the level of the dock 3. The balance is such that the threshold will be near the dock level or preferably a little above such level. When the door is closed, the air inlet motor-pump unit 39 is turnedon. The spring controlled vent 34 is always adjusted to prevent air pressure in the housing chambers from rising above a predetermined setting.

Next step is to start the motor 20 which pulls the housing device downwardly until the chamber 33 is nearly under water or until the dome bottom is just about at surface level which is indicated at 100. Obviously, sea water enters the chamber 31 through the openings 14 as the housing is pulled down. The water .will continue to rise in the chamber 31 until an air-water balance is obtained and this causes sufficient water to enter the chamber 31 to form a pool so that the guests can enjoy swimming and also enjoy the wonders of the sea about them in perfect safety.

At a given time, the housing is raised by releasing cable wound about the drum 18. The cable is released slowly by reversing the direction of the drums rotation and this is done by throwing the switch to the opposite contact. Air pressure within the housing chambers would be sufiicient to force the chamber 33 back to its original position above the water surface.

Certain novel features and details of this invention are disclosed herein, and in some cases in considerable detail, and this to make the invention clear in at least one of the forms thereof. However, it is to be clearly understood that the invention, as disclosed, is not necessarily limited to the exact form and details disclosed since it is apparent that various modifications and changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the real invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A housing device having an interior chamber and which device is adapted to reciprocate in a body of water; the device having a side wall structure, a roof structure, and a bottom portion with openings to allow water to enter the chamber a sufficient depth for bathing purposes, the side wall structure comprising transparent material in a net-work of spaced apart mullions and the roof structure formed as a dome having transparent portions, spaced apart guide means supporting the device, the guide means comprising post-like means weight-anchored to the bottom of a body of water, sleeve means on the postlike means, and means connecting the sleeve means with the housing device so that the housing can be reciprocated along a vertical line, the weighted-anchor comprising a footing means having a plurality of studs to accommodate weights.

2. The device recited in claim 1 wherein the device has a plurality of superimposed chambers connected by passages, and stairway means leading from the passages to chambers beneath.

3. The device recited in claim 1 wherein the footing means has a pocket-like sleeve with a plurality of alined holes and wherein a bottom portion of the post-like means has alined openings so that the post-like means can be adjusted in length and the proper holes and openings in the post-like means and the pocket-like sleeve can be pegged so as to fix the guide means in position.

4. The device recited in claim 1 wherein an air release valve means is in the housing device, and an air forcing 5 6 means connected to the device to bring fresh atmospheric 2,479,217 8/1949 Diamond 61-69 air into the chambers. 3,389,562 6/ 1969 Mott et a1 6182 References Cited I KARL BELL, Primary Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 5 US. Cl. X.R.

1,008,301 11/1911 Baker 61-69 6182

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