High-school teen builds one-man submarine for $2,000
New Jersey teenager Justin Beckerman has constructed a working one-man submarine out of spare parts and discarded objects.
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Teen builds working submarine for $2,000
(CNN) -- The submarine's body may be constructed
from drainage pipes and the hatch from a recycled skylight, but
according to its 18-year-old inventor, this single-person U-boat can
plunge to a depth of 30 feet and has already completed three successful
dives.
The Nautilus took high
school inventor Justin Beckerman just six months and $2,000 to put
together -- all while keeping on top of his homework.
"He has been building
things since he was two years old," says his mother, Jess Beckerman. "If
we tried to help him we would just get in the way and mess things up."
The submarine has ballast
tanks to maintain its depth and equilibrium; air vents that bring
oxygen down from the surface; a functioning PA and a range of emergency
systems including back-up batteries, a siren, strobe lights, a breathing
apparatus and a pump to fight leaks. The vessel can remain submerged
for up to two hours and travels beneath the waves at one and a half
miles per hour.
Beckerman says he is
going to use it to "explore the lake, see fish and hopefully find a bit
of history, like the cannons from my neighbors' historic house" that, he
says, were dumped in the lake during renovations in the 1960s.
When he was younger,
Beckerman began by making things out of balloons and string, but as the
years went by his inventions grew in scale and complexity. At the age of
12, instead of complaining about having to help with the housework, he
developed a remote-controlled car that could mop and vacuum.
Beckerman's website
is a testament to his enormous productivity. It is a menagerie of
home-constructed machines including boats, planes, architectural
constructions, and prize-winning robots.
The materials he uses in
his creations are often technological cast-offs from family and friends,
or garbage scavenged from electronics recycling facilities. The
Nautilus has regulators and pressure gauges from an old restaurant soda
fountain that Beckerman found behind a shopping center. The two main
batteries are from a child's ride-on toy, and its PA speakers are made
from an old car stereo.
Beckerman says he
decided to build the submarine because "I wanted to see if I could do
it. It combined so many different aspects of things that I had worked on
in the past." The Nautilus has the most ambitious wiring system
Beckerman has installed since he constructed his tree fort -- a
veritable forest castle that puts all other tree forts to shame.
Armed with more modern
conveniences than many proper homes, the fort has a TV, wall-mounted
speakers, desktop computer, air conditioning, shelving, and fluorescent
lights. "It has everything a house should have," says Beckerman, "except
a refrigerator and a bathroom."
The Nautilus is not
Beckerman's first submarine. In fact, it is his fourth. The previous
iteration could dive to five feet, but had a less sturdy frame
constructed from plastic containers and duct tape. It was propelled by
two motor scooter engines, connected to metal blades and two 12v
batteries.
I wanted to see if I could do it ...
Justin Beckerman, teenaged inventor
Justin Beckerman, teenaged inventor
The new design improves on previous models in almost every way.
"I had an idea of how I
wanted to sit. I realized that lying down would make the sub more
streamlined -- so the drainage pipes seemed a natural fit," he said. But
sacrifices to the original design had to be made along the way.
"The ballast tanks were
originally going to be air tanks, but they were just too expensive. If I
could have learned how to weld I would have made the whole thing out of
metal. But that might be for the next one."
Asked if there are any
particular challenges which are specific to being a young inventor,
Beckerman responds plainly: "No. Other than the budget issues and all of
my schoolwork and other obligations that get in the way."
If he had more time and
money Beckerman says he would like to continue to add to the submarine.
"I would love to add a robotic claw to the front. I would like to make
the sub into a more useful thing with a basket the claw could put stuff
into to pick up garbage and clean the bottom of the lake."
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