[PSUBS-MAILIST] Helle's sub (was: In my search for a simple, cheap pressure hull ...)

["Michael B. Holt" <mholt@richmond.edu>]

Phil Nuytten wrote:
> 
>         Yup. There's a pic of Helle's rig in Busby's "Manned Submersibles"
> . I seem to remember Jim ( Helle) telling me that he built as his
> Engineering graduate project - or something like that. The rated depth was
> pretty respectable - 1000 feet ?? Helle Egineering is no more. Jim has
> retired and last I heard, was in the midwest somewhere. I bet a dollar to a
> lo-fat donut that his sub is still in California. That would be an
> interesting project: locate the sub, latch onto it, get it diveable and go
> diving!

I called him in the mid 80s, to ask about the boat.  His wife
answered the phone, and wanted to give me the sub!  At that
time, they told me, it was in storage, not having been in
the water for a "long time."  

He said he'd never drawn any plans for it.  He'd done the 
calculations as he needed to do them, and not kept much.


Mike