Wednesday, April 4, 2012

I Am Not Doing Enough To Fight The Cephalopod Menace


I don't even have a personal submarine if you don't count the cardboard one I built in my basement. I wonder if this handmade submersible can be modified to carry torpedoes or lazer beams.

In a world where Internet and Smartphone app startup companies are a dime-a-dozen, it’s not every day that you see a startup that makes submarines. And definitely not one that is run by one man, from his basement. Yet, that’s exactly what 37-year-old Zhang Wuyi has been doing after he was laid off from his job in a textile machine factory.

Wuyi, from China’s Hubei province, builds mini submarines in a makeshift workspace in the basement of a disused building. When he started off, he worked alone. Today, he has three orders under his belt and also employs ten workers. His submarine models are capable of diving up to 30 meters under sea level and travel at 20 kmph for 10 hours. They can seat two people and also contain oxygen tanks and video cameras. The walls are made of wrought iron. It takes Wuyi up to a month to build a submarine, and each one sells for about $31,000.


1 comment:

M. D. Jackson said...

Why just submarines? Why no diversify? If he could fit a rocket onto the back of that baby he could give Richard Branson a run for his money.

I'm just sayin'.