A 60-year-old Chinese farmer has successfully built a submarine that can hold two people, even completing a successful trial run, prompting netizens to exclaim “There are experts among the people.”
According to China’s “CCTV” report, the man is Zhang Shengwu, a resident of Zhangdu Village, Yuncao Town, Hanshan County, China. Since childhood, Zhang has been obsessed with inventing things and often likes to tinker with small inventions. In his youth, he worked as a carpenter, a welder, and also did some shipping work.
In 2014, he happened to see someone making a homemade submarine on TV and thought he could do it too. He started by spending 5,000 yuan (about 2,955 Malaysian ringgit) to buy steel plates, batteries, and an engine, then drew his own design and welded and assembled it himself. After about half a year, he completed his first homemade submarine, which was awarded a national utility model patent.
However, his first submarine had a leakage problem during submersion, so he invested more than 40,000 yuan (about 23,000 Malaysian ringgit) to upgrade and redesign it. He built a second submarine weighing 5 tons, with a displacement of about 7 tons, a maximum diving depth of 8 meters, and a speed of about 4 knots per hour. The cockpit can hold 2 people and was once again awarded a utility model patent certificate.
For this improved submarine, Zhang Shengwu not only reinforced all the welds but also poured about 2 tons of concrete into the bottom of the hull for stability. He designed two ballast tanks at both the front and rear, changed the hatch to a round shape to enhance its pressure resistance, and sealed it with silicone and glass glue to ensure watertightness.
The new submarine can not only stay underwater for half an hour without a drop of water seeping in, but it can even operate in reverse.
Although his family didn't support him at first, Zhang Shengwu never gave up on his submarine dream. He is very proud of his final product and revealed that in the future he wants to build an even larger and more fully functional submarine.