Inventing diving lights from bottles

From the bottle and simple materials, a fisherman who invented the diving light, was attracted by divers on the ocean floor because of its cheap price, safe and effective use.

The inventor of the diving light is Mr. Nguyen Thanh Nam (48 years old, in Ganh Ca village, Binh Chau commune, Binh Son district, Quang Ngai), famous throughout the region with the brand name "Nam Bien Bien".

Remember the sea, invent the diving light

In 1986, after leaving the army to get married, his life began to stick with the sea. During 10 years of hunting sea cucumbers in the ocean, he memorized every country where Truong Sa and Hoang Sa seas. But after a brief miscarriage when diving at a depth of 35m in Hoang Sa sea, his whole body was paralyzed.

Mr. Nam is making "South lights" diving lights

A few years of treatment everywhere, he was able to walk but his right leg was still limp. Health decline, dreams of clinging to the sea dissipate, but the love of the sea, the desire to conquer the ocean is always burning, headaches in the heart.

Remembering the days of waving in the deep sea, he and his diver in the Ganh Ca fishing village still often use iron shell flashlight (type of 2 large batteries) and then take plastic bags outside. However, this lamp is constantly damaged by being waterless or too large pressure of water to make a tank, so every night to change dozens of things, very time, effort and money. After months of searching, he released the first type of diving light, but only at a depth of about 15m.

"It was a failure, but I did not get discouraged. After two months of studying and experimenting many times, my diving lights were finally loved by divers, not enough to sell. At that time, I was very happy , " Mr. Nam laughed. Every day, he built 50 diving lights, each cost more than 20,000 VND. After deducting costs, interest a few thousand dong.

Simple but effective

Holding a diving lamp preparing to "ship" , Mr. Nam introduced materials, including: bottle shell, 100W -127V type light bulb, foam, cement, asphalt, paper and a piece of wire. The "manufacturing workshop" is located in the kitchen, the production equipment is also simple: a honeycomb charcoal stove, a bitumen cooking pot, 2 non-6 iron circles with handles about 30 cm long.

After cutting the bottle neck, Mr. Nam cleaned and put the light bulb inside 2cm from the bottom, using a round sponge to cut the hole in the middle to fix the lamp with 30cm long wire in the center of the bottle, pour a layer of 3cm thick cement, then bundled with an outer layer of paper and then poured the asphalt into the bottle mouth.

"The cement layer not only fixes the light bulb without shaking, creates the weight but also keeps the upper bitumen from falling. The bundle of paper, filling the asphalt on the bottle to create tightness. so it can withstand the pressure of water at a depth of 40-50m, " Mr. Nam explained.

Thousands of diving lamps made from bottles bearing the brand name "Nam Bien Bien" have followed the divers in Quang Ngai to illuminate the ocean floor. Tieu Viet Thanh diver (also in Binh Chau commune) said that Mr. Nam's diving light is very safe, effective and convenient to use. It is only possible to dive deep into the sea 40-50m from the ship's explosion machine without worrying about broken lights, the light emitted quite clearly, as far as 4m, it is easy to detect fish and shrimp.