Alvin The Submarine

By: Justin Howard, Tanguy Absillis

When was the product invented

Alvin was an idea first generated in the 1930s,
and was first commissioned on July 5, 1964
according to noaa.gov.

(right) The original Alvin

Sphere (1964)

Problem Alvin Addressed

Alvin was the first submarine that could bring
passengers with him into deep sea dive. She
also made great advancements in both deep
sea research and discovery. Alvin was the first
vessel to make it down to the depths of
undersea vents and was also the first to find
both the RMS Titanic and a lost hydrogen bomb
off the coast of spain.

Alvin Inventor
According to noaa.gov, Alvin was an idea
generated by Allyn Vine. This scientist is who
Alvin is named after.

Existing patents
An original patent of an Alvin like submarine
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Apparatus for controlling buoyancy

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Alvin materials
The cockpit is a titanium sphere. Supporting the
cockpit is a frame made of titanium and
syntactic foam, all according to WHOI.

How it was originally made

Alvin was originally made from two prototype
metal spheres designed to withstand thousands
of feet of pressure. The spheres were used to
make the chamber for a submarine and so
Alvin was born.

Improvements to Alvin
Improvements to alvine were made in 2011, 12,
and 13. These include a larger sphere with
more comfort based design. Two more
viewpoints for added visibility. Better lighting
and new syntactic foam for better buoyancy, all
according to WHOI.

Why the improvements were made

In order to keep Alvin relevant in this day and
age scientists and engineers redesigned Alvin
many times always adding new features and
scientific instruments due to this Alvin has been
completely redesigned many times in its
lifetime.
(right) Alvins upgraded sphere

Who uses Alvin

Marine biologists, and anyone else who would
need to study the ocean floor. However more
people are starting to use ROVs, or remotely
operated vehicles.
(Right) Alvin in use(2014)

Global impact on society/ subsequent

inventions
Alvin was able to show us things we have
never seen before. We can now make
submarines like Alvin, but they do what he does
even better. Alvin has been continually updated
as the years go on and more interesting
technology emerges. Alvin is still a very
relevant submarine and has been on the
forefront of submersible technology.

What would we change if we could

The biggest thing we could work on is the
amount of time it can be underwater. A usual
dive can only give scientists about five hours,
according to WHOI. It usually takes about 2
hours to get down to the research depth and 2
hours to come back up.

Citation page
McKinnon, Mika. "Alvin the Deep Sea Submersible Is Half a Century Old!"Earth & Space. N.p., 8 Sept. 2014. Web. 11 Aug. 2015
. "Alvin FAQs." WHOI : Instruments :. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Aug. 2015
"Human Occupied Vehicle Alvin." Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Aug. 2015.
"History of Alvin." Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Aug. 2015.
"Alvin Upgrade." Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Aug. 2015.
Maxey, Kyle. "Alvin Upgrade Coming Along Swimmingly ENGINEERING.com." Alvin Upgrade Coming Along Swimmingly
ENGINEERING.com. N.p., 30 May 2013. Web. 12 Aug. 2015