Manned Submarines in the Race to Ocean Bottom – Triton 36000, Virgin Oceanic and James Cameron Submarines

The world’s most advanced submarine company, Triton Subs,and high pressure glass fabricator Rayotek Scientific, have joined forces to design a full ocean depth submersible that will revolutionize man’s relationship with the deep ocean.

James Cameron is working on a submarine powered with an electric motor and made of composite materials.

Richard Branson is working on his flying underwater craft and is constructed with carbon fiber and titanium with a quartz viewing dome.

With a planned descent rate of 500 feet per minute, the deepest spot in the ocean, at 35,800 ft., can be reached in approximately 75 minutes.

The Triton 36,000 Full Ocean Depth Submersible’s pressure hull utilizes Rayotek’s patented manu-facturing process and proprietary technologies to produce a sphere of high-strength specialty glass. Glass has been successfully used in deep submergence for more than 40 years and some spheres have been rated to almost 30,000 ft. (9,000 meters).

Rayotek’s proprietary technology is capable of overcoming previous manufacturing limitations and producing perfect spheres of sufficient diameter to accommodate three occupants.

According to Rayotek CEO Bill Raggio, the borosilicate glass (soda-lime glass) gets stronger under compression, so the underwater pressure found at the ocean’s bottom should not cause it to crack. Because of the fact that the expansion and contraction rates are different in metal and glass, areas where the two join can become an issue. Rayotek has created a new patent pending technique which turns the glass into a sphere and more details cannot currently be released.

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