Underwater TV surveillance of pipelines

Claim 1

In a remote-controlled submarine viewing system used to make and transfer photographic images in turbid water, comprising: a solid block of clear plastic having a forward viewing surface and sides, said viewing surface shaped to be placed close to the surface of the subject matter being viewed, a deep-dish underwater flood lamp connected to said block above said forward viewing surface such that the light from said lamp passes through said block and then strikes the subject matter being viewed after passing through a reduced amount of turbid water, a camera, mounted adjacent another surface of said plastic block to receive the light from said underwater flood lamp after being reflected from the subject matter after it passed through said forward viewing surface, an underwater corrected lense means mounted between said block and said camera, said camera, said flood lamp and said viewing surface positioned relative to one another to diminish the reflecting light surface of any particles suspended in the turbid water lying in said reduced amount of turbid water between said viewing surface and the subject matter being viewed, whereby the light from said flood lamps which strokes the subject being viewed is reflected from the subject back through said viewing surface, said plastic block and said corrected lenses to said camera, said camera, said corrected lenses, said plastic block and said flood light mountable upon a submarine vehicle, said submarine vehicle including an electrical power source positioned above the water's surface, said submarine vehicle including a propelling means, a bouyant instrument package affixed to the surface of said submarine for maintaining said submarine in a stable, and upright position, said instrument package containing attitude, direction and distance-measuring instruments together with a second camera and second light source for providing attitude, direction and distance-measuring information to a remote point, an umbilical cable means connected between said power source and said instrument package, propelling means, said flood lamp, and said camera such that said submarine may be controlled from above the water's surface by reference to the information from said instruments transmitted to the surface by said second camera, and to the images of the subject being viewed which may be transmitted by said first camera to the water's surface.