"Appleton, Victor - Tom Swift Jr 07 - And His Diving Seacopter" - читать интересную книгу автора (Appleton Victor)

cruise."
"Well, make it soon. I can hardly wait to start searching for that buried city!"
"Which reminds me," added Tom, "I have another project under way that I
haven't told you about yet."
"What's the deal?"
"I'll show it to you at the plant tomorrow."
Tom spent the next morning perfecting the mechanism for controlling the
blade pitch of the seacopter's rotors. Art Wiltessa promised to have the system
installed within two to three days.
Shortly before lunchtime Bud came barging into Tom's office. "How about
showing me that new project you mentioned?"
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30 DIVING SEACOPTER
"Sure thing, Bud. It's in the photographic department. Let's drive over now."
Hopping into a jeep, the boys drove to the three-story laboratory building.
Tom beamed open a sliding steel panel, then drove onto a hydraulic lift which
whisked them up to the top floor. Here they were carried down the quarter-mile-
long plant wing by a silent conveyor belt. It automatically parked the jeep for
them near the entrance to the photographic laboratory.
Inside, experimental work on all kinds of cameras was taking place. Tom led
Bud to a device which looked like a supersized television camera. It bristled with
knobs and dials, and had what appeared to be a TV screen at the rear of the
housing.
"Quite a toy," said Bud, scratching his head. "What does it do?"
"Takes motion pictures and records sounds through walls or solid objects,"
Tom replied. "Five seconds later it projects the result on the screen and player.
Actually, it's an improvement on Dad's old television detector."
"The all-seeing eye!" Bud gasped. "What do you call this super-snooper?"
"Haven't had time to dope out a name yet. Have you any suggestions?"
"How about the Eye-Spy camera?"
"Perfect!" Tom chuckled. "I'm working on a
A BLAST FROM SPACE 31
color model but it's not ready yet. Would you like to see this black-and-white
job in action?"
"Sure would."
Tom wheeled the camera dolly over to the corridor side of the room.
"We'll watch the traffic out in the hall," he remarked, flicking a switch and
tuning several dials.
Seconds later, a clear view of the corridor sprang into focus on the screen.
Along came a roly-poly figure, bald-headed and bowlegged, pushing a lunch cart
loaded with food.
"Chow Winkler!" Tom said, grinning.
Chow, a happy-go-lucky, former chuck-wagon cook from Texas, had met the
Swifts while they were engaged in atomic research in the Southwest. He had
returned to Shopton with them to become chef for the Swifts at the Enterprises
plant, and had later accompanied Tom on some of his adventures.
"Wow! Look at that checked shirt Chow's wearing," Bud muttered. "Good
thing we're not using your new color model or he'd probably blow up the camera!"
Chow had a famous weakness for gaudy-colored cowboy shirts, preferring
large blocked combinations of purple and orange, or red and green.