Rising 10 1/2' into the air, this is the backyard inflatable water park with a tunnel slide that passes beneath a larger traditional slide, both of which are constantly irrigated by built-in sprinklers and have splash pools at the end of each, making it ideal for summer fun. An included 960-watt electric air blower plugs into AC and inflates the park easily and quickly, keeping it resilient and firm. The 0.3 mm-thick PVC shell will withstand years of play, and resists mold and fading. Eight 18"-long stakes firmly secure the park to the ground; four additional stakes keep the air blower and air hose rigidly fixed in one place. Four water bags affix to the side of the slide to provide further stabilization. The sprinklers attach to one garden hose, requiring no additional configuration. Ages 5-12. Inflated: 10 1/2' H x 20' L x 6 1/2' W. Deflated: 20" L x 4 1/4" W. (63 lbs.)

According to the Guiness Book of Motor boating, the history of the inflatable boat goes back as far as 880 BC, when the Assyrian king Ashurnasirpal II ordered troops to cross a river using greased animal skins, which they inflated continuously to keep the vessels afloat. In ancient China, during the Sung and Ming dynasties, inflated, airtight skins were used for crossing rivers.

It was 1839, however, that the first inflatable boat pontoons were tested by the Duke of Wellington. In 1840, the Englishman Thomas Hancock designed inflatable craft and described this work in "The Origin and Progress of India Rubber Manufacture in England" published a few years later. In 1844, a Lieutenant Halkett designed a round-shaped inflatable bloat which was used in several Arctic expeditions. The Frenchman Clement Ader devised a floating vessel too. Indeed, many other pioneers invented craft that foreshadowed "inflatables". In 1913, the German Albert Meyer came up with a fairly novel design. By 1920, his company, A. Meyer Bau Pneum. Boote, was marketing his "pneumatic" boats, of which nine were already in use by the German Army.

In France and Great Britain, Zodiac and RFD claim paternity of the first modern inflatable boat. In 1919, RFD's founder Reginald Foster Dagnall tested an inflatable on Lake Wisely in England, and went on to improve its design in the 1930s. This boat was the ancestor of the one-person inflatable life raft. In France, Pierre Debroutelle came up with a prototype for an inflatable boat in 1934.

The first boat of its kind to be certified by the French Navy, Zodiac's model probably sparked the development of the civil and military inflatable boat industry. Unlike its counterparts, the boat improved by Pierre Debroutelle in 1937 was actually designed in a U-shape, with the two lateral buoyancy chambers connected by a wooden transom patented on August 10, 1943. This version was the direct predecessor of today's inflatable sports and pleasure boats.

Since then many new manufacturers, new models and new designs have hit the market. Inflatable boat are no longer a little dinghy on the back of a large pleasure yacht, but can range up to 45 ft in length and longer. "Rigid" hulls of fiberglass or aluminum have evolved from the original fabric floors, luxury components and even cabins now grace the decks of many inflatable boats. Contrary to the name, inflatable boat, on some inflatable boats of today the only thing inflatable is the collar around the perimeter gunwales of the deck however, the inflatable boat lives on and becomes more popular year after year.

    One of the biggest parts of the culture of not only Calumet, but the entire Copper Country is the pasty. This was a main part of copper miners' diets. A pasty is a mixture of meat, potatoes, rutabaga, carrots and onions wrapped in a crust made of flour and lard. Traditionally Cornish, they have even sparked local events such as the Pasty Fest, where there are eating contests (with consumption of pasties, of course), games, events, and even a tug of war event where the losers take a dive into an inflatable pool filled with ketchup.

In Fiction

    They were also mentioned in Matthew Reilly's best selling book "Temple", where they are constantly eating people that fall in the water. As well, it was featured rather prominantly in "Amazonia" by James Rollins wherein a Special forces soldier is eaten by a Black Caiman after it capsizes the inflatable boat in which he is riding.

Legacy

    After the end of the sea devil Bauer soon left Russia. When he realized he wouldn’t find support for another submarine he took to other projects. In 1863 Bauer managed to raise a sunken ship by means of inflatable balloons made of canvas. But all his more ambitious plans failed because of a complete lack of funding. Disappointed by this Bauer died in 1875 in Munich.

    It would be wrong to claim that the German submarine fleet of the world wars was directly descended from Wilhelm Bauer’s prototypes. The modern submarine began its history with the inventions of Simon Lake and John Philip Holland. The submarine pioneers of the 19th century however - de Villeroi, Monturiol, Hunley and others - were well aware of Bauer’s invention and derived inspiration and many ideas from it. And without these men, we wouldn’t have the technically advanced submarines we have today.

    In 1960 the German navy Bundesmarine renamed a Type XXI submarine Wilhelm Bauer