Thetimeline of underwater diving technology is a chronological list of notable events in the history of the development of underwaterdiving equipment. With the partial exception ofbreath-hold diving, the development of underwater diving capacity, scope, and popularity, has been closely linked to available technology, and thephysiological constraints of the underwater environment.
Primary constraints are:
the provision of breathing gas to allow endurance beyond the limits of a single breath,
safelydecompressing from high underwater pressure to surface pressure,
the ability to see clearly enough to effectively perform the task,
and sufficient mobility to get to and from the workplace.
AncientRoman andGreek era: There have been many instances of men swimming or diving for combat, but they always had to hold their breath, and had no diving equipment, except sometimes a hollow plant stem used as asnorkel.[1]
About 500 BC: (Information originally fromHerodotus): During a naval campaign the Greek Scyllis was taken aboard ship as prisoner by the Persian KingXerxes I. When Scyllis learned that Xerxes was to attack a Greek flotilla, he seized a knife and jumped overboard. The Persians could not find him in the water and presumed he had drowned. Scyllis made his way among all the ships in Xerxes's fleet, cutting each ship loose from its moorings; he used a hollow reed as snorkel to remain unobserved.[dubious –discuss] Then he swam nine miles (15 kilometers) to rejoin the Greeks offCape Artemisium.[2][3][4][5][6][7]
The use ofdiving bells was recorded by the Greek philosopherAristotle in the 4th century BC: "...they enable the divers to respire equally well by letting down acauldron, for this does not fill with water, but retains the air, for it is forced straight down into the water."[8]
1300 or earlier: Persian divers were using divinggoggles with windows made of the polished outer layer oftortoiseshell.[6]
15th century:Konrad Kyeser, illustrated his manual of military technologyBellifortis with adiving suit fitted with a hose to the surface. This diving suit drawing can also be seen in the manuscriptMs.Thott.290.2º, written byHans Talhoffer, which reproduces sections ofBellifortis.[9]
15th century:Leonardo da Vinci made the first known mention of air tanks in Italy: he wrote in his Atlantic Codex (Biblioteca Ambrosiana,Milan) that systems were used at that time to artificially breathe under water, but he did not explain them in detail. Some drawings, however, showed different kinds of snorkels and an air tank (to be carried on the breast) that presumably should have no external connections. Other drawings showed a complete immersion kit, with a plunger suit which included a sort of mask with a box for air. The project was so detailed that it included aurine collector.[10][clarification needed]
1602:Jerónimo de Ayanz y Beaumont built an air-renovated diving suit that allowed a man to remain underwater in thePisuerga river on August 2. The diver passed an hour underwater before being ordered to return by KingPhilip III.[12]
the EnglishmanJohn Lethbridge, a wool merchant, invented a diving suit built like a barrel with armholes and a viewport, and successfully used it to salvage valuables from wrecks.[13]
1772: the first diving dress using a compressed-air reservoir was successfully designed and built in 1772 bySieur[16]Fréminet, a Frenchman fromParis. Fréminet conceived an autonomous breathing machine equipped with a helmet, two hoses for inhalation and exhalation, a suit and a reservoir, dragged by and behind the diver,[17] although Fréminet later put it on his back.[18]: 46 Fréminet called his inventionmachine hydrostatergatique and used it successfully for more than ten years in the harbours ofLe Havre andBrest, as stated in the explanatory text of a 1784 painting.[19][20]
1774:John Day became the first person known to have died in an underwater accident while testing a "diving chamber" inPlymouth Sound.[21][22]
1797:Karl Heinrich Klingert designed a full diving dress which consisted of a large metal helmet and similarly large metal belt connected by a leather jacket and pants.[24]
1798: in June, F. W. Joachim, employed by Klingert, successfully completed the first practical tests of Klingert's armor.[25]
1825:Johan Patrik Ljungström demonstrated his diving bell built oftinnedcopper with space for a crew of 2-3 persons, equipped withcompass and methods of communication to the surface, successfully diving down to about 16 metres (52 ft) with Ljungström and an assistant on board, and wrote a book on the organization of private underwater diving[28][29]
c. 1831: AmericanCharles Condert built an autonomous diving suit, using a copper pipe curved in the form of a horseshoe, displacing about 50 pounds (23 kg) of water, and worn at the waist, as an air reservoir which fed compressed air through a manually operated valve and a hose into an airtight rubberized hip length tunic with integral hood. Air escaped from a small hole in the hood. The buoyancy of the set required about 200 pounds (91 kg) of weight for ballast. Condert made several dives in the East River to about 20 feet (6.1 m) and was drowned on his last dive in 1832.[30]
1837: Captain William H. Taylor demonstrated his "submarine dress" at the annualAmerican Institute Fair at Niblo's Garden, New York City.[31]
1839:
Canadian inventors James Eliot and Alexander McAvity ofSaint John, New Brunswick patented an "oxygen reservoir for divers", a device carried on the diver's back containing "a quantity of condensed oxygen gas or common atmospheric air proportionate to the depth of water and adequate to the time he is intended to remain below".[32]
W.H.Thornthwaite ofHoxton in London patented an inflatable lifting jacket for divers.[33]
1843: Based on lessons learned from the Royal George salvage, the first diving school was set up by the Royal Navy.[35]
1845 James Buchanan Eads designed and built a diving bell and began salvaging cargo from the bottom of the Mississippi River, eventually working on the river bottom from the mouth of the river at the Gulf of Mexico to Iowa.[36]
1856:Wilhelm Bauer started the first of 133 successful dives with his second submarineSeeteufel. The crew of 12 was trained to leave the submerged ship through a diving chamber (airlock).[37]
1866:Minenschiff, the firstself-propelled torpedo, developed byRobert Whitehead (to a design by Captain Luppis, Austrian Navy), was demonstrated for the imperial naval commission on 21 December.[40]
1882: BrothersAlphonse and Théodore Carmagnolle ofMarseille, France, patented the first properlyanthropomorphic design of ADS (atmospheric diving suit). Featuring 22 rolling convolute joints that were never entirely waterproof and a helmet with 25 2-inch (51 mm) glass viewing ports,[41] it weighed 380 kilograms (840 lb) and was never put in service.[42]
1808: on 17 June,SieurPierre-Marie Touboulic fromBrest, a mechanic inNapoleon's Imperial Navy, patented the oldest knownoxygen rebreather, but there is no evidence of any prototype having been manufactured. This early rebreather design worked with an oxygen reservoir, the oxygen being delivered progressively by the diver himself and circulating in a closed circuit through asponge soaked inlimewater.[43] Touboulic called his inventionIchtioandre (Greek for 'fish-man').[44]
1849: Pierre-Aimable de Saint Simon Sicard (achemist) made the first practical oxygen rebreather. It was demonstrated in London in 1854.[33]
1853: Professor T. Schwann designed a rebreather inBelgium which he exhibited in Paris in 1878.[45] It had a big backpack tank containing oxygen at about 13bar, and two scrubbers containingsponges soaked incaustic soda.
1876: An English merchant seaman,Henry Fleuss, developed the first workable self-contained diving rig that used compressed oxygen. This prototype of closed-circuit scuba used rope soaked incaustic potash to absorb carbon dioxide so the exhaled gas could be re-breathed.[46]
1808:Brizé-Fradin designed a small bell-like helmet connected to a low-pressure backpack air container.[33]
1820:Paul Lemaire d'Augerville (a Parisian dentist) invented a diving apparatus with a copper backpack cylinder, acounterlung to save air, and with an inflatable life jacket connected. It was used down to 15 or 20 meters for up to an hour in salvage work. He started a successful salvage company.[33]
1825:William H. James designed a self-contained diving suit with compressed air stored in an iron container worn around the waist.[47]
1827:Beaudouin in France developed a diving helmet fed from an air cylinder pressurized to 80 to 100 bar. TheFrench Navy was interested, but nothing came of this.[33]
1829: (1828?)
Charles Anthony Deane and John Deane ofWhitstable inKent in England designed the firstdiving helmet supplied with airpumped from the surface, for use with a diving suit. It is said[by whom?]that the idea started from a crude emergency rig-up of afireman's water-pump (used as an air pump) and a knight-in-armour helmet used to try to rescue horses from a burning stable. Others say that it was based on earlier work in 1823 developing a "smoke helmet".[48] The suit was not attached to the helmet, so a diver could not bend over or invert without risk of flooding the helmet and drowning. Nevertheless, the diving system was used in salvage work, including the successful removal of cannon from the British warship HMSRoyal George in 1834–35. This 108-gun fighting ship sank in 65 feet of water at Spithead anchorage in 1783.[48][47]
E.K.Gauzen, a Russian naval technician of theKronshtadtnaval base inSaint Petersburg, built a "diving machine". His invention was a metallic helmet strapped to a leather suit (an overall) with a pumped air supply. The bottom of the helmet was open, and the helmet strapped to the suit by a metal band. Gauzen's diving suit and its further modifications were used by theRussian Navy until 1880. The modifieddiving suit of the Russian Navy, based on Gauzen's invention, was known as "three-bolt equipment".[47]
1837: Following upLeonardo da Vinci's studies, and those of the astronomerEdmond Halley,Augustus Siebe developedsurface-supplied diving apparatus which became known asstandard diving dress.[49] By sealing the Deane brothers' helmet design to a waterproof suit, Augustus Siebe developed the Siebe "Closed" Dress combination diving helmet and suit, considered the foundation of modern diving dress. This was a significant evolution from previous models of "open" dress that did not allow a diver to invert. Siebe-Gorman went on to manufacture helmets continuously until 1975.[48]
1840: The Royal Navy used Siebe closed dress for salvage and blasting work on the "Royal George", and subsequently the Royal Engineers standardised on this equipment.[48]
1843: The Royal Navy established the first diving school.[48]
1855:Joseph-Martin Cabirol patented a new model of standard diving dress, mainly issued from Siebe's designs. The suit was made out of rubberized canvas and the helmet, for the first time, included a hand-controlled tap that the diver used to evacuate his exhaled air. The exhaust valve included a non-return valve which prevented water from entering in the helmet. Until 1855 diving helmets were equipped with only three circular windows (for front, left and right sides). Cabirol's helmet introduced the later well known fourth window, situated in the upper front part of the helmet and allowing the diver to see above him. Cabirol's diving dress won the silver medal at the1885Exposition Universelle in Paris. This original diving dress and helmet are now preserved at theConservatoire National des Arts et Métiers in Paris.[50]
Diving set by Rouquayrol and Denayrouze with barrel-shaped air tank on the diver's back, depicted here in its surface-supplied configuration.
1838: Dr. Manuel Théodore Guillaumet invented a twin-hosedemand regulator. On 19 June 1838, in London, England, a Mr. William Edward Newton filed a patent (no. 7695: "Diving apparatus") for a diaphragm-actuated, twin-hose demand valve for divers.[51] However, it is believed that Mr. Newton was merely filing a patent on behalf of Dr. Guillaumet. The illustration of the apparatus in Newton's patent application is identical to that in Guillaumet's patent application; furthermore, Mr. Newton was apparently an employee of the British Office for Patents, who applied for patents on behalf of foreign applicants.[52] It is demonstrated insurface-demand use. During the demonstration, use duration was limited to 30 minutes because the dive was in cold water without a diving suit.[53][54][18]: 45
1860: inEspalion (France), mining engineerBenoît Rouquayrol designed a self-contained breathing set with a backpack cylindrical air tank that supplied air through the first demandregulator to be commercialized (as of 1865, see below). Rouquayrol calls his inventionrégulateur ('regulator'), having conceived it to help miners avoid drowning in flooded mines.[55]
1864:Benoît Rouquayrol met navy officerAuguste Denayrouze for the first time, in Espalion, and on Denayrouze's initiative, they adapted Rouquayrol's invention to diving. After having adapted it, they called their recently patented deviceappareil plongeur Rouquayrol-Denayrouze ('Rouquayrol-Denayrouze diving apparatus'). The diver still walked on the seabed and did not swim. The air pressure tanks made with the technology of the time could only hold 30 atmospheres, allowing dives of only 30 minutes at no more than ten meters deep;[56] during surface-supplied configuration the tank was also used forbailout in the case of a hose failure.[56]
1865: on August the 28th the French Navy Minister ordered the first Rouquayrol-Denayrouze diving apparatus and large scale production started.[43]
Late 19th century:Industry began to be able to make high-pressure air andgas cylinders. That prompted a few inventors down the years to design open-circuit compressed air breathing sets, but they were all constant-flow, and the demandregulator did not come back until 1937.[47]
1893:Louis Boutan makes the first under water camera becoming the first underwater photographer and produces the first clear underwater photographs.[59][60]
1900: Louis Boutan publishedLa Photographie sous-marine et les progrès de la photographie (The Underwater Photography and the Advances in Photography), the first book about underwater photography.[60]
1841:Jacques Triger constructs the firstcaisson for mining work in France. First two cases of decompression sickness in caisson workers are reported by Triger in 1845, consisting of joint and extremity pains.[13]
1846-1855: Several cases of decompression sickness, some with fatal outcome, reported in caisson workers during bridge construction first in France, then in England. Recompression is reported to help alleviate symptoms by Pol and Wattelle in 1847, and a gradual compression and decompression is advocated by Thomas Littleton in 1855.[13][61]
From 1870 to 1910 all prominent features of decompression sickness were established, but theories over the pathology ranged from cold or exhaustion causing reflex spinal cord damage; electricity caused byfriction on compression; or organcongestion and vascular stasis caused by decompression.[13]
1870: Louis Bauer, a professor of surgery from St. Lous, publishes an initial report on the outcomes of 25 paralyzed caisson workers involved in the construction of theSt LouisEads Bridge.[62] The construction project eventually employed 352 compressed air workers including Dr. Alphonse Jaminet as the physician in charge. There were 30 seriously injured and 12 fatalities. Dr. Jaminet himself suffered a case of decompression sickness when he ascended to the surface in four minutes after spending almost three hours at a depth of 95 feet in a caisson, and his description of his own experience was the first such recorded.[63] While obviously caused by the increased pressure, both Bauer and Jaminet theorized that the symptoms were caused by a hypermetabolic state caused by the increase in oxygen, with inability to remove waste products in normal pressure. Gradual compression and decompression, shorter shifts with longer intervals, and complete rest after decompression were advocated. Actual cases were treated with rest, beef tea, ice, and alcohol.[64]
1872: The similarity between decompression sickness andiatrogenic air embolism as well as the relationship between inadequate decompression and decompression sickness were noted byHermann Friedberg.[65][66] He suggested that intravascular gas was released by rapid decompression and recommended: slow compression and decompression; four-hour working shifts; limit to maximum depth 44.1psig (4ATA); using only healthy workers; and recompression treatment for severe cases.[13]
1873: Dr. Andrew Smith first used the term "caisson disease" to describe 110 cases of decompression sickness as the physician in charge during construction of theBrooklyn Bridge.[63] The project employed 600 compressed air workers. Recompression treatment was not used. The project chief engineerWashington Roebling suffered from caisson disease. (He took charge after his fatherJohn Augustus Roebling died oftetanus.) Washington's wife, Emily, helped manage the construction of the bridge after his sickness confined him to his home inBrooklyn. He battled the after-effects of the disease for the rest of his life.
According to different sources, the term "The Bends" for decompression sickness was coined by workers of either the Brooklyn or the Eads bridge, and was given because afflicted individuals characteristically arched their backs in a manner similar to a then-fashionable posture known as theGrecian Bend.[63]
1878:Paul Bert publishedLa Pression barométrique, providing the first systematic understanding of the causes of DCS.[67]
from 1903 to 1907: ProfessorGeorges Jaubert, invented Oxylithe, a mixture ofperoxides of sodium (Na2O2) and potassium with a small amount of salts of copper or nickel, which produces oxygen in the presence of water.[69]
1905:
Several sources, including the 1991US Navy Dive Manual (pg 1–8), state that theMK V Deep Sea Diving Dress was designed by the Bureau of Construction & Repair in 1905, but in reality, the 1905 Navy Handbook shows British Siebe-Gorman helmets in use. Since the earliest known MK V is dated 1916, these sources are probably referring to the earlier MK I, MK II, MK III & MK IVMorse andSchrader helmets.[48]
The first rebreather with metering valves to control the supply of oxygen was made.[70]
Maurice Fernez introduced a simple lightweight underwater breathing apparatus as an alternative to helmet diving suits.[74]
Dräger started the commercialization of his rebreather in both configuration types, mouthpiece and helmet.[75]
1913: The US Navy began developing the future MK V, influenced bySchrader andMorse designs.[73][48]
1914: Modern swimfins were invented by the FrenchmanLouis de Corlieu,capitaine de corvette (Lieutenant Commander) in theFrench Navy. In 1914 De Corlieu made a practical demonstration of his firstprototype for a group of navy officers.[18]: 65
1915: The submarineUSS F-4 was salvaged from 304 feet establishing the practical limits for air diving. Three US Navy divers,Frank W. Crilley, William F. Loughman, and Nielson, reached 304 fsw using the MK V dress.[48]
1916:
The basic design of the MK V dress was finalized by including a battery-powered telephone, but several more detail improvements were made over the next two years.[48]
1917: TheBureau of Construction & Repair adopted the MK V helmet and dress, which remained the standard for US Navy diving until the introduction of the MK 12 in the late seventies.[48]
1918: the "Ohgushi's Peerless Respirator" was first patented. Invented in 1916 by Riichi Watanabi and the blacksmith Kinzo Ohgushi, and used with either surface-supplied air or a 150 bar steel scuba cylinder holding 1000 litres free air, the valve-supplied air to a mask over the diver's nose and eyes and the demand valve was operated by the diver's teeth. Gas flow was proportional to bite force and duration. The breathing apparatus was used successfully for fishing and salvage work and by the military Japanese Underwater Unit until the end of the Pacific War.[76][77]
Around 1920: Hanseatischen Apparatebau-Gesellschaft made a 2-cylinder breathing apparatus with double-lever single-stage demand valve and single wide corrugatedbreathing tube with mouthpiece, and a "duck's beak" exhalent valve in the regulator. It was described in amine rescue handbook in 1930. They were successors to Ludwig von Bremen ofKiel, who had the licence to make the Rouquayrol-Denayrouze apparatus in Germany.[78]
1924:
De Corlieu left the French Navy to fully devote himself to his invention.[79]
Experimental dives using helium-oxygen mixtures sponsored by the US Navy and Bureau of Mines.[48]
Due to post World War I cutbacks, the US Navy found it had only 20 divers qualified to dive deeper than 90 feet when salvaging the submarineS-51.[48]
1926:
Fernez-Le Prieur self-contained underwater breathing apparatus was demonstrated to the public in Paris,[81] and adopted by the French Navy.[citation needed]
Dräger introduced a rescue breathing apparatus that the wearer could swim with. Previous devices served only for submarine escape and were designed to provide buoyancy so that the wearer was lifted to the surface without effort, the diving set had weights, which made it possible to dive for search and rescue after an accident.[citation needed]
1927:US Navy School of Diving and Salvage was re-established at Washington Navy Yard, and the Experimental Diving Unit brought from Pittsburgh to Washington Navy Yard.[48]
1928: Davis invented the Submersible Decompression Chamber (SDC) diving bell.[48]
1929: LieutenantC.B."Swede" Momsen, a submariner and diver, developed and tested the submarine escape apparatus named theMomsen Lung.[48]
In AprilLouis de Corlieu registered a new patent (number 767013, which in addition to two fins for the feet included two spoon-shaped fins for the hands) and called this equipmentpropulseurs de natation et de sauvetage (which can be translated as "swimming and rescue propulsion device").[18]: 65
InSan Diego, California, the first sport diving club was started by Glenn Orr, Jack Prodanovich and Ben Stone, called the San Diego Bottom Scratchers.[82] As far as it is known, it did not use breathing sets; its main aim wasspearfishing.
More is known ofYves Le Prieur's constant-flow open-circuit breathing set. It is said that it could allow a 20-minute stay at 7 meters and 15 minutes at 15 meters. It has one cylinder feeding into a circularfullface mask. Its air cylinder was often worn at an angle to get its on/off valve in reach of the diver's hand.[citation needed]
In France a sport diving club was started, called theClub des Sous-l'Eau = "club of those [who are] under the water". It did not use breathing sets as far as is known. Its main aim wasspearfishing. ("Club des Sous-l'Eau" was later realized to be ahomophone of "club des soulôts" = "club of the drunkards", and was changed toClub des Scaphandres et de la Vie Sous L'Eau = "Club of the diving apparatuses and of underwater life".)[citation needed]
1935: TheFrench Navy adopted the Le Prieur breathing set.[85]
On theFrench Riviera, the first known sport scuba diving club Club Des Scaphandres et de la Vie Sous L'eau (The club for divers and life underwater) was started by Le Prieur & Jean Painleve. It used Le Prieur's breathing sets.[citation needed]
1937: US Navy published its revised diving tables based on the work of O.D. Yarbrough.[73]
1937: The AmericanDiving Equipment and Salvage Company (now known as DESCO) developed a heavy bottom-walking-type diving suit with a self-contained mixed-gas helium and oxygen rebreather.[citation needed]
1939: After floundering for years, even producing his fins in his ownflat inParis, De Corlieu finally startedmass production of his invention in France. The same year he rented a licence toOwen P. Churchill for mass production in theUnited States. To sell his fins in the USAOwen Churchill changed the French De Corlieu's name (propulseurs) to "swimfins", which is still theEnglish name. Churchill presented his fins to the US Navy, who decided to acquire them for itsUnderwater Demolition Team (UDT).[citation needed]
Hans Hass and Hermann Stelzner of Dräger, in Germany made the M138 rebreather. It was developed from the 1912escape set, a type of rebreather used to exit sunken submarines. The M138 sets were oxygen rebreathers with a 150 bar, 0.6 liter tank and appeared in many of hismovies and books.[citation needed]
1934:René Commeinhes, fromAlsace, invented a breathing set working with a demand valve and designed to allowfirefighters to breathe safely in smoke-filled environments.[87]
1937:Georges Commeinhes, son of René, adapted his father's invention to diving and developed a two-cylinder open-circuit apparatus withdemand regulator. The regulator was a big rectangular box between the cylinders. Some were made, butWWII interrupted development.[citation needed]
1942: Georges Commeinhes patented a better version of his scuba set, now called the GC42 ("G" for Georges, "C" for Commeinhes and "42" for 1942). Some are made by the Commeinhes' company.[citation needed]
1942: with no relation with the Commeinhes family,Émile Gagnan, an engineer employed by theAir Liquide company, obtained a Rouquayrol-Denayrouze apparatus (property of the Bernard Piel company in 1942) in Paris. He miniaturized and adapted it togas generators, sincethe Germans occupy France and confiscated the French fuel for war purposes. Gagnan's boss and owner of the Air Liquide company,Henri Melchior, decided to introduce Gagnan toJacques-Yves Cousteau, hisson-in-law, because he knows that Cousteau is looking for an efficient and automatic demand regulator. They met in Paris in December 1942 and adapted Gagnan's regulator to a diving cylinder.[90]
1943: after fixing some technical problems, Cousteau and Gagnan patented the first modern demand regulator.[citation needed]
Air Liquide built two more aqualungs: these three are owned by Cousteau but also at the disposal of his first two diving companionsFrédéric Dumas andTaillez. They use them to shoot the filmÉpaves (Shipwrecks), the first underwater film shot using scuba sets.[91]
In July Commeinhes reached 53 metres (about 174 feet) using his GC42 breathing set off the coast of Marseille.[92]
In October, and not knowing about Commeinhes's exploit, Dumas dived with a Cousteau-Gagnan prototype and reached 62 metres (about 200 feet) offLes Goudes, not far from Marseille. He experienced what is now callednitrogen narcosis.[93]
1944: Commeinhes died in the liberation ofStrasbourg inAlsace.[94] His invention was overtaken by Cousteau's invention.[95]
Hans Hass later said that duringWWII the German diving gear firmDräger offered him an open-circuitscuba set with ademand regulator. It may have been a separate invention, or it may have been copied from a captured Commeinhes-type set.[citation needed]
Early 1944: the USA government, to try to stop men from being drowned in sunken armytanks, asked the companyMine Safety Appliances (MSA) for a suitable small escape breathing set. MSA provided a smallopen-circuit breathing set with a small (5 to 7 liters) air cylinder, a circulardemand regulator with a two-lever system similar to Cousteau's design (connected to the cylinder by a nut and cone nipple connection), and one corrugated widebreathing tube connected to a mouthpiece. This set was stated to be made from "off-the-shelf" items, which shows that MSA already had that regulator design; also, that regulator looks like the result of development and not aprototype; it may have arisen around 1943.[96] In an example recovered in 2003 from a submergedSherman tank in theBay of Naples, the cylinder was bound round in tape and tied to alifejacket. These sets were too late for theD-Day landings in June 1944, but were used in the invasion of the south of France and in thePacific War.[citation needed]
1945: InToulon, Cousteau showed the filmÉpaves to the AdmiralLemonnier. The Admiral then made Cousteau responsible for the creation of the underwater research unit of the French Navy (the GRS, Groupe de Recherches Sous-marines, nowadays called the CEPHISMER).[99] GRS' first mission was to clear of mines the French coasts and harbours. While creating the GRS, Cousteau only had at his disposal the two remaining Aqua-Lung prototypes made by l'Air Liquide in 1943.[100]
1946:
Air Liquide createdLa Spirotechnique and started to sell Cousteau-Gagnan sets under the names ofscaphandre Cousteau-Gagnan ('Cousteau-Gagnan scuba set'), CG45 ("C" for Cousteau, "G" for Gagnan and "45" for 1945, year of their first postwar patent) orAqua-Lung, the latter for commercialization in English-speaking countries. This word is correctly atradename that goes with the Cousteau-Gagnan patent, but in Britain it has been commonly used as ageneric and spelt "aqualung" since at least the 1950s, including in theBSAC's publications and training manuals, and describing scuba diving as "aqualunging".[citation needed]
Yves Le Prieur invented a new version of his breathing set. Its fullface mask's front plate was loose in its seating and acted as a very big, and therefore, very sensitive diaphragm for a demand regulator: seeDiving regulator#Demand valve.[citation needed]
The first known underwater diving club in Britain, "The Amphibians Club", is formed inAberdeen by Ivor Howitt (who modified an old civiliangas mask) and some friends. They called underwater diving "fathomeering", to distinguish fromjumping into water.[citation needed]
1947:Maurice Fargues became the first diver to die using an aqualung while attempting a new depth record with Cousteau's Undersea Research Group nearToulon.[22]
Siebe Gorman and/orHeinke started makingCousteau-type aqualungs in England. Siebe Gorman made those first patented aqualungs atChessington from 1948 to 1960, popularly known astadpole sets.[104] Siebe Gorman and the Royal Navy expected aqualungs to be used with weighted boots for bottom-walking for light commercial diving: seeAqua-lung#"Tadpoles".[citation needed]
1950: a British naval diving manual printed soon after this said that the aqualung is to be used for walking on the bottom with a heavy diving suit and weighted boots, and did not mention Cousteau.[citation needed]
A report to Cousteau said that only 10 aqualung sets had been sent to the USA because the market there was saturated.[citation needed]
The movie "The Frogmen" was released. It was set in the Pacific Ocean inWWII. In its last 20 minutes, it shows USfrogmen, using bulky 3-cylindered aqualungs on a combat mission. This equipment use isanachronistic (in reality they would have usedrebreathers), but it shows that aqualungs were available (even if not widely known of) in the US in 1951.[citation needed]
Ted Eldred in Melbourne, Australia started making for public sale thePorpoise (make of scuba gear). This was the world's first commercially available single-hose scuba unit and was the forerunner of most sport SCUBA equipment produced today. Only about 12,000 were made.[110]
After World War II Lambertsen called his 1940-1944 rebreather LARU (forLambertsen Amphibious Respiratory Unit) but as of 1952 Lambertsen renamed his invention and coined the acronym SCUBA (for "self-contained underwater breathing apparatus"). During the following years this acronym was used, more and more, to identify the Cousteau-Gagnan apparatus, taking the place of its original name (Aqualung). In Britain the wordaqualung, used for any demand-valve-controlled open-circuit scuba set, still continues to be used.
1953:National Geographic Magazine published an article about Cousteau's underwater archaeology at Grand Congloué island near Marseille. This started a massive public demand for aqualungs and diving gear, and in France and America the diving gear makers started making them as fast as they could. But in BritainSiebe Gorman andHeinke kept aqualungs expensive, and restrictions on exportingcurrency stopped people from importing them. Many British sport divers used home-made constant-flow breathing sets and ex-armed forces or ex-industrial rebreathers. In the early 1950s,diving regulators made bySiebe Gorman cost £15, which was an average week'ssalary.[citation needed]
After the supply of war-surplusfrogman'sdrysuits ran out, free-swimming diving suits were not readily available to the general public, and as a result many scuba divers dived with their skin bare except for swimming trunks. That is why scuba diving used often to be called skindiving. Others dived in homemade drysuits, or in thick layers of ordinary clothes.[citation needed]
After the supply of war-surplus frogman's fins dried up, for a long time fins were not available to the public, and some had to resort to such things as gluingmarine ply toplimsolls.[citation needed]
1954:USSNautilus, the first nuclear-powered submarine, was launched.[116]
The first manned dives in the bathyscapheFNRS-2 were made.[117]
The first scuba certification course in the USA was offered by the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation. The training program was created by Albert Tillman and Bev Morgan now known as LA County Scuba.[118]
In the US,MSA advertised (inPopular Mechanics magazine) a two-cylinder aqualung-like open-circuit diving set using the MSA regulator.[96]
Underwater hockey (octopush) was invented by four navy sub-aqua divers in Southsea who got bored swimming up and down and wanted a fun way to keep fit.[119]
1955: In Britain, "Practical Mechanics" magazine published an article on "Making an Aqualung".[120]
US Navy published decompression tables that allowed for repetitive diving.[123]
Around this time, some British scuba divers started makinghomemade diving demand regulators from industrial parts, includingCalor Gas regulators. (Since then, Calor Gas regulators have been redesigned, and this conversion is now impossible.)[citation needed]
Later,Submarine Products Ltd inHexham inNorthumberland, England designed round the Cousteau-Gagnan patent and marketed recreational diving breathing sets at an accessible price. This forcedSiebe Gorman's andHeinke's prices down and started them selling to the sport diving trade. (Siebe Gorman gave its drysuit thetradename "Frogman".) Because of this better availability of aqualungs,BSAC adopted a policy that rebreathers were unacceptable for recreational diving.[citation needed][original research?] In the US, some oxygen diving clubs developed down the years. Eventually, the term of the Cousteau-Gagnan patentexpired, and it could be legally copied.[citation needed]
The U.S. Navy'sSealab 1underwater habitat project directed by CaptainGeorge F. Bond, keeps four divers in saturation underwater at an average depth of 193 feet for 11 days.[48]
1965:
Robert D. Workman of theU.S. Navy Experimental Diving Unit (NEDU) publishes an algorithm for computing decompression requirements suitable for implementing in adive computer, rather than a pre-computed table.[133]
1968: An excursion dive to 1025 fsw was made from a saturation depth of 825 fsw at NEDU.[48]
1969: The first known rebreather withelectronic monitoring was produced. The Electrolung, designed by Walter Starke, was subsequently bought by Beckman Instruments, but discontinued in 1970 after a number of fatalities.[137]
1971:Scubapro introduced the Stabilization Jacket, commonly calledstab jacket in England, and Buoyancy Control (or Compensation) Device (BC or BCD) elsewhere.[citation needed]
1976: ProfessorAlbert A. Bühlmann published his work extending the formulae to apply to diving at altitude and with complex gas mixes.[138]
1978: Deeper diving techniques breathing Mixed Gas (Helium/Oxygen) rather than Air were becoming more widely used, due to the requirements of Oil and Gas industry clients in the UK North Sea and elsewhere. The first effective Helium recycling systems where breathed out Heliox diving mix was returned to the surface for CO2 scrubbing and O2 injection were deployed by KD Marine and subsequent Krasberg (Alan Krasberg, gas systems engineer) reclaim systems were used by Commercial Diving operators such as Wharton Williams, Stena Offshore, KD Marine etc. Helium recycling was regularly better than 90% efficient and brought the cost of deeper diving techniques down to a reasonable threshold.
1981: The "Salvage of the Century" - the recovery of 431 Gold bars from HMS Edinburgh was carried out from the DSV Stephaniturm by Wharton Williams divers from a water depth of around 800 feet. This operation and all subsequent Helium/Oxygen breathing operations by Wharton Williams used Krasberg based Helium recycling. As new diving vessels were constructed Gas Reclaim technology became a standard fitment.
1983: The Orca Edge (the first commercially viable electronicdive computer) was introduced.[139][140]
1986Apeks Marine Equipment introduced the first dry sealed 1st Stage developed by engineering designer Alan Clarke, later to house a patented electronic pressure sensor named STATUS.[citation needed]
1990: During operations in the Campos basin of Brazil, saturation divers from the DSV Stena Marianos performed a manifold installation forPetrobras at 316 metres (1,037 ft) depth in February 1990. When a lift bag attachment failed, the equipment was carried by the bottom currents to 328 metres (1,076 ft) depth, and the Brazilian diver Adelson D'Araujo Santos Jr. made the recovery and installation.[142]
1994:
Divex and Kirby-Morgan developed the Divex UltraJewel 601 gas-reclaim system in response to rising helium costs.[48]
1995: BSAC allowednitrox diving and introduced nitrox training.[115][145]
1996: PADI introduced its Enriched Air Diver Course.[146]
1997: The filmTitanic helped to make underwater trips onboardMIR submersible vehicles popular.[citation needed]
1998 August: Dives onRMSTitanic were made using a Remotely Operated Vehicle controlled from the surface (Magellan 725), and the first live video broadcast was made from theTitanic.[147]
1999 July: TheLiberty Bell 7 Mercury spacecraft was recovered from 16,043 feet (4,890 m) of water in the Atlantic Ocean during the deepest commercial search and recovery operation to date.[148]
2023 June: The fibre composite hulledTitan submersible, operated byOceanGate, was lost with all on board by implosion on a dive to the wreck of the Titanic in the Atlantic Ocean.[154][155]
^Beloe, William, ed. (1791).The History of Herodotus. Vol. 3. London, England: Leigh and Sotheby. p. 342.
^Pausanius with W.H.S. Jones, trans. & ed.,Description of Greece (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1929), volume 4,p. 471.Archived 2 January 2016 at theWayback Machine
^W. R. Paton, trans.The Greek Anthology (London, England: William Heinemann, 1917), volume 3,pp. 158-159, Epigram 296 (by Apollonides).
^Frost, Frank J. (October 1968) "Scyllias: Diving in Antiquity,"Greece and Rome, 2nd series,15 (2) : 180-185.
^abcdefghijkAcott, C. (1999). "A brief history of diving and decompression illness".South Pacific Underwater Medicine Society Journal.29 (2).ISSN0813-1988.OCLC16986801.
^abcdePerrier, Alain (2008).250 réponses aux questions du plongeur curieux [250 Answers to the questions of the curious diver] (in French). Paris: Éditions du Gerfaut.ISBN978-2-35191-033-7.
^In 1784 Fréminet sent six copies of a treatise about hismachine hydrostatergatique to the chamber of Guienne (nowadays calledGuyenne). On 5 April 1784, the archives of the Chamber of Guienne (Chambre de Commerce de Guienne) officially recorded:Au sr Freminet, qui a adressé à la Chambre six exemplaires d'un précis sur une "machine hydrostatergatique" de son invention, destinée à servir en cas de naufrage ou de voie d'eau déclarée.
^Tall, Jeffrey (2002).Submarines & Deep-Sea Vehicles. Thunder Bay Press.ISBN978-1-57145-778-3.
^Charles Griswold to Professor Silliman, Lyme CT, 21 February 1820; from "The Beginning of Modern Submarine Warfare, under Captain-Lieutenant David Bushnell, Sappers and Miners, Army of the Revolution;" Henry L. Abbot (pamphlet, 1881); reproduced by Frank Anderson (Archon Books and Shoe String Press, Hamden CT, 1966); pp 26-28
^Elliott, David. "A short history of submarine escape: The development of an extreme air dive".South Pacific Underwater Medicine Society Journal.29 (2).
^Miskovic, Nikola (2010).Use of self oscillations in guidance and control of marine vessels. p. 3.
^Neyland, Robert S (2005). "Underwater Archaeology and the Confederate Submarine H.L. Hunley".In: Godfrey, JM; Shumway, SE. Diving for Science 2005. Proceedings of the American Academy of Underwater Sciences Symposium on 10–12 March 2005 at the University of Connecticut at Avery Point, Groton, Connecticut.
^abQuick, D. (1970). "A History Of Closed Circuit Oxygen Underwater Breathing Apparatus".$Royal Australian Navy, School of Underwater Medicine.RANSUM-1-70.
^Bevan, John (1990)."The First Demand Valve?"(PDF).SPUMS Journal.20 (4):239–240. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 10 May 2015. Retrieved27 August 2012.Reprinted fromDiver (U.K. magazine) of February 1989
^Staff."Le scaphandre autonome" (in French). Archived fromthe original on 30 October 2012. Retrieved12 February 2017.Un brevet semblable est déposé en 1838 par William Newton en Angleterre. Il y a tout lieu de penser que Guillaumet, devant les longs délais de dépôt des brevets en France, a demandé à Newton de faire enregistrer son brevet en Angleterre où la procédure est plus rapide, tout en s'assurant les droits exclusifs d'exploitation sur le brevet déposé par Newton. (A similar patent was filed in 1838 by William Newton in England. There is every reason to think that owing to the long delays in filing patents in France, Guillaumet asked Newton to register his patent in England where the procedure was faster, while ensuring the exclusive rights to exploit the patent filed by Newton.)
^On 14 November 1838, Dr. Manuel Théodore Guillaumet of Argentan, Normandy, France, filed a patent for a twinhose demand regulator; the diver was provided air through pipes from the surface. The apparatus was demonstrated to, and investigated by, a committee of the French Academy of Sciences:"Mèchanique appliquée – Rapport sur une cloche à plongeur inventée par M. Guillaumet" (Applied mechanics – Report on a diving bell invented by Mr. Guillaumet),Comptes rendus, vol. 9, pages 363-366 (16 September 1839).
^Also from "le scaphandre autonome" Web site:"Reconstruit au XXe siècle par les Américains, ce détendeur fonctionne parfaitement, mais, si sa réalisation fut sans doute effective au XIXe, les essais programmés par la Marine Nationale ne furent jamais réalisés et l'appareil jamais commercialisé." (Reconstructed in twentieth century by the Americans, this regulator worked perfectly; however, although it was undoubtedly effective in the nineteenth century, the test programs by the French Navy were never conducted and the apparatus was never sold.)
^ab"3 Inventeurs Espalionnais".Musée du Scaphandre (in French). Espalion, France. Archived fromthe original on 30 June 2011. Description of the Rouquayrol-Denayrouze apparatus
^abcButler WP (2004). "Caisson disease during the construction of the Eads and Brooklyn Bridges: A review".Undersea Hyperb Med.31 (4):445–59.PMID15686275.
^Bert, P. (1943) [1878]. "Barometric Pressure: researches in experimental physiology".Translated by: Hitchcock MA and Hitchcock FA. College Book Company.
^Staff."oxylithe".Dictionaires de francaise Larousse (in French). Editions Larousse.Archived from the original on 11 February 2017. Retrieved10 February 2017.Mélange de peroxydes de sodium et de potassium, avec un peu de sels de cuivre ou de nickel, qui, en présence d'eau, dégage de l'oxygène
^abcdCarter, R. C. Jr. (1977). "Pioneering Inner Space: The Navy Experimental Diving Unit's First 50 Years".US Navy Experimental Diving Unit Technical Report. NEDU-1-77.
^FR patent F443802, Maurice Fernez, "Appareil respiratoire pour séjourner sous l'eau ou dans des milieux irrespirables", published 3 September 1912, issued 22 July 1912
^"Drägerwerk".Divingheritage.com.Archived from the original on 17 May 2017. Retrieved29 August 2011.
^Historical Diving Society magazine issue 45, page 43
^Tailliez, Phillippe (January 1954).'Plongées sans câble. Paris: Arthaud. p. 14.. In the 1950s Philippe Tailliez was still was thinking that De Corlieu conceived his fins for the first time in 1924, but he had started ten years earlier.
^O'Hara, Cernuschi, Vincent, Enrico (2015). "Frogmen against a fleet: The Italian Attack on Alexandria 18/19 December 1941".Naval War College Review.68 (3):125–126.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Ruppe, Carol V. (2002).International Handbook of Underwater Archaeology. The Springer Series in Underwater Archaeology Ser. Jane F. Barstad. New York, NY: Springer.ISBN978-1-4615-0535-8.
^The 1943 documentary filmÉpaves, inGoogle vidéos (in French). Two early Aqua-Lung prototypes can be appreciated in the film.
^Capitaine de frégate Philippe Taillez,Plongées sans câble, Arthaud, Paris, January 1954, Dépôt légal 1er trimestre 1954 - Édition N° 605 - Impression N° 243 (page 52, in French)
^Cousteau, Jacques-Yves; Dumas, Frédéric (1953).Le Monde du silence (in French) (Édition N° 228 - Impression N° 741 ed.). Paris: Éditions de Paris. pp. 35–37.
^Capitaine de frégate Philippe Taillez,Plongées sans câble, Arthaud, Paris, January 1954, Dépôt légal 1er trimestre 1954 - Édition N° 605 - Impression N° 243 (page 59, in French)
^Cousteau, Jacques-Yves; Dumas, Frédéric (1953).Le Monde du silence (in French) (Édition N° 228 - Impression N° 741 ed.). Paris: Éditions de Paris. p. 72.
^Rechnitzer, Andreas B."The First U.S. Scuba Training"(PDF). University of California at Los Angeles.Archived(PDF) from the original on 19 February 2022. Retrieved19 February 2022.
^Fulton, H. T.; Welham, W.; Dwyer, J. V.; Dobbins, R. F. (1952). "Preliminary Report on Protection Against Cold Water".US Navy Experimental Diving Unit Technical Report. NEDU-5-52.
^Workman, R. D. (1965). "Calculation of Decompression Schedules for Nitrogen-Oxygen and Helium-Oxygen Dives".US Navy Experimental Diving Unit Technical Report. NEDU-6-65.
^Böni M.; Schibli R.; Nussberger P.; Bühlmann Albert A. (1976). "Diving at diminished atmospheric pressure: air decompression tables for different altitudes".Undersea Biomedical Research.3 (3):189–204.ISSN0093-5387.OCLC2068005.PMID969023.
^Allen, C (1996). "BSAC gives the OK to nitrox. reprinted from Diver 1995; 40(5) May: 35-36".South Pacific Underwater Medicine Society Journal.26 (4).ISSN0813-1988.OCLC16986801.
^Richardson, D.; Shreeves, K. (1996). "The PADI Enriched Air Diver course and DSAT oxygen exposure limits".South Pacific Underwater Medicine Society Journal.26 (3).ISSN0813-1988.OCLC16986801.
^Gallant, Jeffrey."Diving Timeline".Diving Almanac & Book of Records. Archived fromthe original on 9 August 2020. Retrieved20 June 2020.
