Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
PRIMITIVE DIVING GEAR
By present standards the diving equipment in the 1950s was prim-
itive, hard to use, and potentially dangerous if you didn't keep
your wits about you at all times.
The Cousteau-Gagnan regulator had two large hoses for the
air, one for inhaling and one for exhaling. Although the regula-
tor was quite easy to breathe with underwater, a major problem
occurred any time you took the mouthpiece out of your mouth
while you were in the water. The hoses immediately filled with
water, including the one that was supposed to supply you with
air. The air hose now became a water hose. If you stuck the mouth-
piece back in your mouth and sucked, you got half a gallon of
seawater instead of air.
The trick to avoiding that unpleasant situation was a little rou-
tine that had to be followed religiously. Whenever your air hoses
became full of water—which happened rather often—you rolled
over on your left side and exhaled. If you did it correctly, this blew
most of the water out of the exhaust hose. The water that was in
the air supply hose, on the right, now flowed downhill into the
theoretically empty exhale hose. Inhaling very cautiously, you
could get a lungful of air—mixed, of course, with a little of the
water that didn't quite get blown out. The whole procedure was
annoying at best, but downright dangerous if your mouthpiece
was knocked out underwater.
Luckily, the double-hoses-full-of-water situation didn't last
very long. An independent and inventive diver devised a pair of
check valves that you could buy and install to keep the water out
of the inhale hose. Now if it flooded, the only water would be in
the small space in the mouthpiece itself. This made diving more
pleasant and took much of the worry out of losing your mouth-
piece in awkward places, like a hundred feet down or in the dark
of night with your hands occupied with a lobster, dive light, and
bag. Eventually, the U.S. Divers Company incorporated check
valves in all of their regulators.
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