Who is interested in a new kind of BCD?

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jonnythan:
Your physics don't add up.

If the air pressure inside the chamber is always the same as the water pressure outside the chamber, the device will have to add or dump air as you descend or ascend.

That's exactly what it does and that is exactly what a good diver tries to do when they ascend or descend. Otherwise you pop to the top or crash land on the bottom. There's nothing wrong with my physics.... tr
 
trash:
That's exactly what it does and that is exactly what a good diver tries to do when they ascend or descend. Otherwise you pop to the top or crash land on the bottom. There's nothing wrong with my physics.... tr
"Even with a foam wetsuit or drysuit you will adjust less than with a regular bladder because the air volume you need to become neutral underwater is not subject to change by the affects of pressure."
 
jonnythan:
"Even with a foam wetsuit or drysuit you will adjust less than with a regular bladder because the air volume you need to become neutral underwater is not subject to change by the affects of pressure."
...that would be the air volume in MY BCD.

Look, think of my adjustable air chamber as just an extra pair of lungs. The demand regulator (2nd stage reg, primary air source, or whatever you want to call it) allows them to expand and contract freely under water. If the air-way to the reg is always open as it is on my device, adjusting my air chamber is as easy as breathing AND not affected by depth. tr
 
Hmmm. Two days, that seems to have done it. I think I've made my case.

By the way, Andrew Toti, who designed the original Mae West flotation vest, passed away this week at the age of 89.

http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/11256967.htm

Getting back to my original post, I'm still looking for contacts in the manufacturing business. I'm at the stage where I have to file the world-wide patents but would prefer to talk to an interested manufacturer first rather than waiting two years. If you know somebody I'd appreciate it if you would point them to this thread or PM me.

The benefits of my system are:

- simple operation - slide the handle up and you go up - slide the handle down and you go down.

- buoyancy remains the same as you ascend or descend - no runaway buoyancy problems.

- the integrated version has the safety of redundancy - if a shark bites into the air chamber just switch to the bladder.

- tourist divers that want to enjoy the dive without holding an inflator in their hand the whole time will love it.

- dive instructors will have less headaches if their students use it.

Thanks for your replies and PMs so far. I now know how to describe my system much better than last week. tr
 
trash:
Hey Terry, I bet you drive a standard (a.k.a. Model T) transmission. Automatics are for whimps, right? :wink:
..snip..

Just taking the standard/automatic transmission analogy for a moment.
If a newbie learns to dive on a BC based on your idea, would he (she) then be qualified to dive a conventional BC?

Would the agencies have to introduce a new c-card, "automatic only"? :eyebrow:
 
let me play devil's advocate....

If I read your thing correctly then you've invented a device to create a depth compensating counter-lung effect for open circuit divers.

The problem you have to overcome is that is appears to be a complex solution to a problem that doesn't exist and that the existing problem has already been solved by a much simpler device. The manufacturers can see this and so can most divers.

If there are any divers who would be interested in buying something like this then they are (a) the type of people who want to throw gear at a training issue (b) lack the buoyancy control skills necessary to use a standard bcd (c) can be fooled into believing that this contraption offers them a solution worth paying a premium for.

On the manufacturers' side I think the engineering, testing and fabrication costs required to make this work would be considerable and they would be looking at sales figures dramatically worse than the HUB (another solution looking for a problem). Most manufacturers have already, I would think, learned their lesson from the HUB and I can't see you selling this to any of the estabilshed players.

So that leaves you with a solution looking for a problem and nobody willing to invest in it.

This probably isn't the feedback you were looking for but I think it's something that someone should step up and say to you. I don't think you have a business case for bringing this to market. So before looking for investors you should try to prove that there is a business case.

R..
 
I would miss having my bladder just about disapear when I deflate it...we make use of that. I don't know how big the tank is but I really have enough tanks to carry already.

One nice thing about a wing is that it wraps around the tank or tanks and that's often where our weight is. That help us keep our "center of gravity" and "center of buoyancy" in the same place in the interest of trim. I'm not sure where you would carry this tank but that's where your buoyancy would be...or did I miss something? That might not be so bad for a near neutral diver in warm water using small tanks and little equipment but in cold water using boyanct suits and carrying lots of breathing gas I think it would be a problem.

I didn't look real close but it looks like your breathing would still effect buoyancy so would your system require adjustment when breathing changes due to changing conditions?

I guess I don't see what problem it solves but several that it might create. I could be wrong and they once thought the world was flat too but you need to build one and dive with it under different conditions.

And yes, for the record, I dislike automatic transmissions, antilock brakes and most of all I absolutely hate front weel drive (unless of course you're steering with the back weels). LOL Still I cruise right on past the ditches full of cars when we have snow and ice.
 
miketsp:
Just taking the standard/automatic transmission analogy for a moment.
If a newbie learns to dive on a BC based on your idea, would he (she) then be qualified to dive a conventional BC?

Would the agencies have to introduce a new c-card, "automatic only"? :eyebrow:
I'll leave that one to the diving associations.

I did my open water back in 86 and they gave me a BCD and drysuit for it. After that I got a wetsuit, 12 pounds of weight, used tank with j-valve (what's that?) regs but no depth/pressure gauges. I dived that way for a couple years, just like they did in the sixties and seventies. My dive buddies provided the depth gauge and by keeping my breathing under three breaths per minute I never ran out first. I had to duck dive to get down to the 30 foot mark where I was almost neutral. A little kicking and lung volume was all that was required, but you do that automatically.

My point is that divers need to be taught and understand buoyancy. Current BCDs and drysuits complicate the practice while offering their own benefits. My system simplifies the practice of buoyancy.

By the way, if I have to shift gears I want to get paid for it! tr
 
miketsp:
Just taking the standard/automatic transmission analogy for a moment.
If a newbie learns to dive on a BC based on your idea, would he (she) then be qualified to dive a conventional BC?

Would the agencies have to introduce a new c-card, "automatic only"? :eyebrow:

It seems to me that it would more likely be a specialty cert, like DPV or drysuit diving, since it would take a while after being brought to market before it could be used as a "standard" way of diving that could be used from the start in OW classes.

If the idea does get to market, and eventually proves so popular that it becomes a new standard in dive equipment, then it might be used in OW classes, and maybe our current bcds will be a specialty diving item.

I don't know whether or not the device under discussion is or isn't marketable, but I'm sure that there were a lot of skeptics when the bcd was originally introduced, too. That is often the nature of technological progress.
 
Diver0001:
let me play devil's advocate....

If I read your thing correctly then you've invented a device to create a depth compensating counter-lung effect for open circuit divers.
...
... this is not correct. Please read the description at:

http://www.mnav.netfirms.com/abcdmin.htm#1

it's long and detailed and is an excerpt from my patent app.. This thread is getting long and reading quickly over the previous posts will not give you a proper understanding of what I am talking about.

Half of it is a simple BCD that is made of hard parts rather than soft parts but is certainly no bigger. The other half is a simple method to keep the air between the skin and the drysuit constant. tr
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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