Basic gear from mid-twentieth-century France

[West Indiaman]

Third in the line of Sommap compensator diving masks is the Visiomer.

Sommap Visiomer diving mask
View attachment 523806 Description:
Retro style mask with a stainless-steel frame and a large single oval window offering great visibility.

• Type: Single-lens rectangular mask with compensator.
• Material: Black rubber skirt and headstrap; tempered safety-glass lens; stainless-steel frame.
• Accreditation: Conforms to EU Directive 89/686/EEC — Personal Protective Equipment.

That's it for today. I'll be back to review Sommap's retro purge masks in a few days' time.

Thank you David, this thread has been a gold mine of information.

Here are a couple of more pictures of the Visiomer:

Also, I'd appreciate if someone could tell me whether Sommap's Alcyon takes aftermarket spring straps intended for the Jet Fin.

 

[Popgun Pete]

I bought these "NA'JET" fins at the same store as I purchased my open heel Jetfins which followed on from my original closed heel pair. It was in the early seventies from memory. I spied them on a nearby top shelf while trying the Jetfins on for size over a brand new pair of hard sole dive boots and asked the shop assistant "what on earth are those"? He did not know, but said that they were trying to get rid of them and they were being sold for a nominal price. I thought well I may as well buy them as I would never see another pair. They were about 7 dollars, or 14 dollars, I cannot remember exactly and are molded in some soft black thermoplastic. Fins back then were virtually always rubber, although there were polypropylene bladed fins such as the Technisub "Caravelle". An interesting feature is the name on the sole is back to front so that you stamp an impression in the sand which anyone following your tracks can read in the damp sand. Made in France and are marked as being a patented design!

As it turned out they were totally useless to swim with and I tried all the different swim strokes, but to no avail, then I put on my new boots and Jetfins and churned through the water in a tryout swim in Moonee Creek estuary which is near Coffs Harbour. I never bothered to try the "NA'JET" fins again, but kept them as a curiosity.

Below I have reversed the image.

 

[АлександрД]

Wow! It is replica of antique fins!!! Umbrella style fins for dog-style swimming
First notice was published in 1690 by Giovanni Alfonso Borelli - Wikipedia

 

[Akimbo]

@Popgun Pete

Yikes, those Na'Jets look more like a show show experiment than a failed swim fin. It's hard to believe that anyone would invest in tooling to make them.

 

[David Wilson]

What does the small print on the soles say, Pete? Anything to identify the manufacturer or the patent? I'm guessing that the name Na'jet is intended to be a pun on the French verb to swim, "nager". Although the apparent object of the design is to enable the wearer to walk on land and to swim in water, the shape reminds me a little of Positive Drive training fins that are supposed to support every swimming stroke, including the breast stroke:

 

[Popgun Pete]

Unfortunately the small print is no help except to say that the fin is made in France and is a “modele deposes” and patented in France and internationally, all written in French of course. I searched through the patents trying to find it and have only found something close to it as it must be a seventies patent. French patents do not usually cite previous patents as often that is a way to find associated patents that have been taken into consideration for making the new application. I will find it sooner or later, however the patent may not have been granted and the inscription may have been more hopeful than realistic. Not many may have been produced as I only once saw a query about them some years ago which indicates another pair had been found.

The name is definitely a play on the verb nager, which means to swim, and the pronunciation of jet.

 

[dmaziuk]

the shape reminds me a little of Positive Drive training fins that are supposed to support every swimming stroke, including the breast stroke

Except that PDs apparently work whereas those things... I can't see them working for breaststroke: propulsion comes from a "propeller blade" motion of the foot, that's what breaststroke fins look like: https://speedo-usa.scene7.com/is/im...&resMode=trilin&op_usm=0.8,1.0,6,0&iccEmbed=0
Breaststroke fins don't do anything for other kicks, and neither would these na'jets of course.

 

[Popgun Pete]

The closest that I have come to finding the patent is these two French patents which would straddle the "NA' JET" patent as the later one cites the earlier one, being 1987 and 1968 respectively. The multi-lobed fin is the 1987 patent, if you could call it a fin. It should be remembered that inventions don’t need to work to receive a granting of a patent, only have a semblance of doing so.

 

[Popgun Pete]

Finally found them after reading through many patents!

 

[Popgun Pete]

Looks like when using them I failed to "bend ze knees" sufficiently as snow ski instructors are always shouting! Maybe they were too early for anyone to be thinking of pumping their way through underwater cave systems with them.