US Divers Catalog Page J&K Valves?

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I'm looking for a vendor that has J valves or rebuild kits. Amron doesn't have complete kits. They are my go to source but I'm not waiting 180 days
 
@Ed Gamboa

You might find what you need at:
Store | Vintage Double Hose
or
Ask here:

Also see this thread:
 
I still have a functional J-valve on an old Aqua-Lung 52, in my horde of tanks, whose original manufacture was 1959 — a bit before my time . . .
 

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I'm looking for a vendor that has J valves or rebuild kits. Amron doesn't have complete kits. They are my go to source but I'm not waiting 180 days
Most of the old J-valves can be cleaned and used as-is. They were solidly built (exception the AMF Voit J-valve, see my post about this one earlier), and easily cleaned up to function correctly. The J-valve, overall, doesn't need a "rebuild kit."

SeaRat
 
@John C. Ratliff
@Akimbo
@Scuba Lawyer
@Mike Lev
@Alex P

@Ken Kurtis (a little history)
@Ayisha


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What would we do without Fred Roberts books?
You and others often refer to his works as your absolute bible

A bit of history about Fred... (an interesting fellow -- one of a kind )

He was a born and educated in Minneapolis
Fred became interested in diving as a young college student

He some how became associated with Max Gene Nohl (google ?)
Under Gene's supervision Fred made a 300 + foot dive in a tank in early 1950s
( see SDM article)

Moved to SoCal in 1960s after college- across the street from me

We began diving together

We were members of the LA Underwater Photographic Society (UPS)
Had to drive to John Anson Ford Park in LA for meetings
We ( Fred, Merker, Gibbs and me) formed "O Cups -- Orange County UW Photographic Society" -- met in US Divers conference room.

Fred writes
Basic SCUBA, (first edition) ( I have -- Inscribed)
Revised and enlarged Second addition ( I have -- Inscribed)
Soft cover Third edition

Fred purchases professional printing machine- installed in his garage
Publishes
A divers Photographic Log Book ( I have)
A series of Marine life in a sleeve (I have)

The Underwater Photographer Magazine
Published several years--It was not well received - Too early in the market place
(I have two complete sets-- Very Rare $$$-For sale -- Interested?)

Employed by F W Voit (or was it W F Voit ? ) in Santa Ana
( The fun begins....) Diving, experimenting & producing unique equipment
* The fiber glass contour pack--
* The concentric twin tanks manifold
* The modular valve-- K or J
* The cable activated reserve aka whip reserve
All were huge failures-- very few remain

But he did
* Create a comfortable hand for Voit twin tanks
* Conducted the first valid test on wet suit compression.
A previous thread on the wet suit test


"Some years ago there was a very large active worldwide company called "Voit" Willard Voit the founder and owner wanted his company that held his name to be number one diving company and only sell the very best products

One was to produce the very best wet suit

I was a consultant /advisor to Voit and Fred Roberts (the author of Basic SCUBA) was the chief and only engineer. It was Fred who created a very crude but never equaled test for wet suits. He collected samples of all known wet suit manufactures of that era and attached them in a row to a piece of wood/aka test board

On a sunny SoCal day we ventured to Catalina Island to a secluded cove called Italian gardens where the ocean drops off very fast ,

We attached the test board to a weight belt with 100 feet of line. We jumped over the side with a micrometer and measured and recorded the thickness at 25, 50 75 and 100 feet. We surfaced and as Fred recorded the data I repeatedly dropped the test board over the side and retrieved it after 25 times. Then over the side measuring the thickness at 25, 50 75 and 100 feet.

Then surface and repeated dropping and retrieving the test board 3 more times until 100 submersions and retrievals to 100 feet had been completed.

The test revealed that some of the wet material began deteriorating to due compression after just a few submersions, after 100 submersions several suits were almost useless as effective thermal protection.

So it can be concluded that usage (repeated submersions ) and possibly age that probably most wet suits even in todays market deteriorate after ageing and repeated usage.

And that about all I have to say about west suits..."


Fred and Voit went their separate ways
Fred obtained a engineering position in an aerospace company and moved to a distant city-- Voit was acquired by AMF and soon disappeared.

I saw Fred only once after departed Voit. It was a pleasant enough conversation and he was not pleased with Voit and the diving world. In later telephone conversations it was very apparent he was totally finished with diving and now just as involved in flying as he had once been in diving.

Our last conversation over a year or more was very disturbing, His beloved wife Mary was bed ridden and it was evident that Fred was suffering from "dementia precoc" (s). A normal conversation with this brilliant person was impossible.

I have attempted to contact his son Dr.Dar Roberts, a college professor but with no response
(I recall when Dar was born -also when he was of of diapers-
He was named Dar in honor of Freds mother Dorothy A Roberts (= Dar ) who passed away shortly before Dar was born )

And as Forest Gump stated "Thats about all I can say about that"

Read it or ignore it

SDM

















\
 
Sam,

Thank you much for those bits of information on Fred Roberts, things not many people know about. My Basic Scuba book is in bad shape, with the spine of the cover coming off, and the book starting to come apart. That's what happens to a book that is used a lot, and I mean a lot. I think all of us appreciate knowing the story of Fred Roberts.

SeaRat
 
@John C. Ratliff

John
This was the basic FMR -- there is a lot more to the story
Perhaps in the future over a cool one in the dark of the night -- The rest of the story.

Fred was indeed One of a kind and certainly thought-out side of the box

So many memories...

SDM
 
I found them. My notes say these are pages 6-7 of the 1953 catalog, but I can't prove it.
 

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https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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