Article: Karl Huggins' Journey to the Edge (the development of the world’s first commercially successful electronic dive computer)

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I owned one of these computers when they first came out. We were all astonished and very excited about it there on Grand Cayman. Many of us had been owners of the Scubapro "Bend-O-Matic" and were eager to have something that worked.

The first time I took the Edge deep it cracked me up...the screen went blank and the letters "TILT" were displayed.

Now I dive my Shearwater Predator and think of the incredible leaps and bounds we have made in this technology.
 
Ah yes, narcosis :)
I do not remember coding a "TILT" display.
The message screen that came on if you went beyond the 160 fsw limit of the transducer was: DEPTH RANGE HAS BEEN EXCEEDED
We designed message screens on graph paper and then coded which pixels were to be turned on and which were to be switched off.
I had originally coded a skull and crossbones display, but that got vetoed... :skull:

I owned one of these computers when they first came out. We were all astonished and very excited about it there on Grand Cayman. Many of us had been owners of the Scubapro "Bend-O-Matic" and were eager to have something that worked.

The first time I took the Edge deep it cracked me up...the screen went blank and the letters "TILT" were displayed.

Now I dive my Shearwater Predator and think of the incredible leaps and bounds we have made in this technology.
 
I just returned from a week diving in the Caribbean and I took my orca from the early 90’s and put it in my pocket to see how it compared to my Cochran. I checked it after each dive and was amazed to see how close it tracked even after the 20th dive with well over 20 hours of bottom time. Max depth during the week was 138fsl and average for the week was 58fsl. At the end of the dive week the time to fly on the ORCA was 22hrs and the time to fly on the Cochran was 20 hrs. They both cleared within 15 or 20 min of each other.
 
Mia and I took our new Edges on a New Zealand live aboard trip to Tonga in 1985. At first the kiwi divers looked askance at our computers. But when they saw how much more bottom time they gave us, they all wanted to buddy up with us.
 
Yes, I remember that transition period when we switched from tables to the Edge. It was amazing to see how much more bottom time we got. Today, everyone takes it for granted, especially new divers who have never used tables.
 
Ah yes, narcosis :)
I do not remember coding a "TILT" display.
The message screen that came on if you went beyond the 160 fsw limit of the transducer was: DEPTH RANGE HAS BEEN EXCEEDED
We designed message screens on graph paper and then coded which pixels were to be turned on and which were to be switched off.
I had originally coded a skull and crossbones display, but that got vetoed... :skull:

I took an EDAM course at the chamber on Catalina. Karl was there, and was a great instructor.

Even though he wasn't able to get the skull & crossbones into the Edge, my copy of his "Hugi" tables (1993) has a skull & crossbones on them. I didn't realize that it was a theme with Karl.
 
and Karl also helped when we put the Edge in our simulator :wink:


orca_edge.jpg


Alberto (aka eDiver)
 

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