Basic gear from mid-twentieth-century Britain: Dunlop, Heinke, Siebe-Gorman etc

[David Wilson]

Thanks, Sam, and now on to the third trio of Namron diving masks, starting with the Pulcinella.

528 Pulcinella

This mask is named after a stock character in seventeenth-century Italian commedia dell'arte:

Pulcinella - Wikipedia

The Italian diving equipment company Tigullio had a "Pulcinella" mask in its repertoire around the same time:

The similarity between the Namron and the Tigullio masks in name and appearance suggests that they are one and the same, i.e. Namron simply imported their mask from Tigullio in Italy.

Namron's Pulcinella came in a second version complete with a purge valve, and here's Namron's young woman again modelling it.

530 Pulcinella with purge valve

and here's the Tigullio counterpart:

Once again, the Namron and the Tigullio masks seem to be identical.

 

[David Wilson]

The second Namron mask to be showcased today is the Pantom Fish Eye.

7320 Phantom Fish Eye

Although US Divers had a Pinocchio-style mask named "Fisheye" (one word) around this time, its design differed significantly:

Perhaps Namron's "Phantom Fish Eye" was indeed manufactured in-house, unless anybody else knows different?

 

[David Wilson]

The third and last member of the current trio is Namron's Super Cirano.

259 Super Cirano

The mask's name and appearance lead us to an inevitable comparison with Haffenden's B141 Super Cirano (below), reviewed in an earlier thread and described thus in a Britmarine catalogue: ""B141 Super Cirano Mask. Twin lenses in tempered glass. Double flange. Contoured compensator."

The product name pays homage to seventeenth-century French novelist Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac (below):

A fictionalised version of his life was celebrated in Edmond Rostand's famous play Cyrano de Bergerac, which helped to create and perpetuate the legend of the man blighted with an oversized nose but blessed with a honeyed tongue:

"Cirano" made an appropriate and probably more positive alternative name to "Pinocchio" when naming diving masks with prominent nosepieces during the 1970s.

That's it for now. In a few days' time I'll review the fourth and last trio of Namron's diving masks.

 

[David Wilson]

Thanks again, Sam and АлександрД, and on to the final trio of Namron diving masks. We'll begin today with the Griffo Optical.

538 Griffo Optical

So another kidney-shaped mask of the style popular during the 1970s with the option of adding prescription lenses to correct sight if desired. Low volume was becoming as much a priority back then as was double-seal comfort where the mask came into contact with the face and both are factored into this design.

 

[David Wilson]

The second of today's trio is the Namron Atlantide Rainbow.

537 Atlantide Rainbow

The name "Atlantide" recalls Tigullio's diving mask of that name:

The image above is from the "Attrezzature subacquee d'epoca" (Period Underwater Equipment) page of the excellent "Biblioteca di un apneista" website at atrezzature subacquee d'epoca, which contains numerous diving equipment manufacturers' and retailers' flyers from the 1960s, each helpfully tied to a particular year of that decade. Judge for yourself how similar Namron's Atlantide Rainbow is to Tigullio's Super Atlantide.

 

[David Wilson]

Thanks for the "like", АлександрД, and now on to the third diving mask of today's Namron trio, the Marino Super.

519 Marino Super

This mask seems to have been conceived with a nod to the past on the form of the stainless-steel top screw that adorned the majority of oval diving masks of yesteryear. The name "Marina Super" drew me to Jack McKenney's June 1973 Skin Diver Magazine mask roundup and more particularly the article's tabulation of early-1970s models below:

If you want the full text of McKenney's "Up to our snorkels in masks", a PDF is available at Up_to_our_snorkels_in_masks_SDM_June_1973.pdf. I purchased a copy of this SDM issue expressly to obtain a copy of the article because I admire the author's thorough command of his subject in general and the design of his mask classification system in particular.

If you look closely at the table reproduced above and in Shilling's The Underwater Handbook, you'll find the model names "Atlantide" and "Super Marina" under the company Seaquest, which I imagine was an American importer of Tigullio underwater products. Perhaps somebody more knowledgeable than myself can confirm or refute this hypothesis.

That's your lot for today. I'll be back with some information about Namron's half-dozen snorkel models in a while.

 

[David Wilson]

Thanks, АлександрД.

Just an update on a couple of Namron masks. Images of Tigullio's "Grifo" (Single "f") mask:

and here's Namron's "Griffo" (Double "F") mask for comparison:

Similarly, images of Tigullio's Arlecchino mask:

and here's Namron's "Archilino" mask for comparison:

So there may be more of a partnership between Namron and Tigullio than I had previously surmised. Odd, though, how Namron chose to alter the spelling of each mask's original Italian name slightly before marketing it under the Namron brand...

 

[David Wilson]

Let's proceed now to Namron breathing tubes. There were a half-dozen models, three of which will be reviewed today. First up is the Bora.

4914 Bora

Another big-bore snorkel reminiscent of the model of that name marketed around the same time by the Guernsey company Sous Marine:

Both snorkels feature an offset mouthpiece, a "wraparound" barrel and a wide internal diameter, whose perceived benefits were:
* The L-shape eliminates the usual depth of tubing below head level. The shallow draft reduces water drag - aids in expelling water - and reduces resistance to breathing.
* The wrap-around design fits contour of head and minimises water resistance.
* The wide bore facilitates air flow from the supply end above the waves to the demand end at the mouthpiece.

Both snorkels also closely resemble the "Model GST Wrap-around Big Barrel" snorkel manufactured in the USA by Dacor in the late 1960s:

 

[David Wilson]

Second breathing tube of the day is Namron's 155 snorkel.

This model appears to be a traditional "J" shaped breathing tube making little or no concessions to what was modernity back then. No wide bore, no extra curve in the barrel to fit the contour of the head, just a plastic tube with a U-bend at the demand end and finished with a short-neck mouthpiece with twin lugs to bite on. The sole concession to "progress" is the brightly coloured band around the top of the barrel, which became a safety requirement of German Standard DIN 7878 of February 1980, which specified the dimensions and other requirements for snorkels. Note the specification of the "Sicherheitsstreifen" (safety colour strip) in the diagram below from this Standard:

 

[David Wilson]

Today's third and last Namron snorkel is also anonymous except for a part number:

If Namron's "155" is a traditional "J" design, the firm's "151" is the corresponding traditional "L" design. The 151 is also reminiscent of the Sous Marine Tahiti, below:

The only difference between these two models lies in the design of the mouthpiece, which features a full rubber elbow in the case of the Sous Marine Tahiti.

As with the 155, the 151's sole concession to contemporary breathing tube design is the presence of the safety band around the upper opening in keeping with the DIN 7878 Standard on snorkels. Incidentally, there's a reference to DIN 7878 on the mouthpiece of the snorkel below:

DIN 7878B means that this snorkel manufactured by Salvas in Italy is designed for adults. The equivalent for children and young people is DIN 7878A.

Another trio of Namron snorkels to come. I'll be back in a few days' time.