Basic gear from mid-twentieth-century Italy: Cressi

[David Wilson]

Today's topic is the Cressi range of snorkel-masks. Masks with built-in snorkels tend to polarise opinion. Many people think they were initially devised as a toy for children, who then risked their lives by ignoring safety advice about using them for surface observation only. This doesn't stand up to scrutiny, however, if we take the trouble to delve a little into their history. The most prolific early manufacturers of snorkel-masks operated in Spain, France and Italy on the coast of the Mediterranean sea, where their end-users engaged in spearfishing for recreation or profit. Extended periods spent floating face down on the surface watching for game meant inhaling and exhaling through a breathing tube whose mouthpiece would have strained the jaw, ached the teeth and inflamed the gums when held in the mouth during those lengthy sessions. A snorkel-mask enabling the spearfisher to shut his mouth and breathe normally through the nose must have been something of a godsend to many. So it was that a number of early 1950s underwater hunting books contained illustrations of experienced spearfishers wearing snorkel-masks, e.g.:

The above from Cornel Lumière (1956) Beneath the seven seas. London: Hutchinson.

Bearing these circumstances in mind, it will come as less of surprise when I say that the 1947 Cressi catalogue featured no fewer than five images of snorkel-masks, while standalone snorkels were conspicuous by their absence:

And let's remember that the Cressi brothers were practising spearfishers, so they manufactured only what they deemed to be absolutely necessary for their own, and their clients', underwater hunting expeditions off the Genoese coast while enduring economic austerity and privations in the aftermath of World War II.

The first illustration at the top of the catalogue page shows the snorkel-less Cressi Sirena mask, which we reviewed earlier in this thread. We'll focus instead here on the quintet of late-1940s Cressi snorkel-masks. Take a moment to note the common features. Observe the long sidepieces and short headstraps, the breathing tubes with their cork-float operated valves at the top and their sockets at the bottom enabling access to the interior of the mask. And let us not forget that the designers of these perhaps quaint-looking devices really had no blueprint to go on other than their own imaginations and spearfishing experiences.

 

[David Wilson]

Now for a closer look at each of the Cressi snorkel masks in the 1947 range. First up the Medusa, named after the ancient mythological monster Medusa (above) with serpent locks. The Cressi Medusa Types A, B and C (below) came with a built-in snorkel that may have suggested a passing resemblance to one of the snakes projecting from the original Medusa's head:

The Medusa snorkel-mask came in Small (Type A), Medium or Normal (Type B) and Large (Type C) sizes. Presumably, potential buyers would try each version on before deciding which one best fitted their facial profile, providing a watertight seal. This model was supplied with a single breathing tube emerging from a socket on the left-hand side of the mask and terminating with a shut-off valve comprising a hinged lever with a cork float at one end and a metal cap at the other to open and close the air inlet automatically when surfacing and submerging.

 

[David Wilson]

Cressi's 1953 catalogue offered the single-snorkel Medusa in Small and Medium sizes but not in Large:

Original Italian caption: "Il più semplice ed economico dei nostri occhiali muniti con detto sistema di respirazione, è il tipo Medusa (Fig. 8), esistente in due misure, piccola e media."
Rough translation: "The simplest and cheapest of our goggles fitted with this breathing system is the Medusa model (Fig. 8), which is supplied in two fittings: Small and Medium."

The "breathing system" was illustrated as follows in the same catalogue. For the sake of brevity, this time I'll just supply an English rendering of the original Italian:

We were the first to introduce the use of goggles with integrated breathing tubes for nose breathing (Figure 6):

Fig. 6. Valve for nose-breathing enabled goggles and masks

This system has been adopted on many of our goggles. It is characterised by a rigid tube protruding upwards, on one side of the goggles, and fitted with a special valve that closes due to the effect of a cork float when submerged (Fig. 7).

Fig. 7. Operation of the nose-breathing valve.
Above: Conducting observations and searches on the surface (valve open). Below: Submersion (valve closed).

This principle has been badly copied by others with limited practical success because of leakage or excessive bulkiness. Supply of our goggles fitted with this simple, lightweight, unbulky breathing system dates back to 1939. Since then both the goggles proper and the valve have been constantly improved and perfected, as demonstrated by the annual innovations. This can be seen from the latest refinement made in 1953. Instead of being straight, the air intake of the valve tube has a downward curve. This precludes the possibility of spray or surf ingress into the tube and from there into the mask. Although the closure system operates in a different way when submerged, it remains as practical and as safe as it was on the previous model.

The preceding text confirms that Cressi's original design can be traced back to the late 1930s and that it has been under continuous development since then. The latest changes concern the snorkel tube, which now comes with an inverted U-bend at the top to reduce water ingress through surface spray. The hinged cork float now directly shuts off the air inlet during submersion.

We'll explore the further evolution of this single-snorkel Medusa mask in a few days' time. Stay tuned and keep safe!

 

[David Wilson]

Thanks, guys! Your support is much appreciated.

We've reached 1953 in the history of the basic single-snorkel Cressi Medusa mask. Here it is in the 1955 catalogue:

A rough translation of the caption: "MEDUSA. A small, soft, lightweight mask with extended sides and an excellent grip. It is the cheapest of all the masks with built-in breathing tubes. For general use. One size only: B (Medium)."

So the range of sizes reduced further in 1955 from two, A (Small) and B (Medium), to one: B (Medium). The 1959 catalogue maintained this status quo:

As did the 1966 version:

And then this mask faded out of production and into oblivion.

 

[David Wilson]

Let's return for a moment to the 1947 Cressi mask page:

We'll focus today on this entry:

Like the Cressi Medusa typed A, B and C, the Medusa type D was supplied with a socket on its left-hand side where a single snorkel ("con respiratore unico") emerged, topped with a cork-operated hinged shut-off valve. The Medusa D differed from its A, B and C counterparts in featuring a chin-piece ("con sottomento"). The Italian word "sottomento", often rendered into English as "double chin", combines the preposition "sotto" (=under) with the noun "mento" (= chin), so here we have "(whatever goes) under the chin", implicitly indicating that this model covered the mouth as well as the eyes and the nose. The term "full-face diving mask" had not yet been coined in the late 1940s.

So far as I can ascertain, production of the Medusa D ceased before the the 1950s came around. I'll conclude here, returning at the weekend, quarantine permitting. In the meantime, keep safe!

 

[David Wilson]

Thanks, Sam and АлександрД!

We now come to the Cressi Medusa Gigante double-snorkel masks on the now familiar 1947 catalogue page above. "Gigante" is Italian for "Giant". Type A came without a chinpiece ("senza sottomento") and retailed at 1800 lire:

Pay attention to the long, tall, tapering sides of the mask and the short strap securing them to the nape of the neck. Also the detailed view of the valves with their round cork floats on one end of the hinged lever and the disc seals on the over end ready to shut off the orifices at the top of the tubes when they drop below the surface. It's not that difficult to identify the Cressi provenance of any snorkel-mask in the company's 1947 range.

 

[David Wilson]

Notwithstanding its high volume, the Cressi Medusa Gigante A was a half-mask designed to enclose the eyes and the nose only. The matching model featuring a chinpiece ("con sottomento"), and hence full-face coverage including the mouth, was the Cressi Medusa Gigante B, priced at 2000 lire:

And below right is a 1946 publicity image of a female model wearing the Medusa Gigante Type B full-face snorkel-mask. The photograph illustrates how the mask fitted tightly under the chin and how it extended far back over the sides of the head, partially covering the ears as it did so:

Incidentally, the male model above left is wearing an early version of a Cressi "autorespiratore" (self-contained breathing apparatus) with a full-face mask attached. Here are the technical details from 1949:

This time I will not be translating the captions accompanying the images as this kind of full-face mask constitutes more advanced gear than the basic equipment reviewed in these historical threads. If you are really interested in what the page says, then this is how:
1. Right-click the JPG image above and save a copy on your computer.
2. Follow this link to an Optical Character Reader website: Free Online OCR - Convert JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP, TIFF, PDF, DjVu to Text
3. Select the Browse button, then find and upload the image file from your computer to the website.
4. Select the Preview button, use the area selection tool to define the portion of image text you want converted to real text and reset the language option box to "Italian" from the default (English).
5. Select the OCR button and the converted text will appear below.
6. Select and copy (ctrl-C) the converted text to your computer's clipboard.
7. Load any text processor on your computer (e.g. Word or Notepad) and paste in (ctrl-V) the copied text.
8. Repeat the steps above until you have all the text you want or need in your text processor.
9. Proofread the text for errors (there are bound to be a few). This process will be easier if you are using Word and have the free Italian proofing tools installed.
10. Copy (ctrl-c) the proofread text into Google Translate at https://translate.google.co.uk/
11. Google will attempt to detect the language automatically, but if it can't, set the left-hand box to "Italian" and the right-hand box to "English".
12. The English translation will be neither polished nor precise, but it may be adequate for your purposes. This is what I do when I find text in a foreign language I don't know within an image online and want to have it extracted and translated. The process may seem laborious, but it yields results.

That's my contribution for today. When I return in a few days' time, I will review the built-in snorkel version of the Cressi Sommozzatore mask. In the meantime, stay safe. Perhaps my OCR strategy will prove to be of some help in enabling those long hours of home confinement to pass more swiftly and purposefully.

 

[Angelo Farina]

That's my contribution for today. When I return in a few days' time, I will review the built-in snorkel version of the Cressi Sommozzatore mask. In the meantime, stay safe. Perhaps my OCR strategy will prove to be of some help in enabling those long hours of home confinement to pass more swiftly and purposefully.

And what contribution !!!! Great! the page on the ARO rebreathers is a true rarity, and I have never seen the top-right one, model 49, featuring a loop circuit and double CO2 filters...
The left one, instead, later evolved in model 57B, which is the one which provided the first mass production of Scuba system in Italy, in the sixties and seventies...
The one in the bottom is not a SCUBA, it is a system to be used together with air supply form the surface, and usable down to 60m. There is no CO2 scrubber, and no regulator... Never seen also this.
Later I will translate the Italian text, as this page really deserves it.

 

[Angelo Farina]

Here the translation:

 

[David Wilson]

Thanks, Angelo, for taking the trouble to translate that page into English, retaining the original layout as you did so! And thanks as always, Sam and АлександрД, for your likes.

Today's post is about the Cressi Sommozzatore (="Diver") mask, pictured at the bottom of the 1947 catalogue page above. The model was available in a medium fitting in two versions. While Type A came without an integrated breathing tube and has been discussed earlier in this thread, Type B featured one built-in snorkel emerging from its left-hand side and is today's subject:

The page tells us that the Sommozzatore was a patented ("brevettato") design and the illustration certainly resembles a patent drawing, but my efforts to identify the exact patent in question have proved fruitless so far.

Note the long, tall, tapering sides of the mask and the short strap securing them to the nape of the neck. Also the detailed view of the valve with its round cork float on one end of the hinged lever and the disc seal on the other end ready to shut off the orifice at the top of the tube when it drops below the surface of the water. It's relatively easy to identify the Cressi provenance of any snorkel-mask in the company's 1947 range.