Basic gear from mid-twentieth-century Italy: Mares and Pirelli

[David Wilson]

Fourth and penultimate snorkel of the day is the Mares Elton Milano:

4. S-500 MILANO. One-piece moulded elbow insures quick clearing. Comes with orange reflector top. Individually boxed. $1.75.

This snorkel is named after the city of Milan, Milano in Italian, which is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city in Italy after Rome. The "Milano" is like the Mares "Tubo C":

Italian: "Art. 1122 - C. Con boccaglio curvo. I modelli 1122 e 1198 D vengono forniti, a richiesta, con tubo flessibile."
Rough translation: "Art. 1122 - C. With curved mouthpiece. Models 1122 and 1198 D are supplied, on request, with flexible barrel."

This rubber-elbow J-shaped snorkel design remained in production at Mares from 1959 to 1976.

 

[АлександрД]

View attachment 618177 View attachment 618173
Good question. They aren't ears. They are air-filled rubber compensation bulbs, there to force air into the mask interior when they are flattened by water pressure at depth. Here is Raymond Pulvénis's explanation from his book La Chasse Aux Poissons (Fish Hunting). My translation from the French):

To counterbalance the effects of pressure increasing during descents into the depths — pressure liable to push in the glass by ungluing the caulking— on the internal wall of the frame, thin copper rods are welded in with one end resting against the glass. A hollow rod on one of the surfaces of the frame additionally secures a rubber bulb of a computed size, enabling the lumen of the bulb to connect to the interior of the goggles. This means the bulb is the only compressible part of the outfit when diving. The bulb more or less collapses, increasing pressure inside the goggles by injecting air. This “compensating device” plays a very important role. Actually, the great pressure of the depths makes itself felt on the mask, which presses hard in turn on the face. On the other hand, there is a difference in pressure on the integuments outside and inside the goggles. The eyeballs in particular feel the pressure very acutely, leading to blurred vision, congestion, turgidity of the corneal vessels. The upshot of all this is real pain, which intensifies as we descend; when we reach a depth of approximately seven metres, the pain becomes unbearable. The compensating device — made out of one, or better still, two bulbs — creates enough of a balance, however, to avoid these disorders. Diving then turns into a real pleasure.

Raymond Pulvénis, who was a qualified medical practitioner, may have been inspired by the rectal bulb of an enema device when he designed his own diving mask compensator bulbs:
View attachment 618176

However, the idea of attaching air-filled rubber bulbs to diving eyewear can be traced back to the Japanese tourists who used goggles fitted with such compensator devices to hunt fish in the Mediterranean during the 1930s. This from Guy Gilpatric's groundbreaking book The Compleat Goggler first published in 1934:
View attachment 618174
View attachment 618175

Hope this helps!

Just as extra information....

P.S. first notice about using rubber balloons was published by Guy Guilpatric in his book "Complete googler" for his separated googles to compensate pressure (see bottom right pic)
View attachment 503827
Such type of googles was popular for Ama divers

Spoiler: 18+ only

View attachment 503829

But later Alexander Kramarenko got this idea, when patented his Single glass googles: US2182104A - Underwater goggles - Google Patents
View attachment 503831
View attachment 503832
(but he named here not Alex but George)
from the book
View attachment 503833

P.P.S I`m confused, why mask above (covered nose, from David`s pictures) require balloons?? Ballons was invited just for googles, not for masks!

- balloons was invented and used just for googles (without "nose"), and useless for half-masks (with "nose"), because you have not ability to compensate pressuer under googles, but easy can do it under half-mask.

 

[David Wilson]

Fifth and final snorkel of the day is the Mares Elton Monaco:

5. S-400 MONACO. Recreational snorkel ideal for youth. Rubber moulded elbow with large white plastic breathing tube. Packages in plastic bag. $1.50.

The "Monaco" appears to be a junior version of the rubber-elbow J-shaped "Tubo C", probably named after the principality of Monaco, which is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera in Western Europe. I say "probably" because "Monaco di Baviera" is Italian for Munich (in the German state of Bavaria) while "Monte Monaco" is the name of a mountain on the Italian island of Sicily.

That's my contribution for today. During the weekend I'll move on to Mares masks with built-in snorkels, starting with the Mares Mia and Paraggi snorkel-masks. Stay safe and stay well!

 

[David Wilson]

Thanks again, everyone!

As promised, we move on now to Mares snorkel-masks. A reminder first that early European snorkel-masks were not designed to serve as beach toys for the very young. The underlying rationale was that combining vision and breathing into a single device might be of use to underwater hunters, who required both hands to hold their guns or their prey and therefore had no convenient means of snorkel mouthpiece insertion or removal. We'll begin with the Mia Mares (Italian for "My Mares") snorkel-mask.

1959

1963

Italian: "Art. 1114 - MIA MARES. Con respiratore. Buon campo visivo. Facciale di media grandezza per ragazzi. Vetro rotondo."
Rough translation: "Art. 1114 - MIA MARES. With snorkel. Good field of vision. Medium-sized faceplate for youngsters. Round lens."

So this item is designed for youngsters with a medium size to match their facial dimensions. One of the linguistic problems I have identified when researching Italian snorkel-masks is the word "facciale", literally "facial" and applied as a noun to such masks. There is a temptation to render "facciale" as "full-face", which implies that such "faceplates" always cover the mouth as well as the eyes and the nose. In fact, many mid-twentieth-century snorkel-mask models left the user's mouth uncovered with the added option of breathing through the nose if desired. Sometimes the bottom of the snorkel-mask skirt was extended on the inside to fit under the chin for full-face use with eye, nose and mouth coverage, but not invariably. I cannot therefore say for certain whether the Mia Mares snorkel-mask, or indeed any Mares snorkel-mask, was a half- or full-face mask. The product descriptions leave us none the wiser.

On a final note, pay attention to the position of the single snorkel on Mares snorkel-masks, which is on the user's right in this case. The majority of single-snorkel masks have the tube on the left. Note too the hinged float valve atop the barrel to shut off the supply end when the wearer submerges. Mares appears to have discontinued production of the Mia Mares youth snorkel-mask in the early 1960s.

 

[David Wilson]

Second snorkel-mask of the day is the Mares Paraggi. The Italian plural noun "Paraggi" normally signifies "neighbourhoods, environs" but can also be used as a nautical term meaning "coastal waters", which seems particularly applicable here:

Early 1950s

Italian: "Maschera Paraggi. Vetro ovale o tondo bloccato da ghiera. Carcassa in gomma rigida verde. Snorkel con speciale valvola a tamburo. Misura unica media."
Rough translation: "Paraggi Mask. Oval or round glass lens retained by band. Hard green rubber body. Snorkel with special rotating valve. Medium size only.

1959

1963

Italian: "Art. 1115 — PARAGGI. Con respiratore. Grande campo visivo sia per l’osservazione che per la caccia subacquea. Facciale per adulti. Vetro rotondo. Può essere fornita anche con cerchietto in Moplen e lente quadrangolare."
Rough translation: "Art. 1115 — PARAGGI. With snorkel. Great visibility not only for observation but also for underwater fishing. Mask for adults. Round glass. May also be supplied with Moplen rim and quadrangular lens."

So while the "Mia Mares" snorkel-mask appealed to adventurous youth, the Mares Paraggi targeted the adult market with the more professional look of a stainless-steel lens-retaining band for surface observation or underwater hunting. Variants came with oval or rectangular lenses or with plastic rims for the budget-minded. Note the change over time from a right-handed snorkel to one on the left.

1969

Italian: "Articolo 1102 Paraggi. Facciale per adulti. Grande campo visivo per l’osservazione e la caccia subacquea. Vetro rotondo. A richiesta, viene anche fornita con cerchietto in moplen e lente quadrangolare."
English: "Item 1102 Paraggi. Mask for adults. Maximum visibility for observation and underwater fishing. Round glass. May be supplied upon request with moplen rim and quadrangular lens."
French: "Article 1102 Paraggi. Prévu pour adultes, glace ronde, large champ de vision pour l’observation et la chasse sous-marine. Sur demande bande en Moplen et glace quadrangulaire."

So the now trilingual product description remains the same except for the stock number, which has changed from 1115 to 1102. Note the translator's use of "mask" to render "facciale", thus side-stepping the query how much face coverage this model offers.

1974

As it passed into the 1970s, the Mares Paraggi became the "Nuova Paraggi", the "New Paraggi" like other Mares of the time. Note the plastic rim replacing the stainless-steel band of the 1960s. The Nuova Paraggi appears to have ceased production before 1975 came around.

That's my 2 cents' worth for today. Midweek should bring one or two Mares snorkel-masks for review. We'll have a close look then at the Mares San Remo snorkel-mask. I recently acquired one of my own, increasing my collection of old-school snorkel-masks to 22 models. Stay safe, stay well.

 

[Angelo Farina]

Paraggi is the name of a very nice location near Genoa...
It is the bay next to Portofino's bay.
Paraggi - Wikipedia

 

[David Wilson]

Paraggi is the name of a very nice location near Genoa...
It is the bay next to Portofino's bay.
Paraggi - Wikipedia

Thanks, Angelo! That makes much more sense, considering the manufacturer's tendency to use Genoese toponyms when naming their early products. I don't know how I missed that sense of "Paraggi" during my online research.

 

[Popgun Pete]

The mask equipped snorkels with swing or cage valves are not very suitable for diving down as the hydrodynamic drag affects the stability of the mask on your head. Snorkelling was originally a surface swimming activity and spearfishermen often took pot shots from the surface in shallow water and did not dive down that much (some early spearguns were built to float or exploited the fact that they were shot from the surface). When surface conditions are choppy or swells are rolling through this can swamp the top of the snorkel, hence the barrel length and the presence of valves. Experienced divers usually don't bother about this as they are used to blasting water out almost reflexively and feel the lift as water surges past, especially when not facing incoming waves and adjust their breathing intake accordingly. Many of the early snorkel masks are in a sense not dive masks, but surface swimming masks. Underwater vegetation can drag on valve equipped snorkel tubes if you swim through it at depth near the bottom, something that has less effect on a snorkel attached to the mask strap.

 

[David Wilson]

Thanks again, everybody, and here particularly to Pete with his spearfishing insights on early snorkel-mask use. I'm especially taken by Pete's use of the phrase "mask equipped snorkel" to denote a snorkel-mask, because it neatly matches Albert VanderKogel's classification of combined masks and snorkels as "mask snorkels" in his book Underwater Sport (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1955) to indicate a shift in emphasis from underwater vision with the mask to a nose breathing option with the snorkel:

For the record, he calls separate snorkels attached to the head or mask strap "pipe snorkels":

 

[David Wilson]

On to the next Mares snorkel-mask, which happens to be the "San Remo" or "Sanremo". I mentioned that I had one in my collection and Italian diving collector and historian Luigi Fabbri has kindly displayed it on his excellent Blu Times History website:

But "to begin at the beginning", the opening words of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas's "Play for Voices" Under Milk Wood, we must trace the San Remo back to 1959, where the following descriptionless image of the snorkel-mask first appears:

At this stage the model only comes with a stock number, namely 1116. Take a moment to review the twin snorkels emerging from the top of the mask, fitted with float-operated swing valves at the air supply end.

Here is the snorkel-mask in 1963:

Italian: "Art. 1116 — SAN REMO. Con doppio respiratore. Grande campo visivo per l’osservazione in superficie. Vetro rotondo. Può essere fornita anche con cerchietto in Moplen e lente quadrangolare.
Rough translation: "Art. 1116 — SAN REMO. With double snorkel. Wide vision for observation on the surface. Round glass. May also be supplied with Moplen rim and quadrangular lens."

The snorkel-mask now has a name: San Remo, which is also the name of a Mares Elton snorkel:

This snorkel and today's snorkel mask are both named after the city of Sanremo or San Remo on the Mediterranean coast of Liguria, in northwestern Italy.

Have you noticed another difference between the 1959 and 1963 versions of the snorkel-mask yet? No? Then let's proceed to the San Remo snorkel-mask in 1964:

German: "SAN REMO (ital.). Doppelschnorchelmaske, runde Sichtscheibe aus Kunststoff, mit Sprengrahmen, breites, verstellbares Nackenband. Best.-Nr. 164. DM 13,85."
Rough translation: "SAN REMO (Italian). Double snorkel mask, round plastic lens, with snap-on rim, wide, adjustable headstrap. Order No. 164. DM 13.85."

The above from the 1964 catalogue of West Germany's main recreational underwater swimming equipment supplier Barakuda, which imported many products from other European countries. Now compare the illustration with the 1959 and 1963 versions of the model and decide which of the two the 1964 version most closely resembles, focusing on the snorkel barrels.

Yes, we seem to be alternating between straight and curved barrels when it comes to the development of the San Remo. Here it is in Barakuda's 1967 catalogue:

German: "SAN REMO (ital.), blau. Doppelschnorchelmaske, runde Sichtscheibe aus Kunststoff, mit Sprengrahmen, breites, verstellbares Nackenband. Best.-Nr. 187. DM 15.85."
Rough translation: "SAN REMO (Italian), blue. Double snorkel mask, round plastic lens, with snap-on rim, wide, adjustable headstrap. Order No. 164. DM 15.85."

No change other than a price rise. In 1969, however, back at Mares headquarters in Italy, we have the following:

Italian: "Articolo 1103 San Remo. Doppio respiratore, grande campo visivo per l’osservazione in superficie. Vetro rotondo. A richiesta, viene anche fornita con cerchietto in moplen e lente quadrangolare."
English: "Item 1103 San Remo. Double snorkel, wide vision for observation on the surface. Round glass. May also be supplied upon request with moplen rim and quadrangular lens."
French: "Article 1103 San Remo. Muni de deux respirateurs. Large champ de vision pour l’observation en surface. Glace ronde. Sur demande, en Moplen et glace quadrangulaire."

Note how the snorkel barrels are standing to attention again and that the snorkel-mask is now reserved for use in surface observation. The San Remo appears to have ceased production before the 1970s.

And here is the San Remo again in a Hungarian historical diving equipment collection:

The Hungarian caption reads "Két légzőcsövek felszerelt „búvárszemüveg”" and translates to "Two snorkels fitted with 'diving goggles'" Another example of a snorkel-mask being described as a mask equipped snorkel.

We'll leave it there for today. At the weekend we'll move onto the Mares Sestri snorkel-mask. Stay safe and well in the meantime.