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

[David Wilson]

Thanks Jale, Sam, АлександрД. I'd forgotten about the close resemblance between the Vedo and the Звезда.

First the Mares Ventosa diving mask, which I omitted from my review of models marketed in the late 1960s and beyond. Here is the Ventosa (= "suction cup" in Italian) in 1969:

Italian: "Articolo 1121 Maschera Ventosa. Studiata nella forma e nella composizione della gomma per una perfetta aderenza, in modo da annullare quasi totalmente il volume interno. Queste caratteristiche la rendono ideale per le profonde immersioni in apnea."
English: "Item 1121 Ventosa. Close-to-face design and constructed of a special rubber compound to fit the face perfectly, thus eliminating the air volume in the mask. These characteristics make this mask the finest for deep diving without a breathing apparatus."
French: "Article 1121 Ventosa. Sa forme et la qualité du caoutchouc employé assurent une parfaite adhérence qui réduit au minimum le volume d'air. Le masque parfait pour les plongées libres."

So the name is a nod in the direction of the mask's chief selling points, its "close-to-face design" and low volume. The mask also comes with twin lenses, like the Vedo. Here is the mask in 1970, when it was available on the US market:

M-955 VENTOSA. The "Free Dive” mask. Designed to eliminate all but the smallest amount of air volume between face and mask. Specially contoured rubber assures the most perfect and comlortable facial fit. Frame of ABS STYROL with
tempered lens for safety and nasal equalizer. Truly the “Mask of the Future". $9.95.

The caption also refers to facial fit and low volume while suggesting that this twin-lens design was a sign of things to come in diving mask development.

 

[David Wilson]

Here's the Ventosa in 1974:

in 1975:

and in 1976:

Italian: "VENTOSA SCARPATI. È la maschera ideale per l'apnea. Fa parte della Linea Scarpati."
English: "VENTOSA SCARPATI. Ideal for skin diving. Belongs to the Scarpati line."
German: "VENTOSA SCARPATI. Die ideale Brille für Schnorcheltaucher; gehört zur Scarpati - Serie."
French: "VENTOSA SCARPATI. Idéal pour la plongée en apnée. Appartient à la ligne Scarpati."
Spanish: "VENTOSA SCARPATI. Ideal para la apnea. Pertenece a la linea 'Scarpati'”.

And finally, here is an image from a mid-1970s catalogue:

The Ventosa is No. 4 on the upper picture, leftmost on the front row.

So the target user of this mask with its low internal volume was the freediver or the snorkeller rather than the scuba diver.

I'll leave matters there for today, postponing my review of the short-lived Rapallo and Sea King masks for mid-week. I(n the meantime, stay safe!

 

[ginti]

It seems to me that the original circular masks did NOT allow ear-clearing. As far as I understand, they were intended for fishing, so maybe people didn't go too deep and didn't need to equalize. Am I right?

Also, maybe a bit off-topic (sorry) but I was wondering... what is the advantage of the modern shapes in comparison with the original circular/oval shapes? Maybe are they just easier to empty when full of water?

 

[Angelo Farina]

It was possible to equalize with the oval masks in two ways:
1) pressing the soft rubber of the lower part so that it did actually close the nostrils
2) using the equalizing method known as BTV: this is what people of my age did learn when child, I had a blue Pirelli oval mask at the age of 6, in 1964: no one did teach me how to equalize, so I discovered BTV myself, and used that method for all my life...
"modern" masks, such as the Pinocchio, had two big advantages:
1) a proper nose making it easy to close the nostrils for equalizing the ears
2) a smaller internal volume
The second was not aimed to evacuating water from the mask (a technique which became widespread only in the seventies, and only for scuba divers - I did learn it only at the age of 16, when following my first diving course), but for requiring less air for equalizing the pressure inside the mask, while free diving.

 

[АлександрД]

btw..

Here is the Ventosa (= "suction cup" in Italian)

- Russian Вантуз (Vantooz) has simmilar sound with Ventossa
but Vantooz is not suction cup, but force cup this name going from fr. ventouse Ventouse (déboucheur) — Wikipédia

It could be easy reworked to mask for Cyclopes

 

[David Wilson]

btw.. - Russian Вантуз (Vantooz) has simmilar sound with Ventossa
but Vantooz is not suction cup, but force cup this name going from fr. ventouse Ventouse (déboucheur) — Wikipédia
View attachment 608449
It could be easy reworked to mask for Cyclopes

Wonderful, АлександрД! We call that a "plunger" here in the UK and it really comes in useful with sinks and toilets that have become blocked. Probably the plumber's first tool of choice, not least because "plumber" and "plunger" are related in origin. The verb "plunge" is related to French "plonger" (=to dive), which goes back to Late Latin "plumbicare", meaning "to throw a leaded line" (into waters), which in turn comes from Latin "plumbum", meaning "lead". The chemical symbol for lead is "Pb", short for "plumbum." An additional fun language fact is that the French word "plongeur" (=diver) also means "dishwasher" in the sense of a person whose job it is to wash dishes in a restaurant kitchen.

France and Russia may be quite far apart geographically speaking, but there have been connections between the two countries down the centuries, creating language links in the process. At one point the royal court of Russia used French as its official language, while French itself has the word "bistro(t)", meaning a small restaurant, serving moderately priced simple meals in a modest setting with alcohol. A popular folk etymology of the word claims that it originated among Russian troops who occupied Paris following the Napoleonic Wars (from быстро, "quickly"), which was allegedly shouted by Russian officers or Cossacks who wanted to be served quickly.

 

[ginti]

btw.. - Russian Вантуз (Vantooz) has simmilar sound with Ventossa
but Vantooz is not suction cup, but force cup this name going from fr. ventouse Ventouse (déboucheur) — Wikipédia
View attachment 608449
It could be easy reworked to mask for Cyclopes

Ventosa and ventouse probably share the same origin (which is very common with Italian and French words). I would name the last part of the "ventouse" using the word "ventosa" in Italian (yes, I am Italian... but my culture about languages is not very good)

 

[jale]

Wonderful, АлександрД! We call that a "plunger" here in the UK and it really comes in useful with sinks and toilets that have become blocked. Probably the plumber's first tool of choice, not least because "plumber" and "plunger" are related in origin. The verb "plunge" is related to French "plonger" (=to dive), which goes back to Late Latin "plumbicare", meaning "to throw a leaded line" (into waters), which in turn comes from Latin "plumbum", meaning "lead". The chemical symbol for lead is "Pb", short for "plumbum." An additional fun language fact is that the French word "plongeur" (=diver) also means "dishwasher" in the sense of a person whose job it is to wash dishes in a restaurant kitchen.

France and Russia may be quite far apart geographically speaking, but there have been connections between the two countries down the centuries, creating language links in the process. At one point the royal court of Russia used French as its official language, while French itself has the word "bistro(t)", meaning a small restaurant, serving moderately priced simple meals in a modest setting with alcohol. A popular folk etymology of the word claims that it originated among Russian troops who occupied Paris following the Napoleonic Wars (from быстро, "quickly"), which was allegedly shouted by Russian officers or Cossacks who wanted to be served quickly.

Thanks a lot for all these explanations. Really good.
Not many non native people know about the second meaning of "plongeur".
The interesting thing is that for the first meaning, the related verb is "plonger" and for the second is "faire la plonge" (always with a definite as generic function).
David, I really enjoy these threads and these multilingual references. Thanks

 

[Angelo Farina]

The origin of the word "ventosa" comes from "vento" (wind). Probably because it is an air-tight device...
"una giornata ventosa" means a windy day...

 

[Sam Miller III]

@David Wilson
This thread and all the posts are very educational to me.
I must confess I cant recall ever seeing the majority of the Italian masks in the local shop or on divers at the beach or on a boat. However, they must have been displayed in American dive Catalogs and I just missed them

Me and my tribe had a love relationship with the Swimaster Wide view . It was designed by a local and manufactured locally by a number of companies until it became too prohibitive to produce.

This thread is a regular united nations of dive equipment
You an Englishman
A Russian
An Italian
And me an American
It would be nice if we could all meet under the limbs of a big tree and discuss all these items... but the SCUBA Board will need to suffice for now

All of you keep up the good work-- it is appreciated
Sam Miller, III
Miller,III