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

[JMBL]

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.

I can vouch for the etymology of Bistrot, it's the one commonly accepted, and it gave : bistrotier (land lord), bistroquet (bistrot + troquet : a small place to drink and grab a bite to eat). All are slang and a bit old fashioned, but still very much in use. UK would lost without pubs, France would be lost without bistrots

I really do like your posts here David : educational and fun !

 

[David Wilson]

Thanks to all for the positive feedback!

Moving on to more 1970-only Mares diving masks, we have the Rapallo. Rapallo is also the name of the a municipality in the Metropolitan City of Genoa, located in the Liguria region of northern Italy, where Mares was headquartered. Here is the Rapallo mask:

So a traditional oval snorkelling mask with a stainless-steel rim. The treatment of the feathered-edge rubber skirt with silicone may be hint of future trends in mask construction.

Today's second Mares mask in the Sea King:

So a model aimed at the high-end of the market, with a price tag to match. The target customer was the deep-water scuba diver and the construction reflected the enhancements of the time, such as a slanted lens, a wide field of vision, the familiar "liner" underlying the stainless-steel rim for watertightness and a large "nasal" purge at the front.

You can, or at least could until recently, still obtain old-school rubber-skirted purge-valve masks like these on eBay, made in and imported from China, where they were sometimes known as "豬閥式潛水鏡 ", meaning "pig valve diving goggles". I can only presume that the descriptor "pig" ("豬" in Chinese) here refers to a resemblance between the mask's large purge valve and a pig's snout:

I have one just like it in my collection and it fits my face perfectly, thanks to its featheredged skirt, unlike many modern masks I have tried!

 

[David Wilson]

I'll move on now to Mares diving masks that made their début in 1974. Here is the Tetys, born that year:

1975

1976

Italian: "TETYS. A vetro unico, ha un campo visivo veramente eccezionale e un ridotto volume interno."
English: "TETYS. Single lens. Exceptional field of vision. Reduced inside volume."
German: "TETYS. Mit durchgehendem Glas, einem wirklich hervorragenden Blickfeld und einem sehr geringen Innenvolumen."
French: "TETYS. A verre unique. Champ de vision vraiment exceptionnel. Volume interne extrêmement réduit."
Spanish: "TETYS. De vidrio único. Excepcional campo visual y reducido volumen interno."

The quinquelingual product description focuses on the wide field of vision and the low internal volume. The 1970s diving catalogues of Lillywhites of London described this mask as "kidney-shaped".

And finally, here is the Tetys mask in a mid-1970s catalogue:

It's Number 3 on the upper picture at the rightmost end of the back row.

That will suffice for today and I'll return at the weekend with the Mares Trinidad mask that also seems to have débuted in 1974. In the meantime, stay safe!

 

[АлександрД]

Tetys (name of the mask) - it is Tethys Ocean - Wikipedia, right?

 

[Angelo Farina]

I think that Tetys refers to Greek mythology:
Tethys (mythology) - Wikipedia

 

[David Wilson]

Oops, I forgot to look up the origin of the name "Tetys". Thanks, АлександрД. The "Tethys Ocean" may be one explanation of the origin of the name, considering that the Mediterranean is one of the successor seas to the Tethys ocean. I'm inclined to side with Angelo here, however, when it comes to the derivation "Tethys", who was a sea-goddess in Greek mythology.

 

[ginti]

Apparently the ocean was named after the Titan, so in a way, the name refers to both:
Tethys (mythology) - Wikipedia

@David Wilson could you explain the purpose of the nasal purge? I do not get it... Thanks

 

[David Wilson]

Apparently the ocean was named after the Titan, so in a way, the name refers to both:
Tethys (mythology) - Wikipedia

@David Wilson could you explain the purpose of the nasal purge? I do not get it... Thanks

It's a bulkier version of a drain valve, which expelled residual water lying in the bottom of the mask when the wearer exhales through the nose. Here is what the valve looks like from the inside:

A blast of air through the nose is supposed to drive unwanted water past the rubber diaphragm visible beyond the nipple at the centre of the small circle within the triangular valve housing.

 

[ginti]

It's a bulkier version of a drain valve, which expelled residual water lying in the bottom of the mask when the wearer exhales through the nose. Here is what the valve looks like from the inside:

A blast of air through the nose is supposed to drive unwanted water past the rubber diaphragm visible beyond the nipple at the centre of the small circle within the triangular valve housing.

I didn't know anything like this ever existed... Since you have one, do you believe it is a nice feature? Any pros/cons with respect to masks without this purge? Also... is it still available in the market? If no, why?

I know they are a lot of questions, sorry for this... but you guys here know a lot of stuff, it's a very good occasion for me to learn a lot! I hope you have some answers

 

[David Wilson]

I find a purge valve an interesting mask feature, but as a lifelong snorkeller and never a scuba diver, I don't regard it as a necessity. It depends how irritating it is for the wearer to have a smidgen of water underneath his nose. A downside of the valve is that it must be kept clear of sand or silt that might affect the valve's ability to exclude water from the outside and to expel water from the inside. Grains of sand may get in the way of the one-way diaphragm, leading to leakage, so the valve must be kept clean at all times for hygienic reasons too. Manufacturers often leave their purge valves sealed so that the mask wearer has the option to use it by unsealing it or to dispense with it, leaving the seal intact. It's really down to the mask user's personal preferences.