Basic gear from mid-twentieth-century Spain: Nemrod

[David Wilson]

A Happy New Year to all, thanks to Iowwall and Luis for the likes and to JMBL for the post.

We start today with the Nemrod Tarzán snorkel-mask, named after Edgar Rice Burroughs' fictional archetypal feral child Tarzan raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes, later experiencing civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer. The Tarzán snorkel-mask in the 1950s:

Spanish: "Mod. 2032. — Gafa m. TARZÁN, con montura de goma y cristal ovalado. Respirador lateral, con boya".
Rough translation: "Mod. 2032. — TARZÁN Goggle with rubber frame and oval glass. Lateral breathing tube with float (valve)".

1955

Spanish: "PS/2032. Lentes Asteria modelo Tarzán con tubo respirador de boya".
Rough translation: "PS/2032. Tarzán Asteria model face-plate with float valve snorkel".

1961

Spanish: "PS/2032. — TARZÁN. — Gran máscara con montura de goma que cubre cara y orejas. Con cristal panorámico, provista de aro metálico de seguridad. Lleva acoplado tubo respirador con boya. Especial para adultos y muy indicada para turismo submarino".
Rough translation: "PS/2032. — TARZÁN. — Large mask with a rubber mount that covers the face and ears. With panoramic glass, equipped with a metal safety ring. It has attached a snorkel with a buoy. Special for adults and very suitable for underwater tourism".

1964

Identical caption. So a large snorkel-mask offering a wide field of vision. Featured a single breathing tube topped with a float valve to shut off the air supply when submerged. Note the change of float valve from a hinged cork float to a more engineered design. Reinforcing band around the lens and a harness to retain the mask on the head.

Further imagery:

 

[David Wilson]

On to the Nemrod Haiti snorkel-mask, named after the country (above) located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of The Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands. The snorkel-mask of that name in the 1950s:

Spanish: "Mod. 2069. — Lentes ASTERIA modelo HAITI, con aro metálico de seguridad, respirador acoplado y sistema de doble boya, de respiración simultánea por nariz y boca".
Rough translation: "Model 2069. — ASTERIA HAITI model diving mask, fitted with metal security band, attached breathing tube and double valve system, designed for simultaneous nose and mouth breathing".

1955

Spanish: "PS-2069. Lentes Asteria modelo Haití. Sistema de aspiración y respiración simultánea por nariz y boca. Boya con doble válvula que impide penetre agua en su interior".
Rough translation: "PS-2069. — Asteria diving mask: Haiti model. System comes with drainage facility and the wherewithal to breathe simultaneously through the nose and the mouth. Double valve devices prevent water ingress. Double valve devices prevent water ingress".

1956

Spanish: "Lentes HAITI 493 Pts. Boya doble válvula. Aspiración respiración simultánea nariz y boca.
Rough translation: "HAITI diving mask: Double valve device. Drainage facility and the wherewithal to breathe simultaneously through nose and mouth".

1957

Spanish: "LENTES HAITI. Modelo modernisimo con respirador acoplado. Ptas. 493'-".
Rough translation: "HAITI DIVING MASK. State-of-the-art model with breathing tube attached. 493 pesetas".

1961

Spanish: "PS/2069. — HAITI. — Con aro metálico de seguridad, respirador acoplado y sistema de doble boya, de respiración simultánea por nariz y boca".
Rough translation: "PS/2069. — HAITI. — Fitted with metal security band, attached snorkel and double valve system, for simultaneous breathing through the nose and mouth".

1964

Identical caption.

So a much more elaborate affair than the Tarzán, what with the corrugated hose around the front, the mouthpiece on the inside and the drain valve on the outside, the head harness supporting the single snorkel topped with a ball valve.

Further imagery:

 

[David Wilson]

Perhaps surprisingly, the Nemrod Haiti snorkel-mask was far from unique on the diving equipment market. Compare Duarry's patent of 1958:

The Lluch Marino:

And the United Service Agency Super Aquascope:

Midweek we shall return to look at the Nemrod Trivisional and Azores snorkel-masks. Keep safe, well and warm.

 

[JMBL]

Let me prefer the pulp hero to these dreadful contraptions !

Funny way to start 2023, though.

 

[lowwall]

What a bizarre contraption. It makes me think of creatures like the batfish or babirusa where you wonder what evolutionary missteps resulted in that final form.

Speaking of creatures...

 

[Popgun Pete]

I expect these extravagant devices were designed to sell to neophyte users who thought the more elaborate and consequently expensive equipment was then it would be a step up from what the average water user could buy. The excessive hydrodynamic drag, buoyancy, trapping of water in myriad locations, the susceptibility of corrugated hoses to cracking up and collapsing under increased pressure if descending and the labyrinthine length of the air flow path would have been unknown to them. In actual use I think these devices disappeared very quickly once people realised what works and what does not. Keep it simple stupid applies for the majority of successful diving equipment.

A modern equivalent of these “over-engineered” gadgets is the snorkel full face masks with an electric fan to boost the deficient airflow, a rechargeable battery and switch located in the top of the snorkel.

 

[David Wilson]

Thanks for the posts, JMBL, Iowwall and Pete. Playing "devil's advocate" a little, the designers of these over-elaborate snorkel-masks may have been working on the principle that there had to be separate hoses for inhalation and exhalation and that the option of nose-breathing should be available. Such notions were voiced in the patents taken out to protect these designs.

And thanks for the likes, Angelo, Akimbo, Iowwall and JMBL.

 

[David Wilson]

On to the Nemrod Trivisional snorkel-mask. As can be concluded from the product name, this models came with three lenses in 1961:

Spanish: "PS/2095. — TRIVISIONAL. — Con respirador acoplado y sistema de doble boya. De grandísimo ángulo visual por ir provista de dos cristales complementarios acoplados. Lleva membrana expulsadora de agua".
Rough translation: "PS / 2095. — TRIVISIONAL. — With built-in snorkel and double float (valve) system. Great visual angle having been provided with two coupled complementary lenses. It has a water expelling membrane.

1964

Same caption.

So a snorkel-mask with three windows permitting a side view as well as a front view for the user. The attached breathing tube enters the mask top centre preceded by a short hose, a more rigid barrel and the dual float shut-off valve itself at the air supply end. The latter remains unexplained in the caption, but probably replicated the workings of the British Typhoon Automatic Assembly patented during the 1950s and illustrated below:

Note the the two contiguous balls within the valve on the left designed to ensure that the valve operates correctly in all positions and not just when the user is upright.

Further Nemrod Trivisional imagery:

 

[David Wilson]

Second snorkel-mask today is the Nemrod Azores. The Azores (above), officially the Autonomous Region of the Azores (Região Autónoma dos Açores), is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (along with Madeira). It is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atlantic Ocean, about 1,400 km (870 mi) west of Lisbon, about 1,500 km (930 mi) northwest of Morocco, and about 1,930 km (1,200 mi) southeast of Newfoundland, Canada. The snorkel-mask of that name in 1961:

Spanish: "P5/2094. — AZORES. — Con aro metálico de seguridad, respirador acoplado y sistema de doble boya. De gran ángulo visual lateral. Provista de membrana expulsadora de agua".
Rough translation: "P5/2094. — AZORES. — With metal security band, attached respirator and double buoy system. Wide lateral visual angle. Equipped with water-expelling membrane".

1964

Same caption.

This model came with all the features of the Nemrod Trivisional snorkel-mask except for the side windows. Neither mask appears to have survived in production after 1964.

Further Nemrod Azores imagery:

At the weekend we shall proceed to the Nemrod Creta and Samoa snorkel-masks. Keep warm, safe and well.

 

[David Wilson]

Thanks for the likes, Angelo, JMBL and Luis.

Let's start today with the Nemrod Creta snorkel-mask, named after the Spanish word for Crete (above). Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and Corsica. The Nemrod Creta snorkel-mask in 1961:

Spanish: "PS/2146. — CRETA. — Totalmente facial cubriendo incluso la barbilla, con válvula expulsora, provista de respirador con boya y aro metálico de seguridad. Respiración por la nariz y aspiración por la boca".
Rough translation: "PS/2146. — CRETA. — Full face coverage including the chin, with expelling valve, equipped with a float snorkel and a metal security rim. Breathing through the nose and aspiration through the mouth.

1968

1972

1973

Facebook's Nemrod Museum on the Nemrod Creta snorkel-mask: "One of the most peculiar Nemrod masks. Designed to cover nose and mouth and with a cross strap to hold the tube to the head. There are 4 known variants of this model". The four variants are illustrated above. The changes relate to the nature of the float valve topping the single snorkel tube. Note the chin-piece identifying the model as a full-face snorkel-mask enclosing the mouth as well as they eyes and the nose.