This Profilux mask looks almost identical to the Swimaster mask from the original Swimaster company in California.
SeaRat
Basic gear from the Hungarian People's Republic
- Thread starter David Wilson
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SeaRat
OP
David Wilson
Contributor
Well, I'll be... I'm sure you're right, John. This from the 1962 Swimaster catalogue:
Here's the Profilux for comparative purposes:
Caption in the Taurus flyer: "2536 Profilux: Comes with drain valve and strap buckle adjustable at the back of the head." The two distinctive features of the Swimaster Wide View Mask. They do say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and there are many examples of design copying within diving equipment development, most notably the number of Cressi Rondine fin clones launched on the market over the years.
Thanks for pointing this out, John. It all goes to prove that equipment manufacturers in mid-twentieth-century Eastern Europe were more aware of product trends in the West than we realised at the time.
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I also noticed the mask is a exact copy of the Swimaster/Voit wide view mask
FYI
Brownie was very innovative; products were the Duck feet, Wide view mask, the Life guard CO2 inflatable float, and a one piece shorty foam exposure suit. The Swimaster products were unequaled and the choice of serious diver of that era, especially the Duck feet and the Wide View mask
He was too early in the market place and struggled to remain a viable company.
Late 1950s or very early 1960s he sold to Ken Norris who owned Pacific Molded Products who was better equipped to produce his molded products. Art Brown then disappeared into the dust of diving history
Ken hired Harry Vetter (LA Co UW instructor & NAUI Instructor) as Marketing and Product Development Manager At that time a number of very minor changes were made to the mask .
(http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/socal/256511-harry-vetter.html)
(#4http://www.internationallegendsofdiving.com/FeaturedLegends/Harry_Vetter_bio.htm) (http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/gr...-fyi-~~naui-50th-anniversary-celebration.html)
Ken entered into a license agreement with Willard Voit who had just moved from LA to Santa Ana, California, about a mile south of Warner Avenue where US divers had also relocated in August 1960.
The mask became know as the 'Swimaster Voit mask' or the 'Voit Swimaster mask'-- depending who you chatted with.
The rubber molding took place in Voit's facility but the hand finishing of the mask -- the application of the foam rubber was at the Newport Divers supply in Orange California, owned by Joe Lamonica, of JBL spear gun fame. At that time several other modification took place-- the skirt was redesigned and reduced in size for even greater visibility, a nose pad for ease of equalizing was added and a new compression skirt was added.
Its design weak spot was the mask attachment and a single two piece strap with adjustment in the back, Many modifications to the strap were designed and developed in SoCal garages - some were improvements, others disasters .My mask strap was always a work in progress.
The mask, because of its labor intensity to produce, became expensive and non competitive in the market place and was being phased out -- and it was !
The question is how did an exact copy of the Wide View mask migrate to a land locked country in Europe? .
I suspect we will never know..
Sam Miller, III
.
FYI
Swimaster was founded and owned by Arthur (Brownie or Bud) Brown.
Swimaster was originally located in Laguna canyon (a canyon leading into Laguna beach) until late 1950s then it moved to Huntington beach, California .
Brownie was very innovative; products were the Duck feet, Wide view mask, the Life guard CO2 inflatable float, and a one piece shorty foam exposure suit. The Swimaster products were unequaled and the choice of serious diver of that era, especially the Duck feet and the Wide View mask
He was too early in the market place and struggled to remain a viable company.
Late 1950s or very early 1960s he sold to Ken Norris who owned Pacific Molded Products who was better equipped to produce his molded products. Art Brown then disappeared into the dust of diving history
Ken hired Harry Vetter (LA Co UW instructor & NAUI Instructor) as Marketing and Product Development Manager At that time a number of very minor changes were made to the mask .
(http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/socal/256511-harry-vetter.html)
(#4http://www.internationallegendsofdiving.com/FeaturedLegends/Harry_Vetter_bio.htm) (http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/gr...-fyi-~~naui-50th-anniversary-celebration.html)
Ken entered into a license agreement with Willard Voit who had just moved from LA to Santa Ana, California, about a mile south of Warner Avenue where US divers had also relocated in August 1960.
The mask became know as the 'Swimaster Voit mask' or the 'Voit Swimaster mask'-- depending who you chatted with.
The rubber molding took place in Voit's facility but the hand finishing of the mask -- the application of the foam rubber was at the Newport Divers supply in Orange California, owned by Joe Lamonica, of JBL spear gun fame. At that time several other modification took place-- the skirt was redesigned and reduced in size for even greater visibility, a nose pad for ease of equalizing was added and a new compression skirt was added.
Its design weak spot was the mask attachment and a single two piece strap with adjustment in the back, Many modifications to the strap were designed and developed in SoCal garages - some were improvements, others disasters .My mask strap was always a work in progress.
The mask, because of its labor intensity to produce, became expensive and non competitive in the market place and was being phased out -- and it was !
The question is how did an exact copy of the Wide View mask migrate to a land locked country in Europe? .
I suspect we will never know..
Sam Miller, III
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Post script
Voit was acquired by AMF (American Machine and Foundry) remained in business for a short time before closing their doors.
Willard Voit passed away many years ago but his children and grandchildren are alive and well in Orange county California
Harry Vetter was a early LA County instructor and was a member of the staff of the first NAUI instructors course held in Houston Texas in August 1960 and has the distinction being the oldest and with NAUI Instructors # 4 has the lowest number of any NAUI instructor alive.
After service in the USAF during Korea I returned to Long Beach where I began instructing with Harry at the Long beach YMCA in preparation of becoming an LA Co UW instructor, NAUI, PADI etc etc..This has been a friendship that has remained intact for over 60 years
Harry moved to Oregon entered the Antique business. We remained in contact via visits, letters, e mails and telephone conversations, the last telephone conversation being about 3 months ago, since that time I have been unable to reach him, since he is 88 I some how suspect the worse.
Those of you who have access to Skin Diver magazine, check out the last page - you will see a young Harry holding up a lobster, caught during a meet of our club , the Southern California Skin Divers club meet-- Also on the same page is Charlie Sturgil who made some of us a Sturgil diving mask along with his young daughter Lora Lee who later married Bobbie Mistral of Body Glove.
Allover the magazine is Jack Waite who was our diving buddy until his untimely death 40 years ago
Recreational diving was indeed a small world during its geneses
SDM
Voit was acquired by AMF (American Machine and Foundry) remained in business for a short time before closing their doors.
Willard Voit passed away many years ago but his children and grandchildren are alive and well in Orange county California
Harry Vetter was a early LA County instructor and was a member of the staff of the first NAUI instructors course held in Houston Texas in August 1960 and has the distinction being the oldest and with NAUI Instructors # 4 has the lowest number of any NAUI instructor alive.
After service in the USAF during Korea I returned to Long Beach where I began instructing with Harry at the Long beach YMCA in preparation of becoming an LA Co UW instructor, NAUI, PADI etc etc..This has been a friendship that has remained intact for over 60 years
Harry moved to Oregon entered the Antique business. We remained in contact via visits, letters, e mails and telephone conversations, the last telephone conversation being about 3 months ago, since that time I have been unable to reach him, since he is 88 I some how suspect the worse.
Those of you who have access to Skin Diver magazine, check out the last page - you will see a young Harry holding up a lobster, caught during a meet of our club , the Southern California Skin Divers club meet-- Also on the same page is Charlie Sturgil who made some of us a Sturgil diving mask along with his young daughter Lora Lee who later married Bobbie Mistral of Body Glove.
Allover the magazine is Jack Waite who was our diving buddy until his untimely death 40 years ago
Recreational diving was indeed a small world during its geneses
SDM
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I have one of these Swimaster masks, and have rebuilt the skirt from wet suit material. It sort of fits, but I took it into the pool a few weeks ago. I had a great experience, as this was an easy mask to fit and also cleared very easily. It doesn't have as good a "wide view" as my current mask for free diving, but it is very good, and the ear clearing using the mask pad is also very good.
Dr. Miller, thank you for the history concerning this mask.
SeaRat
Dr. Miller, thank you for the history concerning this mask.
SeaRat
OP
David Wilson
Contributor
Thanks to John and Sam for their interesting and informative input.
On now to the second of the Hungarian People's Republic masks on the Taurus flyer (above), the model named "Modell", which is the German and Hungarian word for (what else?) "model".
Modell mask
The caption for this mask on the Taurus flyer reads: "Modell. Two sizes. Window fixed in metal frame. With nosepiece."
Like the "Taifun", the "Modell" mask originated in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), where it came in green and black versions sporting a top screw:
The distinctive feature of the "Modell" mask was its compensator bosses allowing the nostrils to be squeezed for ear-clearing purposes. This feature was found on many Soviet masks, such as the Glubinka, which is still on sale in Russia and Ukraine as an item of diving nostalgia:
Compensator bosses for diving masks were invented by Georges Beuchat, who ran a very successful diving equipment company in the French Mediterranean port city of Marseilles. Here are his patent drawings published in 1960:
We'll move on next to the "Kompensator" mask, which was also first introduced in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany).
On now to the second of the Hungarian People's Republic masks on the Taurus flyer (above), the model named "Modell", which is the German and Hungarian word for (what else?) "model".
Modell mask
The caption for this mask on the Taurus flyer reads: "Modell. Two sizes. Window fixed in metal frame. With nosepiece."
Like the "Taifun", the "Modell" mask originated in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), where it came in green and black versions sporting a top screw:
The distinctive feature of the "Modell" mask was its compensator bosses allowing the nostrils to be squeezed for ear-clearing purposes. This feature was found on many Soviet masks, such as the Glubinka, which is still on sale in Russia and Ukraine as an item of diving nostalgia:
Compensator bosses for diving masks were invented by Georges Beuchat, who ran a very successful diving equipment company in the French Mediterranean port city of Marseilles. Here are his patent drawings published in 1960:
We'll move on next to the "Kompensator" mask, which was also first introduced in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany).
dead dog
Contributor
Another site on the diving history of The Evolution of the Modern Diving Mask : The Evolution of the Modern Diving Mask
OP
David Wilson
Contributor
Thanks for the diving mask history site suggestion, dead dog. I first came across DaleC's site a few years ago when it was recommended to me on the Vintage Doublehose Forum. It's good to be reminded about this excellent contribution to the history of diving equipment.
Here are two rather scary photos of me in my Swimaster Wide View Mask in the pool yesterday.
I put a new skirt of neoprene on this mask, and it doesn't fit quite as well as the original, but it is very easy to clear the mask of water. Clearing my ears is okay at 15 feet in the pool, but not quite as easy as my oval mask with nose access, or my more modern masks.
SeaRat
I put a new skirt of neoprene on this mask, and it doesn't fit quite as well as the original, but it is very easy to clear the mask of water. Clearing my ears is okay at 15 feet in the pool, but not quite as easy as my oval mask with nose access, or my more modern masks.
SeaRat
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- Messages
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Those are two scary pictures -- sure happy it is not in the dark of the night with lighting flashes and thunder clapping...
There were several factory modifications over the years - but the mask APPEARED the same...
Yours appears to be a mid production model -- It has the elongated screws on the side and a clearing pad. Later models did not have the screws and the nose pad was installed when Joe began producing the mask for Voit
SDM
There were several factory modifications over the years - but the mask APPEARED the same...
Yours appears to be a mid production model -- It has the elongated screws on the side and a clearing pad. Later models did not have the screws and the nose pad was installed when Joe began producing the mask for Voit
SDM
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