Check this vintage ad out...

[captain]

I forget the name but it was an early attempt at a BC, as opposed to the horse collars used for emergency surface buoyancy.

I also can not remember the name. You could say it was the first attempt at a wing.

 

[jadairiii]

This was from the Diving History FB page posted by John Salsbury (dont know if he is on SB?) so thank him if so:

 

[Couv]

There was a backpack that operated similarly-Turtle, if memory serves correctly. Hollow backpack that was open at the bottom, but had an inflator mechanism to add air.

 

[jadairiii]

There was a backpack that operated similarly-Turtle, if memory serves correctly. Hollow backpack that was open at the bottom, but had an inflator mechanism to add air.

Dive shop where I was first certified had a Turtle. It was a weird contraption. Should have bought it, forget the price.

 

[Akimbo]

I never physically saw one of these but it looks like you have to stay vertical for it to function, so not a true BC. True?

Didn't ScubaPro come out with a hard-shell buoyancy pack in the mid-1970s?

 

[jadairiii]

I never physically saw one of these but it looks like you have to stay vertical for it to function, so not a true BC. True?

Didn't ScubaPro come out with a hard-shell buoyancy pack after in the mid-1970s?

sort of, like the atpac, it had a hard shell but a inner nylon bladder like any back bc. Dacor had the hard shell Nautilus that required 3 hands to operate

 

[Open Ocean Diver]

 

[Open Ocean Diver]

Anyone ever seen one of these regulators?

Mark VIll second stage or PVB

 

[AfterDark]

I had one of those it was great! Even after the self regulating BC control failed and I had to use it as a regular inflator it was still fun to dive. The CVS he was talking about was in the inflator he skipped over. It had a diaphragm that reacted to the ambient pressure by adding air as the diver descended and a purge valve on the right top side that vented air on ascend. Maintaining neutral buoyancy was done by the Nautilus not by the diver. The diver could of course at anytime operate the unit manually and over ride the unit. At the end of the dive the diver got out of water drained the water by opening the valve on the bottom left. Or if boat diving I'd vent the water with the inflator till it floated, take it off, complete the vent and leave it floating on end of a line.

A really well thought out and well built unit was ahead of it's time and something that some divers evidently need today!

The last I saw it was hanging on the wall in the classroom of the Giant Strides Dive Warwick RI. Red the owner decorates his store with vintage dive gear so I gave it to him for display.

I kept the 20lb lead bar I poured and used as "ballast" no weight belt, back mounted BCD.
I also have the manual for it. No pictures just text.

 

[Aaron Harmon]

Voyage to the bottom of the sea 1964
View attachment 650150

This ad makes me want to take up scuba diving!!!