Cousteau-Gagnan in Montreal

[Belmont]

Here is an article I found going through family archives this morning.
It was published in the now defunct Montreal Star on the 27th of November 1954.
It is self explanatory and posted here for your general information.

The reason I have this little piece of Scuba history is because my father served a few times as dive buddy to Mr Gagnan when he ran tests on his invention.

One morning in May, in the rather chilly waters of the St-Laurence river in Montreal, I witnessed a free flow from the reg of Mr Gagnan and subsequently seeing my father helping him to the surface. I was very young at the time but I still remember the huge amount of bubbles breaking the surface of the water.

Good thing he was not diving alone.

 

[Luis H]

Thanks for sharing.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

This is pretty interesting to me, as this is the first time I had heard that Emile Gagnan actually did dive. There is no reference to him diving in any of the Cousteau books that I know of, or any other literature. And yet, I know he designed the regulators, even up to the AMF Voit 50 Fathom downstream single stage mechanism (I have a copy of Gagnan's patent on that one, and it had a reserve feature built into the regulator). Thank you for sharing this, as to many of us in is very interesting, and shows Mr. Gagnan's devotion to both the sport and the equipment design.

SeaRat

 

[fugu42]

Thanks for this. I had never before seen a photo of the man.

 

[Tom Winters]

I thought that Gagnon dived with Taillez, Dumas and Cousteau in The Silent World. Been a few lifetimes since I read it as a kid though. The regulator I learned to dive with and wound up acquiring last year has his name on the plate. I had it restored since it had sat unattended in a duffle bag for 30 years.

 

[Luis H]

I thought that Gagnon dived with Taillez, Dumas and Cousteau in The Silent World. Been a few lifetimes since I read it as a kid though. The regulator I learned to dive with and wound up acquiring last year has his name on the plate. I had it restored since it had sat unattended in a duffle bag for 30 years.

Hi Tom

Do you dive your Over Pressure Breathing in its original configuration (with the small hose within the hose) or did you have it converted with a Mistral nozzle.


Most of the regulators I dive have the Cousteau- Gagnan label.


Phil Nuytten wrote some great articles about Emile Gagnan in Historical Diver magazine that are worth while reading for anyone interested on the history of the Aqua Lung.

Contact Historical Diver Magazine and ask for these back issues. The info is priceless.
The history of the early Aqua-Lungs from development to the Royal start with

Volume 11, Issue 4 Number 37
Volume 13, Issue 1 Number 42, winter 2005
Of Historical Diver. You may be able to get back copies at HDS.com

 

[John C. Ratliff]

Tom,

I have an Overpressure Breathing DX regulator too, and have kept the "hose-within-a-hose" concept. I did change hoses, to much longer SCBA hoses. It breathes really well, and is very quiet. I do still have the original, much shorter, hoses too, and it has the metal mouthpiece, but with a new mouthpiece.

SeaRat