DIN valve history

[Ed Palma]

Okay, I'm stumped.

A couple of years back, I acquired an old Scubapro 15L steel tank. It was fitted with a J valve and had the numbers 02 | 63 on it - which I took to be the manufacturing date

It only dawned on me too that it was a DIN valve:

So my questions are:

1. How long has DIN been around (a google search, wikipedia search, and SB search didn't turn up much)

2. Am I correct in assuming that this is a 1963 J-valve?

Thanks.

 

[WD8CDH]

I think Poseidon was using it in 1958 or 1959. By the way, it was origionally what we now call "200 bar" DIN but was regularly used at 4500psi and even higher. The "300 bar" DIN version came out much later, probably late '70s.

 

[Luis H]

I have DIN valves from the 50’s, but they don’t look anything like that. The design of that valve looks like a newer style, but I don’t know for sure.

Actually it was not called DIN back then and it was for the most part only used in some European countries (Germany, Sweden, etc).

It was refered to as the 5/8 threaded connection.


Here is a picture of a reserve valve similar to the one that came on my 1957 Drager tanks:

Here is a reserve DIN valve with an attached SPG

You can see the reserve lever on this one. The DIN opening is pointing away in the picture.

Here are a couple of Poseidon catalog pages from the early 70’s, but I believe most of the same items were available in the 60’s.

Notice that the so called DIN fitting was always called the 5/8” threaded fitting.

Here the DIN valves I have and the twin tank manifold.

 

[Wayward Son]

man, I had no idea they'd been around that long.

 

[Luis H]

Yes, I have been diving DIN valves long before they were available in the US. It is a good connection, but for most diving, now a day, I prefer the convenience long term durability of a yoke fitting.

In the long run the threads on a DIN fitting tend to get a lot of wear and they get rough to thread in. Salt water and any contaminants such as sand tend to accelerate the wear on the threads.



I recently serviced and hydro my old Poseidon tanks serviced and it was great diving them. I used a DIN Phoenix Royal Aqua Master with them.

In the old days the only regulator available in the US with a DIN connection was the Poseidon Cyklon 300. That used to be one of my favorite single hose regulators, but I would have also liked to use one of my Scubapro Mk-5. I have a carbon copy of a letter I sent to Scubapro in 1977 asking if they had a DIN (5/8” threaded) fitting for the Scubapro. The response let me to believe that they didn’t have a clue of what I was talking a bout.

Here are a couple of picture of my recent dive with the Poseidon tanks.
More pictures are in this thread:
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/vi.../307506-poseidon-doubles-din-phoenix-ram.html

This tanks are from the early 60's.

There are a lot of hassles servicing these tanks due to the small tapered thread valve, but when it is all done… they are IMHO the coolest set of tanks I have ever used. :cool2:

The lever in the manifold is for the reserve. It is down since I don’t use it.

Here you can see the DIN Phoenix RAM. Next time I will lower the tanks a bit more so that the regulator is perfectly on my back, at shoulder blade level, for best breathing performance. This is the best position for breathing performance.

 

[Luis H]

Okay, I'm stumped.

A couple of years back, I acquired an old Scubapro 15L steel tank. It was fitted with a J valve and had the numbers 02 | 63 on it - which I took to be the manufacturing date

It only dawned on me too that it was a DIN valve:

So my questions are:

1. How long has DIN been around (a google search, wikipedia search, and SB search didn't turn up much)

2. Am I correct in assuming that this is a 1963 J-valve?

Thanks.

The use of a side valve handle like that was first introduced by Sam Lecock (sp?) at Sportways. I am not sure when the first side handle valves showed up in Europe, but 1963 seems a bit early… but this is just a guess. All the early valves (yoke or 5/8” threaded connection/ DIN) were basically a post with the handle on the top.

 

[rjack321]

wow cool history. I knew Poseidon was one of the first, but didn't realize how long ago it was.

 

[Ed Palma]

Thank you Luis, great history lesson and great photos!

 

[Paintballpsyco2369]

Awesome thread, and great history. A few months ago I found a U.S. Diver's Co. Din J-valve I wanted to get for my 1960 USDC tank. Missed getting my bid in by about 5 minutes lol. I would still like to find one one day. Keep with the originality of the tank, yet modernize it so I can use it with my regs lol. Anyways, thanks for the great post.

Paint