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There seems to be more than a little confusion about the lineage of the Duck Feet...Perhaps the following will clarify
The original Duck Feet were designed and produced by Arthur "Bud" or "Brownie" Brown at two locations. First was in Laguna Beach and the second in Huntington Beach from the mid 1950s to early 1960s. The company was never financially secure
In 1959-60 Brownie sold to Ken Norris of Pacific Molded Products in Los Angeles who produced them for several years along with the Swimaster Wide View mask and a Jack Prodanovich designed gun.
Ken entered into a licensing agreement with W. J. Voit to market the Swimaster line as a upscale or professional line of Voit. At at that time Voit was located in Los Angeles, but a year or so later Voit built a new plant in Orange county on Harbor Blvd in about a mile south of US divers. About that time Ken sold all rights to Swimaster to W.J Voit.
Voit was a huge rubber producing company for the sporting goods industry, so once again an agreement was reached with US Divers; Voit would produce US Divers rubber goods and US Divers would supply their hard goods to Voit who would re brand as Voit. The Voit Swimaster mask and the Voit knives were produced by Newport divers manufacturing company in Orange California by Joe Lamonica who also designed the very successful spear gun for Voit, later Mares and most recently known as JBL
For a while after being acquired by Voit the Duck feet molds remained unchanged, but Voit was at that time a giant in in the sporting goods industry so the Voit engineers were put to work to redesign the foot pockets of the original fins to make them more comfortable and marketable to the ever increasing diving public. In 1968 or thereabouts the original molds were reused to produce the Original Duck feet, but it was too late and the reintroduction of the original Duck Feet was met with little or no acceptance
When Voit was sold to AMF in about 1960, the AMF logo appeared on the Voit & Voit Swimaster products.
There have been a lot of fins designed and manufactured since Brownie first produced his Duck Feet, but there has never been a fin to equal the propulsion of the DUCK FOOT, made by Brownie, Ken or Willard, nor has there ever been a mask to equal the comfort and durability of the WIDE VIEW..
I will now eagerly await you comments...
The original Duck Feet were designed and produced by Arthur "Bud" or "Brownie" Brown at two locations. First was in Laguna Beach and the second in Huntington Beach from the mid 1950s to early 1960s. The company was never financially secure
In 1959-60 Brownie sold to Ken Norris of Pacific Molded Products in Los Angeles who produced them for several years along with the Swimaster Wide View mask and a Jack Prodanovich designed gun.
Ken entered into a licensing agreement with W. J. Voit to market the Swimaster line as a upscale or professional line of Voit. At at that time Voit was located in Los Angeles, but a year or so later Voit built a new plant in Orange county on Harbor Blvd in about a mile south of US divers. About that time Ken sold all rights to Swimaster to W.J Voit.
Voit was a huge rubber producing company for the sporting goods industry, so once again an agreement was reached with US Divers; Voit would produce US Divers rubber goods and US Divers would supply their hard goods to Voit who would re brand as Voit. The Voit Swimaster mask and the Voit knives were produced by Newport divers manufacturing company in Orange California by Joe Lamonica who also designed the very successful spear gun for Voit, later Mares and most recently known as JBL
For a while after being acquired by Voit the Duck feet molds remained unchanged, but Voit was at that time a giant in in the sporting goods industry so the Voit engineers were put to work to redesign the foot pockets of the original fins to make them more comfortable and marketable to the ever increasing diving public. In 1968 or thereabouts the original molds were reused to produce the Original Duck feet, but it was too late and the reintroduction of the original Duck Feet was met with little or no acceptance
When Voit was sold to AMF in about 1960, the AMF logo appeared on the Voit & Voit Swimaster products.
There have been a lot of fins designed and manufactured since Brownie first produced his Duck Feet, but there has never been a fin to equal the propulsion of the DUCK FOOT, made by Brownie, Ken or Willard, nor has there ever been a mask to equal the comfort and durability of the WIDE VIEW..
I will now eagerly await you comments...
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