Early Pony/bailout bottle use

[DaleC]

I'm writing on my website about pony bottles and began wondering just when they made their appearance on the recreational diving scene? I seem to recall seeing early divers use extra bottles for deeper or possible deco dives but these were usually tied off on anchor or buoy lines for latter use. I also have seen images and read about 1960's (?) North Atlantic wreck divers using pony bottles mounted between their doubles (I assume they were non isolating manifolds). Does anyone remember a certain turning point or era when they began making an appearance in a non commercial setting?

 

[captain]

You can probably trace it back to this point point that it began moving into the general recreation scuba realm and not an improvisation by individual divers for a particular reason.

A compact and portable diving system for scientists.

 

[Akimbo]

I can only speak to my narrow sphere of visibility. I saw spare singles left on a downline at stops and on the bottom about 1965. I don’t recall seeing any mention of them actually carried until about 1968… probably in Skin Diver Magazine but I could be wrong. Here is my old delta triples rig.



And yes, this rig really sucked. Inline triples would have sucked less (better trim) but I didn’t have time to make up a harness. I didn’t trust that much weight on the single Voit Snug Pack (ABS plastic) I had at the time, but it and the 2 sets of doubles band did fit. I even configured it with a little arc in the three tanks inspired by some of Cousteau's rigs. I broke that rig down right after a dry test. US Divers was marketing a delta triples set so I went with that layout.

 

[Akimbo]

Thinking about it a little more, you can probably trace the smaller pony bottle we think of today back to their becoming available. My experience indicates the concept wasn’t a new epiphany.

You basically only had two choices in the 1960s, 2250 PSI steel 72s and 50s, short of surplus 1800 PSI 38s with about the same diameter. Aluminum 80s hit the market in the early 1970s, but I don’t know when smaller diameter aluminum bottles became widely available. I imagine there was pend-up demand for them or they would not have been introduced. Are these smaller bottles used in other markets? Paint ball guns maybe?

 

[Luis H]

I have read of some dive shops in New Jersey, in the 60’s, would buy pallets of the small O2 tanks and sold them as emergency air tanks to wreck divers.

The tank neck was the old standard 1/2” tapered pipe thread so they would use standard Scuba valves.

The pictures that I have seen always showed the extra tank mounted on the back of the double 72’s. Slinging the spare tank is much more recent.

 

[DaleC]

Thanks Akimbo and Captain, Luis those are the images that I have seen too.

This is what I have written so far. I just want to make sure the spirit of my text is correct.

A pony bottle is a secondary air source (usually a smaller cylinder equipped with a first/second stage regulator and SPG) that a diver carries along as a source of emergency air supply. When the first dedicated pony bottles began appearing on the diving scene is a good question but it was not uncommon early on to bring extra cylinders underwater when deeper dives, or those requiring possible decompression were done. These tanks were often hung on the anchor/buoy line for retrieval later in the dive. Books and images reflecting the early North Atlantic wreck diving era (such as Andrea Doria exploration) begin to depict bailout specific bottles as part of the divers personal rig. These were later largely replaced in technical diving as doubles with isolation manifolds became more popular.

 

[captain]

One of the early setups was a steel E oxygen cylinder strapped between double 72's. I have one.

 

[Gilldiver]

I had a 1800 psi converted fire extinguisher tank for many years strapped between my tanks. One of the problems with all the tanks on your back is that you would have 3 2nd stages to manage and tell apart. What many in the late 70's had settled on were Poseidon's on the mains and a standard conshelf/sherwood 2nd on the pony. For the Poseidons, we would have one Jetstream/Oden/Shower head and one Cyklon/Thor/Hockey Puck. As the three 2nd stages were radically different in shape you didn't get them confused. This is very important with indipendent mains so you can tell which tank you are breathing off of. We also had different SPG's with one tank's gauge being in a counsel and the other just a SPG taped to that counsel. Unfortunately, more than one diver was found dead on the bottom with an empty pony and full back tanks. They would jump in on the pony by accident, get to the bottom, run the pony dry, panic, etc.................

 

[DaleC]

Pete, what year (roughly) did you start using the 1800 tank?

 

[Gilldiver]

Pete, what year (roughly) did you start using the 1800 tank?

Early 80's, most likely 85 or so, it was one of the elephant foot bottom tanks and was from the 40's or 50's with a K valve with the old wide washer instead of an o-ring.

Here are some photos showing what I was trying to say above:

Quick, which reg is on which tank?

How about now?