First historically recorded case of DCS...

[jagfish]

Writing a short article for a school textbook about the history and physiology of DCS. Going from my sources, I cited the first case of DCS in man were the cases in pressurized mines in France in 1841.

During a fact check by the publisher's bean-counting proofer, they raised the question if it was possible that this was just the first recorded case and that others had ocurred before then (like breathe hold divers in the pacific). I dismissed the possibility scine they werent breathing compressed gas, but then I had a look around to see if there were any primative aqualungs or compressed environments before 1841. So far, I see that from the 16th century some diving was being done with primative bladders, though I have no information how much they held, how deep they went, or for how long.

Does anyone know if the technology were present earlier than 1841 to allow humans to breathe compressed gas and possibly experience DCS? Would I be innaccurate in saying that 1841 was the first case, or safer to say it was the first confirmed case....

 

[Kim]

This seems to be a bit late - I did a quick search on 'Scuba History' and found this:
http://www.about-scuba-diving.com/scuba-diving/history.htm
You probably need a little more research!!!!

 

[jagfish]

Now this is some intersting history...
From http://scuba.about.com/library/bl_history.htm

Scuba Diving History Time Line - A Brief History of Scuba Diving
Men and women have practiced breath-hold diving for thousands of years. We know this because scientists found undersea artifacts on land and there are depictions of divers in ancient drawings. This type of diving is still practiced today in different variations - freediving and skin diving.

1535 - Guglielmo de Loreno developed what is considered to be a true diving bell.

1650 - Von Guericke developed the first effective air pump.

1667 - Robert Boyle observed a gas bubble in the eye of viper that had been compressed and then decompressed. This was the first recorded observation of decompression sickness or "the bends."

1691 - Edmund Halley patented a diving bell which was connected by a pipe to weighted barrels of air that could be replenished from the surface.

1715 - John Lethbridge built a "diving engine", an underwater oak cylinder that was surface-supplied with compressed air. Water was kept out of the suit by means of greased leather cuffs, which sealed around the operator's arms.

1776 - First authenticated attack by military submarine - American Turtle vs. HMS Eagle, New York harbor.

1788 - John Smeaton refined the diving bell.

1823 - Charles Anthony Deane patented a "smoke helmet" for fire fighters. This helmet was used for diving, too. The helmet fitted over the head and was held on with weights. Air was supplied from the surface.

1828 - Charles Deane and his brother John marketed the helmet with a "diving suit." The suit was not attached to the helmet, but secured with straps.

1837 - Augustus Siebe sealed the Deane brothers' diving helmet to a watertight, air-containing rubber suit.

1839 - Seibe's diving suit was used during the salvage of the British warship HMS Royal George. The improved suit was adopted as the standard diving dress by the Royal Engineers.

1843 - The first diving school was established by the Royal Navy.

1865 - Benoit Rouquayrol and Auguste Denayrouse patented an apparatus for underwater breathing. It consisted of a horizontal steel tank of compressed air on a diver's back, connected to a valve arranged to a mouth-piece. With this apparatus the diver was tethered to the surface by a hose that pumped fresh air into the low pressure tank, but he was able to disconnect the tether and dive with just the tank on his back for a few minutes.

1876 - Henry A. Fleuss developed the first workable, self-contained diving rig that used compressed oxygen.

1878 - Paul Bert published "La Pression Barometrique," a book length work containing his physiologic studies of pressure changes.

1908 - John Scott Haldane, Arthur E. Boycott and Guybon C. Damant, published "The Prevention of Compressed-Air Illness," a paper on decompression sickness.

1912 - The U.S. Navy tested tables published by Haldane, Boycott and Damant.

 

[jagfish]

This site describes early diving bells in the mid to late 1600s and ealry 1700 that had primative air pumps allow compressed air to replenish the supply. Bottom times of up to 1 or 2 hours were reported, though I am not clear about the depths.

The possibility that someone could have experienced DCS seems likely if this is true unless they were very shallow. Getting to the point where truth and legend are hard to separate...

http://scuba.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.thehds.com/publications/bell.htm

 

[roakey]

If you're looking for the first cases of DCS, you probably need to be searching under "Caisson Disease"

Roak

 

[jagfish]

Thanks for the reply

Yeah, but that is what it was known as after Caissons, which was the 1840s, right? I have found all kinds of use of pressurized diving bells in the 16 and 1700s, but no mention of DCS...

 

[Charlie99]

Actually, even the "unpressurized" bells of ancient times become pressurized when dropped to the ocean bottom. With all the other hazards, though, of using simple bells (CO2 poisoning, lung expansion injuries, etc.), it's doubtful that even if there were DCS cases that they would recognized as something distinct.

In caisson and pressurized mine work the DCS problems are more easily distinguished from other problems, but even there it took a long time for DCS to be identified.

 

[Gary D.]

They had a problem while building the Brooklin Bridge but it must be earlier than that.

Gary D.

 

[nwdiver2]

The early bells were often used for salvage recovery (economics justified the use not pleasure) and free divers moved in and out of them, loading stuff on lifts, they worked at depths of 150+ feet. They must have suffered; I have heard many died from the work. They recovered everything from cargos and canon to ships fittings. The British navy had many salvours in it; to recover material from both their and the enemies naval wrecks.

 

[jagfish]

Actually, even the "unpressurized" bells of ancient times become pressurized when dropped to the ocean bottom. With all the other hazards, though, of using simple bells (CO2 poisoning, lung expansion injuries, etc.), it's doubtful that even if there were DCS cases that they would recognized as something distinct.

In caisson and pressurized mine work the DCS problems are more easily distinguished from other problems, but even there it took a long time for DCS to be identified.

Yeah, the sources I have found so far seem to indicate that the vast majority of these bells went down to about 1 ATM, which would halve their interior airspace (open to ocean on bottom side), and could only say down for minutes...

The question is these bells that could exchange air with the surface. If they did go down to 150 feet as nwdiver2 quotes, they would certainly have incurred a decompression obligation. They surely would have incurred a high casualty rate, but it is not mentioned in the literature I can find thus far...