Gummi Suit for Fundies?

[Gary D.]

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It is encouraging that one member of this board has a certain amount history of diving knowledge...Good for you GaryD!

Gary D,

FYI

1) There were always exhaust valves generally in the top of the suit, However on this one I donot see one..
2) There were three types of entries front, rear and a two peice that used a ring at the waist.
3) The clamp was late in the game--ties were generally used
4) I do not recall pain when diving...Long underwear and/or WW11 surplus wool electrical flying suits were use as undergarmets. This eliminated the squeeze and the "pain."
5) They were constructed of industrial grade sheeting not innertube material.

The item piscured appears to be a copy of a post WW11 Pirelli unit imported by US Divers in the mid 1950s. They were never very popular. The AQULA, made in Los Angeles California, was first in the market place and was the choice of most divers

The dry suits rapidly lost popularity after the introduction of the wet suit in 1954 and with in a very few years disappered from the market for the sport diver, however they continued in the commerical area.

Good for you Gary!

Cheers from California --where it all began!!!!!

SDM

The Navy one's I dove didn't have any exhaust anywhere. But I have seen the top of the head ones.

I forgot about the two piece suits. I have dove both front and rear entry but I've never seen a real two piece one other than in pics.

The Navy had this be tough no pain attitude. No shoulder pads on a MK-5 and only thin undies under the condom made things a bit on the painful side.

If I had one now it would be a wall hanger.

Gary D.

 

[Sam Miller III]

Gary,
The two piece were from Europe--very common.

Mark V is a helmet--it used a canvas suit--a dry suit would not be used --
The item pictured is for freediving aka SCUBA.
SDM

 

[Gary D.]

Gary,
The two piece were from Europe--very common.

Mark V is a helmet--it used a canvas suit--a dry suit would not be used --
The item pictured is for freediving aka SCUBA.
SDM

I know, I'm an old MK-5 Navy diver. In training they wouldn't let us pad our shoulders so the entire weight of the suit, helmet and weight belt was on those two little top shoulder bones. That's painful.

Gary D.

 

[Sam Miller III]

I thought that the USN would have been into swimmer helmets by the time you would have joined the service.

Do you recall when the swimmer hats arrived? What ones did you use in USN?

SDM

 

[Gary D.]

We never got to use anything other than SCUBA, Jack Brown and the MK-5. The plastic hats were just coming of age and were out being tested with some teams. I guess we were just the b*****d children.

Also the single hose reg was being tested but totally forbidden to be used by anyone not involved in the testing.

Gary D.

 

[David Wilson]

The Hydroglove suit is based on the two-piece Skooba Totes suit, which was originally manufactured by the So Lo Marx company of Ohio. For a description of the latter and other American and European drysuits of the 1950s and 1960s, see the links page at:

http://www.hydroglove.com/

The Italian-made Pirelli diving suit, which was imported into the USA in the 1950s, has already received a mention on this thread. Here is an interesting page about the suit, including many illustrations and the original 1951 US patent:

http://www.therebreathersite.nl/Zuurstofrebreathers/Italian/pirelli_diving_suit.htm

Incidentally, there is one more entry method to add to the list of front, back and waist entry: neck entry, which required assistance to to get into and out of. It was reckoned in its time to provide the most watertight seal.

 

[Bob Vincent]

Wow cool! Does it say anything about blocking chemical agents during war time also? I GOTS TO GET ONE OF THEM!

 

[Hydroglove]

Wow cool! Does it say anything about blocking chemical agents during war time also? I GOTS TO GET ONE OF THEM!

Interesting posts. Yes, though not part of the design the Hydroglove suit works as a biohazard suit as well. Early WWII chemical suits were just that, a rubber suit.
These suits are just as workable today as they were 50 years ago. The only thing that has changed is the diver. To use one of these no frills rubber exposure suits is an art and a skill. Often the hood of the suit was just pulled over the skirt of the mask to allow air vented into the mask to leak back under the hood. Thats one way they got air into the suit as one dove deeper. NEVER did a stuck valve endanger the diver to an uncontrolled free assent in one of these suits. Of course there is the return trip to the surface. How do we vent one off the expanding air? Modern dive gear has a crap load of valves and hoses and buttons all over it. Push button diving. To get air out of the suit one just holds an arm up and pulls the cuff seal away. I doubt there is a dump valve on the market today that can vent air faster than an open wrist seal.