@sh0ck1999's
OEM Logo stickers /decals post got me thinking that a collection of historic images of logos, decals, and patches might be interesting and worth capturing. Here are some from my stash:
These are from the US Navy because they are big on patches and I have a bunch.
The logo was used by the
Sealab program and has been my favorite since I was a teenager. The program captivated me, but ended tragically before I joined the Navy. The shape of the face profile always reminded me of a sonar graph turned sideways.
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The same logo was used inside the Man-in-the-Sea logo:
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I did manage to get assigned to the Mark II Deep Dive System onboard the USS Elk River that was Sealab III's support vessel. The system was nearing a major overhaul when I came aboard, I was lucky enough to get qualified as a
saturation diver, help with the system certification dives, and become a sat instructor before leaving the service.
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These two patches are from the
Bathyscaphe Trieste II that I managed to snag during the months I was temporarily assigned to her. This one predated my time onboard and showed the original Trieste:
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This one was sewn onto our coveralls when I was onboard:
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The research submarine
Dolphin, AGSS-555 was often tied up next to us and a crewman gave me this patch. She was a deep diving Diesel-Electric research boat with a 3,000'/9115M test depth.
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The Mark II, Trieste II, and the Dolphin operated under Submarine Development Group One at Ballast Point in San Diego.
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Historic Recreational Diving (or at least vintage)
The following patch is from Diving Unlimited in San Diego, which later became
DUI or Diving Unlimited International. This patch is off one of their hot water heated wetsuits used by commercial and military divers all over the world. They had a really cool Vinyl patch before this one that illustrated a diver in
full deep sea gear sitting in a steaming bathtub. I am really bummed that I didn't save one of those.
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Of course DUI is famous for their drysuit today but they still make hot water suits.
I included the next one because it was one of the early dive shops that advertised mail-order in Skin Diver Magazine. That may sound weird in the Internet era but it was really controversial at the time.
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Dräger (or Drager or Draeger) is one of Germany's largest medical product manufacturers and has a small (by their standards) division that makes rebreathers and hyperbaric systems for medical markets. I worked with that division in the 1970s and saved this decal.
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Historic Commercial Diving
Ocean Systems Inc. was one of the earliest commercial diving companies using saturation diving techniques and was founded by aviation and diving pioneer
Ed Link.
Joe MacInnis was their medical director in 1965.
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Miller Diving Equipment was an early manufacturer of lightweight helmets for commercial diving.
Ben Miller also developed "the standard" harness for commercial divers.
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Comex was founded by Henri Delauze and was France's largest commercial diving company. Most of their offshore diving operations have merged with huge offshore service providers. Sorry for the condition of the patch; it was salvaged off a pair of old coveralls before heading for the rag locker.
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Historic Hyperbaric Stuff
This was the first warning label for decompression and hyperbaric treatment chambers that I saw incorporating graphics for non-English speakers, circa 1975. It has been widely copied since.
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I don’t even remember how I acquired this patch but it was a depth record at the time.
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Ladies and Gentleman, start your scanners.
