Hogarthian diving etymology

[lowwall]

BM: It is mainly being streamlined—if you don’t need it, don’t take it.

I've generalized this idea beyond diving to really thinking about what I need. Wants count to if I can articulate why. For example, when I'm going on a trip, I practice Hogarthian packing. Last year I used it to pare down my library to where it actually fit, single stacked, on my shelves.

The whole minimalism movement is partially based on this. But the lightbulb came on for me from thinking about Hogarthian diving.

 

[rx7diver]

[HIJACK]
Re: "His main cylinders are the classic US cave diver’s choice of twin 104’s (16.5L each), which are joined with a custom manifold without an isolator. He claims that isolators introduce another potential failure point, ..." [My emphasis.]

Ever since I purchased a NOS U.S. Divers single-outlet, solid-bar doubles manifold with J-valve a couple of years ago to dive with my DH regulator mounted on my baby doubles, I have wished for a two-outlet, solid-bar version similar to a Sherwood- or Benjamin/Ikehara Crossover-style manifold!

rx7diver
[/HIJACK]

 

[Nemrod]

[HIJACK]
Re: "His main cylinders are the classic US cave diver’s choice of twin 104’s (16.5L each), which are joined with a custom manifold without an isolator. He claims that isolators introduce another potential failure point, ..." [My emphasis.]

Ever since I purchased a NOS U.S. Divers single-outlet, solid-bar doubles manifold with J-valve a couple of years ago to dive with my DH regulator mounted on my baby doubles, I have wished for a two-outlet, solid-bar version similar to a Sherwood- or Benjamin/Ikehara Crossover-style manifold!
[/HIJACK]

How much money do you have? A titanium Mark 11 by chance?

And, I imagine his next chess move will be to rid himself the Conshelf firsts and go to the Mark 2 and on independent doubles. That eliminates all sorts of real or imaginary failure points.

His drive to eliminate everything that is not needed and to distill his kit to the absolute minimum is admirable. Where the line between need and want or real and imaginary is drawn though is somewhat subjective since there is no data, just (their) personal observations in the field, of what things are more likely to fail catastrophically and are such that the diver is in jeopardy. I can see where he has run afoul of those whose dogma replaced analysis.

 

[rx7diver]

How much money do you have? A titanium Mark 11 by chance?

And, I imagine his next chess move will be to rid himself the Conshelf firsts and go to the Mark 2 and on independent doubles. That eliminates all sorts of real or imaginary failure points.

His drive to eliminate everything that is not needed and to distill his kit to the absolute minimum is admirable. Where the line between need and want or real and imaginary is drawn though is somewhat subjective since there is no data, just (their) personal observations in the field, of what things are more likely to fail catastrophically and are such that the diver is in jeopardy. I can see where he has run afoul of those whose dogma replaced analysis.

I am a BIG fan of using independent doubles for deeper solo diving. Problem is, the cylinders necessarily must be larger than LP46/50's (probably)--since otherwise your diving will be restricted by the need to be able to safely surface using only two-thirds of a single LP46/50 (~30 ft^3 = 2/3 * 46).

I understood (a long time ago, from somewhere) that a--the?--major benefit of an isolator is for cave divers who, diving a scooter, might run hard into something, damaging valves or regulators, and preventing the possibility of closing off one side of his/her scuba. So, if a diver is NOT diving a scooter in a cave, is an isolator really necessary? Or is it an unnecessary complication?

I am thinking that a reasonably competent machinist could very easily produce, at not too great a cost, the two-outlet, solid-bar Sherwood- or Benjamin/Ikehara Crossover-style manifold I wish for. Even better if the two outlets were 200 Br convertible.

rx7diver

 

[Nemrod]

Supposedly there is some zen involved:

Conceived originally by Bill Hogarth Main and refined to a state of Zen-like simplicity over tens of thousands of dives, the Hogarth system is the embodiment of the 'less is more' philosophy. Every item in the Hogarth rig has been considered in relation to every other. The result is a minimalist approach in which a few carefully chosen components are integrated into a total life support system. Hogarth is clean, neat, safe and cheap.​

​

Sometimes I wonder if "cheap" was not the primary consideration.

​

Who invented the Goodman handle for lights? The first time I saw one was in Florida cave country and it was attached to a home made canister light head.

 

[lostsheep]

Supposedly there is some zen involved:

Conceived originally by Bill Hogarth Main and refined to a state of Zen-like simplicity over tens of thousands of dives, the Hogarth system is the embodiment of the 'less is more' philosophy. Every item in the Hogarth rig has been considered in relation to every other. The result is a minimalist approach in which a few carefully chosen components are integrated into a total life support system. Hogarth is clean, neat, safe and cheap.​

​

Sometimes I wonder if "cheap" was not the primary consideration.

​

Who invented the Goodman handle for lights? The first time I saw one was in Florida cave country and it was attached to a home made canister light head.

Can someone tell me who Billy Williams is?

 

[lowwall]

Who invented the Goodman handle for lights? The first time I saw one was in Florida cave country and it was attached to a home made canister light head.

Bob Goodman was an early cave diver who built sealed beam headlights with a straight bar handle.

Here's a Goodman light along with other styles from those days:

The photo is from https://www.divegainesville.org/wp-content/uploads/Gavin.pdf which introduces Bob and then goes on to talk about his handle:

The early innovations of Frank Martz no doubt paved the way for much of the sealed beam bulb’s popularity. And it didn’t hurt when Bob Goodman began building and selling primary lights of legendary quality using sealed beam heads and wet cell NiCads. These lights provided extraordinary reliability, adequate burn times, and ample brightness. For all these reasons they are still popular today, though most divers have replaced NiCads with Gel cells....

Goodman Handle
One thing that is certain about light heads is the advantage afforded by the Goodman style handle shown in Figure 5-12. The diver slips her hand through the handle, with the head resting on top of her hand and her fingers free to pull through the cave, operate an inflator, read a pressure gauge, or hold on to a scooter. The flash-light style handle does not leave the fingers free to perform other tasks, thus rendering one hand useless except to hold the light. With the tremendous surge in popularity of diver propulsion vehicles in cave diving, many divers are finding the Goodman style handle more suited to their needs. The odd thing is that prior to scooters the Goodman style handle was probably even more valuable since it made pulling your way into a high flow cave much easier. Divers who are unfamiliar with this style of handle consider its appearance strange, but its contribution to speed and efficiency on long dives is impressive.

The link is to something titled "Chapter 5 - Gear Configuration" by Bill Gavin. It's buried on https://www.divegainesville.org/ with no links to the other chapters. Further research suggests it's from the book "The Art of Safe Cave Diving" by Dayton Saltsman, published in 1995 by the National Association for Cave Diving.

It is worth reading by anyone interested in the evolution of cave diving gear. For example, here's how it answers the original question posted on this thread:

HOGARTHIAN GEAR CONFIGURATION
The Hogarthian gear configuration is named after William Hogarth Main, who has the distinction of being a driven perfectionist who will not rest until every piece of gear he uses is at its absolute best. It has been the author’s privilege to dive with and learn from this individual forthe past decade. During this time a gear configuration gradually emerged which was the result of years of effort directed toward increased efficiency on long demanding dives. Originally it was referred to as the Hogarthian configuration in only a semi-serious manner. However, the name has persisted, and is a fitting tribute to the individual who inspired it.

I'm going to copy the chapter here. It's too valuable to be lost.

 

[bletso]

I dove such a light for years. Still have it, but of course don't use it anymore. Very heavy and was treated as part of my weighting.

 

[Nemrod]

Can someone tell me who Billy Williams is?

He is somebody who does not dive with "strokes" it appears .

Much of the information you want to know is lost to time. Most of the beginnings and roots of cave exploration began in Florida Cave Country in the 60's, 70's and 80's. There was no internet. There were no forums, the major publications (and abcd dive cert agencies) avoided dangerous topics like cave diving, deep diving, voodoo gas (Nitrox) and technical/deco/trimix diving. And people were dying in these caves regularly. These fellows, well, the ones that were more successful at staying alive, spread their methods and gear configurations mostly by word of mouth or smoke signals or homing pigeons because there were no cell phones either. And as you can tell from some of it all, there was some bickering and fussing about what is better, who did what and why what they did was better than one the other fellow did. And there were cliques who did not always get along. Unless one became deceased in the process and I assume then that the better way was decided sometimes in exactly that way, the school of hard knocks.

I did some very modest cave diving in the 70s. I saw a lot of experimentation, home made and modified gear being used. Cave diving evolved rapidly to certifications and relatively specific configurations of gear and perhaps most import, methodologies that were successful in keeping the adherents alive. I saw divers pulled out of a well known system. I am not going to say where, when or who, it left an indelible mark on my brain. And as soon as my wife to be, I still have the letter she wrote me in 1978, stating that it was a fact that I would no longer dive in caves and I had about that time decided that I was no longer interested in cave diving any longer. But it is so interesting to see so much of the gear and methods that were developed specifically to stay alive in a cave slowly work their way into mainstream diving and mostly for the better. So, whoever Billy Williams was, and all the rest of them who are lost in time, kudos to you all.

 

[The Chairman]

Who invented the Goodman handle for lights?

Mr Goodman. Next question...