I think I may have a problem...

[Luis H]

Those don't look like DOT tanks (or TC tanks, Transport Canada).

I am even wondering if they are actually plated or if they are made out of some fancy high strength alloy, like one of the many nickel alloys (Inconell, etc.). They look like they are some specialized industrial tank.

The fact that there are no stampings on the shoulder is very unusual. That stamping is very interesting. The information on the neck also points to some industrial process tank.

If they were just plated, why aren't they just stamped on the shoulder?

Another thing that I find even strange, if they are actually are made of some fancy alloy, is the neck threads use a tapered pipe connection.

In any case they are very interesting, but I dough that a regular hydro station will test them and I don't think that any dive shop will fill them.
Very interesting.



Added:
They working pressure (WP) is 2640 psi
The testing pressure is (TP) is 3556 psi.
That means they are only tested at roughly 35% above the working pressure. That is very unusual and very low test pressure.
Maybe they were design with a very short life span. I don’t really know.

I am even wondering if they were intended to be the liner insider a composite wrapped cylinder. I am only guessing.

 

[herman]

Dr Miller I am really hesitant to disagree but that does not appear to be a Voit Snugpack to me. All the Snuggpacks I have ever seen had 2 sets of bolts vertically on each side spaced about 3 inchs apart, a single band, a conture in the middle of the back and the strap joins the BP at the top at a single place. This BP has single bolts on each side with vertical staps, 2 tanks bands, no conture down the middle and the straps join the BP at 2 places on the top. I looked at Voit catalogs from the late 50s to the early 70s and do not see a Voit that matches it.

 

[jacked_72]

Is it possible that those are fire extinguisher tanks? I've seen those in chrome. What is the grey substance around the base of the neck? Is it possible this is a home-made display set up?

 

[DaleC]

Great score! How's the Navy DA doing?

BTW, If those are Huntington Beach "Spearfisherman" Duck Feet made with real gum rubber, the company was in operation from about 1945 to 1955 which makes them 50-65 years old ( I have a pair). I'll double check the dates later (it's been a while since I looked them up).

Regards,
Dale.

 

[Sam Miller III]

Great score! How's the Navy DA doing?

BTW, If those are Huntington Beach "Spearfisherman" Duck Feet made with real gum rubber, the company was in operation from about 1945 to 1955 which makes them 50-65 years old ( I have a pair). I'll double check the dates later (it's been a while since I looked them up).

Regards,
Dale.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DALE,
you must live in a treasure trove of vintage items ==books, equipment etc...I admire you!

I recheched the picture, they do appear to be gum rubber.

The gun rubber were produced by Arthor (Bud or Brownie) Brown in two locations,frist in Laguna beach & and then in Huntington beach California.

He sold the Spearfisherman in about 1959 to Ken Norris who owned Pacific Molded products. Ken produced the Duck feet for about 2 years

He then sold to Willard Voit --Who changed the compounds and configuration of the fin

All three are now diving in the big reef in the sky,

SAM

 

[Sam Miller III]

Dr Miller I am really hesitant to disagree but that does not appear to be a Voit Snugpack to me. All the Snuggpacks I have ever seen had 2 sets of bolts vertically on each side spaced about 3 inchs apart, a single band, a conture in the middle of the back and the strap joins the BP at the top at a single place. This BP has single bolts on each side with vertical staps, 2 tanks bands, no conture down the middle and the straps join the BP at 2 places on the top. I looked at Voit catalogs from the late 50s to the early 70s and do not see a Voit that matches it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Herman,
I concur to a point...I also checked the Voit catalogs..Voit was the only company to produce the fibre glass sung pack and they were generally Blue.

Sportsways and White Stag produced a metal snug pack, US Divers snug pack was plastic.

I donot have a Nemrod catalog of that era...Perhaps it could be a Nemrod?

So I concur --but it Voit was my immediate best guess.

SDM

 

[Scared Silly]

IWK == Industrie-Werke Karlsruhe

As such, they were made in Germany. Such cylinders are/were legal in countries like New Zealand. I do not know much more than the are no longer made.

You could always take them to a hydro facility to be tested. They will not mark them but at least if you want to fill them on your own you would know that they are safe.

 

[Luis H]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Herman,
I concur to a point...I also checked the Voit catalogs..Voit was the only company to produce the fibre glass sung pack and they were generally Blue.

Sportsways and White Stag produced a metal snug pack, US Divers snug pack was plastic.

I donot have a Nemrod catalog of that era...Perhaps it could be a Nemrod?

So I concur --but it Voit was my immediate best guess.

SDM

Hi Sam,

Fiberglass is a relatively easy material to work with. Someone with some talent can make a very professionally looking backpack in a small shop or even in a garage. I don’t work with fiberglass, but I have seen some nice products made by some talented individuals.

I notice this back pack was a bit different, but basically a similar copy of a Voit pack. It could have been made by an individual, but if I was going to guess I would think it was made by one of many small companies that have tried to make Scuba gear throughout the years.

 

[Luis H]

IWK == Industrie-Werke Karlsruhe

As such, they were made in Germany. Such cylinders are/were legal in countries like New Zealand. I do not know much more than the are no longer made.

You could always take them to a hydro facility to be tested. They will not mark them but at least if you want to fill them on your own you would know that they are safe.

Thanks for the acronym information.

The neck threads are probably metric. I had a special adapter custom made so that I could hydro my Poseidon and Drager cylinders in the US.

Any hydro test facility could test it (if they have a neck fitting to fit it). The test pressure is stamped, but I don’t know if they can find out what would be the pass/ fail criteria. With such a low test pressure I would not assume that the pass/ fail criteria is the same as a DOT cylinder.

 

[Sam Miller III]

Hi Sam,

Fiberglass is a relatively easy material to work with. Someone with some talent can make a very professionally looking backpack in a small shop or even in a garage. I don’t work with fiberglass, but I have seen some nice products made by some talented individuals.

I notice this back pack was a bit different, but basically a similar copy of a Voit pack. It could have been made by an individual, but if I was going to guess I would think it was made by one of many small companies that have tried to make Scuba gear throughout the years.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I am very familar with fiberglass- we originally called it fibre glass. It was The Hot item in the early 1960s. Did a lot of work with fibreglass.

Boat, Dune buggy, and when I was in Deep Submergence in the very early 1960s we investigated the possibility of using a very HP fiberglass HP cylinder.

The question will possibly never be totally answered who made the Back pack?

sdm

I suspect that you are correct..it is possibly home made or a produced by a small long forgotten local company.