Jacques Cousteau....and His Gear

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rndboulder,

I've always loved the silver Cousteau suits, especially the helmet with integrated light. But, I have two questions: (1) when diving with this gear, how is buoyancy controlled without a BCD?, and (2) how do you know how much air you have left without a SPG? Thanks!

Since the silver suits were mostly for show they were not very thick and were probably made from G-231 neoprene which did not compress as much as the materials used today do so a BC wasn't needed.

Cousteau generally used triple and quadruple tanks, one of which was held in reserve.
When they used up the air in the first two or three tanks they opened the valve on the reserve tank. As a side benefit the other divers could hear when the tanks began to equalize and would know someone had gone on reserve.
Notice in the picture of the yellow quad tanks the three on the left have no isolation between them, only the one valve at the top but the resrve tank on the right has a valve on the botton. To go on reserve the diver simply opened the valve on the right tank.
 
This is one of the coolest threads I've seen on SB. It brings back such nostalgia...

I grew up in a small farming community in rural Michigan in the 70s and there was no such thing as cable TV...to boot, my folks were pretty strict with TV usage (I am thankful of that) and we only received three channels besides (only one of which actually came in very well). Every Sunday was "family night"...not by designation, but more because there wasn't much to do as long as you had your homework done. That was our "TV Time", and included shows like "The Undersea World of Jacques Custeau"...I remember it vividly. The color...the critters...the terminally weird. I was *fascinated* as a child.

It wasn't until fairly recently that I had the time and resources to be able to consider taking up diving as a serious sport (just over a year ago, actually), but I'm *soooooo* glad I did...a large part of my inspiration was, and still is, the memories of the escapades of Jacques Custeau.

Personal thanks to you all for bringing this thread to life. :)

Warmn Regards (preferrably in chilly water),


-S
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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