Need help identifying these regs please

[Offroad]

Both of these regulators were new in the late 70's, can you help to identify the models?

Any help to identify the model and its specifications is greatly appreciated. I'd also like to know if they are worth anything to sell or otherwise have serviced for diving. There are very minor scratches in the chrome but they are otherwise in excellent shape.

All diving on them was fresh water only. You might notice the odd mouthpieces, these were softer than black rubber versions before silicone came along. The thumbnails below are clickable for a larger image.
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US Divers - has 1-HP port and 3-LP ports, on the front there is a black rubber seal (I think with silicone or other fluid behind it) that I think was supposed to be a "cold pack" for operation in very cold water.

1st Stage Serial - 79 20923 // 2nd Stage Serial - 78 29114






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Scuba Pro that has 2-HP ports and 4-LP ports.

1st Stage - No Serial that I can find // 2nd Stage Serial - 6702748







Thanks for any and all help,

Mark

 

[Thalassamania]

If I remember correctly the USD is an "Conshelf" (22?) with an environmental kit. The SP is a Mark something or other (VI?), and was a really nice regulator as I recall.

 

[Luis H]

The first one definitely looks like a Conshelf.

The second is one of the latest Scubapro MK-5. It looks like it has the heavy yoke and the two high pressure ports probably are the newer 7/16".

IMHO those are some of the best regulators ever made.

The Conshelf is still in production and parts will be available for a very long time.

Most of the parts are also available for the Scubapro (not the metal parts) and you can even upgraded it to a balanced adjustable second.

If they are well tuned, the performance of either of this regulator will rival most modern regulators. Plus the metal second stage has many advantages in durability, better cold water performance, less dry mouth, etc.

The reliability and durability of either regulator is probably unmatched by most other single hose regulators.

IMO those are the two most popular vintage single hose regulators, and I believe they both have a large following. They are very desirable regulator. I own several of both.

 

[BSea]

The 1st is a conshelf, and probably a XIV. It could be a later model, but the XIV was the last with the chrome 2nd stage. Usually you can see the model on the purge button, and the yoke screw. You are right about the environmental kit on the 1st stage. Because of that, it may have been called a conshelf Supreme.

The 2nd reg looks to be a Scubapro Mrk 5 with a 109 2nd stage. It might be an early Mrk 10, but I'm not sure. But it is 1 of the 2, and I'd lean toward the Mrk 5.

Both of these are great regulators, and you can still get parts for the conshelf because the XIV is still in production.

Mrk 5's are harder to get repaired because Scuba Pro doesn't support them anymore. But if your LDS still has parts for it, it's a great regulator.

 

[BSea]

You beat me to the answer Luis.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

The second reg is a Scubapro Mk 5. It is probably late 70's production as it has 2 HP ports (should be 7/16th inch), but still has the large holes in the ambient chamber (pre SPEC kit), and the 4 port turret instead of the late production 5 port turret.

SP does not make most of the hard parts any more, but the soft parts such as annual service kits seats and o-rings are still fully supported.

I agree the Conshelf is probably a XIV if there are three 3/8" LP ports. The liquid filled diaphragm sealed ambient chamber came on the Supreme version and it is what separated the Supreme from the regular model.

 

[Diver0001]

US Divers - has 1-HP port and 3-LP ports, on the front there is a black rubber seal (I think with silicone or other fluid behind it) that I think was supposed to be a "cold pack" for operation in very cold water.

1st Stage Serial - 79 20923 // 2nd Stage Serial - 78 29114

IIRC the serial numbers of these older USD/aqualung regs give you the date. The 79 and 78 (first two digits of your 1st and 2nd stage) are most likely the year in which they were manufactured.

I dont know the history of USD/aqualung but it seems to me that they must have merged at some point. Auqulung had a reg called "Aquarius" in the same period that was very similar to this conshelf. If I'm not mistaken the Aquarius was using plastic parts in the late 70's while the version from the early 70's had a 2nd stage that looked identical to your conshelf.

R..

 

[Luis H]

I dont know the history of USD/aqualung but it seems to me that they must have merged at some point. Auqulung had a reg called "Aquarius" in the same period that was very similar to this conshelf. If I'm not mistaken the Aquarius was using plastic parts in the late 70's while the version from the early 70's had a 2nd stage that looked identical to your conshelf.

R..

US Divers just changed their name to Aqua Lung, since they owned the right to that name anyway. Aqua Lung was the name of some of the earliest demand SCUBA regulators (before the acronym SCUBA even existed).
In the early days you didn’t go Scuba diving you went diving with an Aqua Lung.
The name Aqua Lung was also related to Cousteau, but I don’t know the details of that relationship.


The Aquarius regulator did use (in the early 70’s) the same second stage as the Conshelf, but the first stage were totally different. The Aquarius had an unbalanced piston first stage, were the Conshelf is a balanced diaphragm first stage.

 

[Diver0001]

US Divers just changed their name to Aqua Lung, since they owned the right to that name anyway. Aqua Lung was the name of some of the earliest demand SCUBA regulators (before the acronym SCUBA even existed).
In the early days you didn’t go Scuba diving you went diving with an Aqua Lung.
The name Aqua Lung was also related to Cousteau, but I don’t know the details of that relationship.


The Aquarius regulator did use (in the early 70’s) the same second stage as the Conshelf, but the first stage were totally different. The Aquarius had an unbalanced piston first stage, were the Conshelf is a balanced diaphragm first stage.

Thanks Luis.

R..

 

[Thalassamania]

The Aquarius had a very different looking 1st stage, it was kind of like a faceted cone with the tip cut off. I thought the Mark V had two puts on the swivel that were opposite each other and a half round cross section (sliced through the ports) rather than a rectangular one. (too much geometry, I need to look for pictures).