ralph shamlian fin design

[julius]

In almost every website on the history of scuba Ralph Shamlians revolutionary fin design is mentioned as an important novelty. So far I have not been able to find a picture or at least a good description of his patent. If anyone could mail me a picture or give me the name of a site where I could get a good look I would be very grateful.
I am working on findesign myself. I would be interested if anyone else, that you might know of is doing that and where to get more information.
Thanks

 

[H2Andy]

this is the best description i have handy:

Another monumental failure was in 1977, when Ralph Shamlian combined a diving fin with a ski boot. The intent was to prevent the diver from involving his ankle. Instead all trust would be exerted from and controlled by the larger thigh muscle. Although well advertised, these fins were met with limited success and were soon retired, undoubtedly because of their radical departure from the norm and exorbitant retail price.

from http://www.sandiasnorkel.com/history/his-f_dp.htm

let me take a look again...

 

[cvant]

undefinedHi,

Go to www.uspto.gov and search patents to check out Ralph Shamlians two patents. They are numbers 3978537 and 4017925.

In almost every website on the history of scuba Ralph Shamlians revolutionary fin design is mentioned as an important novelty. So far I have not been able to find a picture or at least a good description of his patent. If anyone could mail me a picture or give me the name of a site where I could get a good look I would be very grateful.
I am working on findesign myself. I would be interested if anyone else, that you might know of is doing that and where to get more information.
Thanks

 

[H2Andy]

cvant, good idea, and good info on that site

julius hasn't been on since August, so you may want to send him an e-mail with
the info.

 

[julius]

Thanks a lot. This makes a lot more sense than a ski boot.
Thanks for the adress of that site, so far all patent sites I have found were very expensive and lawyer only type. You have given me days of work.
ciao

 

[cvant]

Hi Julius,

Your tax dollars hard at work....for once. You can also search accepted patent applications, and you can search back patents from over 100 years ago. If you pay the 20 bucks for the tif printer you can print out all of the patents. Cheaper than any lawyer I know.

Regards,
Charlie