Scubapro chrome plated brass regulators...

[lexvil]

Like the Venturi, we have that too.

View attachment 579974

Damn, there you go, you can pack a lot of dive gear on the baby.

 

[Open Ocean Diver]

18,000,000 pounds worth, that’s a lot of scuba gear.

 

[Umuntu]

This mod was first introduced in the sixties by Raimondo Bucher, who started modifying standard regulators inserting a vane, creating the Venturi effect.
This idea was later exploited by Luigi Ferraro and Jacques Cousteau in the Inject regulator, manufactured by Technisub, the company they founded together. Probably in the US this regulator was commercialised by La Spirotechnique (also owned by Jacques Cousteau).

Maybe the reason why Scubapro did not include it in the 108/109 case ... patents owned by competitors?I

EDIT: La Spirotechnique was the French brand. In the US Cousteau acquired US Divers Co and marketed almost all of their US regulators under that brand and also "Aqualung".

 

[lexvil]

If the 109 was the last regulator made I don’t think “most” divers would consider improvement possible, the newest regs are a bit better in there adjustability and ease of repair/replacement of components.

This is just my simple observation but the problem with the radicle Apeks vane in the soldered brass body is the inability to really disrupt the air flow in case of a free flow. I like the Apeks type of interrupter, it’s much more effective than the SP one which helps with tuning hot with Apeks, HOG, Deep 6 etc. it’s one of the things I really like about the C370 over the S600.

I’m enjoying this thread, I can imagine this taking place in 1985 in some back room at SP.

 

[lexvil]

18,000,000 pounds worth, that’s a lot of scuba gear.

I think it can carry ALL of the scuba tanks!

 

[Open Ocean Diver]

One tank and all their scuba gear for every person in the US. Ha

 

[Open Ocean Diver]

I have two G250V one with the VIVA vane crescent facing the diaphragm and one facing the mouth piece... what a different it make on the flow bench.

 

[Umuntu]

If the 109 was the last regulator made I don’t think “most” divers would consider improvement possible, the newest regs are a bit better in there adjustability and ease of repair/replacement of components.

This is just my simple observation but the problem with the radicle Apeks vane in the soldered brass body is the inability to really disrupt the air flow in case of a free flow. I like the Apeks type of interrupter, it’s much more effective than the SP one which helps with tuning hot with Apeks, HOG, Deep 6 etc. it’s one of the things I really like about the C370 over the S600.

I’m enjoying this thread, I can imagine this taking place in 1985 in some back room at SP.

I too like the Apeks design more than the VIVA design. The vane is at the optimum angle and cannot be adjusted. I also like the dive/no dive "interrupter" switch which simply redirects the air flow to the diaphragm.

The idea of a 109 156 venturi vane Mod is simply to improve the 109/156 WOB beyond just a low cracking effort.

It's obviously derivative and has all been done before, and there are expired patents to show that.

So long as the Vane Mod is only to my primary second stage and not used in really cold water, I'm not too worried about the freeflow potential.

 

[lexvil]

One tank and all their scuba gear for every person in the US. Ha

I’m thinking it can handle sand well.

 

[Angelo Farina]

Maybe the reason why Scubapro did not include it in the 108/109 case ... patents owned by competitors?I

EDIT: La Spirotechnique was the French brand. In the US Cousteau acquired US Divers Co and marketed almost all of their US regulators under that brand and also "Aqualung".

Bucher did not patent his Venturi vane modification, hence it had been possible for everyone to use it.
He actually proposed it to many manufacturers, but no one wanted to use it in production, as the reg was too easy to freeflow.
Bucher was also a very strange subject, so his many inventions were almost never exploited.
What was patented by Ferraro & Cousteau in their Inject reg in the seventies was the ADJUSTABLE Venturi vane, which can be rotated in a position which prevents free flow when not in mouth. As soon as the patent expired, every manufacturer went out with regulators featuring an adjustable Venturi vane.