Soviet masks: Russian models

[David Wilson]

On to the model of diving mask known as Mosrezina Part No. 49607. See what I mean about the naming of (some) masks in the Soviet Union?

Part No. 49607

Here's a description of the mask from a contemporary Soviet diving book:
Russian original: Вполне пригодны для нашего вида спорта и маски того же завода без особого названия под артикулом 49607. Они имеют хорошую конструкцию и эластичную резину, плотно прилегающий тонкий край, удобные широкие гофрированные полости внутрь для зажатия носа, немалую обзорность.
Rough translation: For our sport, another suitable mask is ‘Part No. 49607’, an otherwise nameless mask from the same plant (Mosrezina Moscow No 4 Rubber Products Factory). It is well designed and made from soft, flexible rubber, featuring a thin, close-fitting margin, corrugated nose / pinch pockets with a wide, comfortable space in between, and considerable visibility.

To confuse matters again, the 49607 apparently came in a plain-boss version as well:

We'll move on next to the diving mask manufactured during the Soviet era at the Moscow "Respirator" plant.

 

[David Wilson]

Next up is the dive mask from the "Respirator" factory in Moscow.

Respirator

Note the complete absence of markings. I have only managed to identify the mask by the distinctive appearance of the metal attachment between the headstrap and the mask skirt. Note how the metal rivets can be seen both outside and inside the mask.

Here is a contemporary description of this mask:
Russian original: Полумаска московского завода «Респиратор» имеет овальное смотровое (силикатное) стекло, закрепленное в эластичном резиновом корпусе ободком из нержавеющей стали. Полумаска по своей конструкции очень схожа с полумаской типа I ленинградского завода РТИ и является одной из наиболее удобных и простых конструкций полумасок отечественного производства. Недостатком конструкции полумаски является вид закрепления пряжек для затылочных ремней к корпусу, выполненный в виде заклепок.
Rough translation: The semi face mask from the Moscow ‘Respirator’ plant has an oval (silicate) glass lens, fixed into an elastic body with a stainless-steel rim. In design, the semi face mask is very similar to the Type I semi face mask from the Leningrad rubber goods plant, and it is one of the most comfortable and simple designs of domestically manufactured semi face mask. A drawback of this design of semi face mask is the kind of buckle used to attach the head-strap to the body, namely rivets.

The softness of the skirt is the main selling point of this mask. It may have only come in a dark green colour. Here is another picture of the mask (lower left), this time accompanied by a pair of Mosrezina Model 4 fins:

I'll look next at Soviet masks made at the Sangigiena plant in Moscow.

 

[iamrushman]

just out of curiosity....is there any information on the glass / window of these masks...thanks for the information and research you have done.

 

[David Wilson]

just out of curiosity....is there any information on the glass / window of these masks...thanks for the information and research you have done.

A very good question, and in Soviet Standard GOST 20568-75 "Rubber masks for underwater swimming", the Standard to which all Russian diving masks are supposed to conform, here are the specifications for glass (my translation):

2.5. The glass used for the manufacture of the masks should comply with the requirements of GOST 10958-78.
2.6. The edges of the glass used for the manufacture of the masks should be smooth. The glass should have a smooth surface with no chips or cracks.
2.7. The design of the connection between the window and the body should ensure the watertightness of the mask.

It took me quite a time to translate this Standard and while I was doing it, I didn't go on to investigate GOST 10958-78, whose English title is "Protective glasses for apparatus of general industrial application: Specifications." You can download this Standard from http://meganorm.ru/Data2/1/4294839/4294839966.pdf and I have just done so too. It's in Russian, of course, and it's an image, not a text, PDF, so I would have to pass each of the six pages through a Russian language optical character reader (e.g. Free Online OCR - Convert JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP, TIFF, PDF, DjVu to Text or i2OCR - Free Online OCR), use the Russian spellchecker in Word to proofread what comes out of the online optical character reader before passing the resulting hopefully corrected text through Google Translate, which won't do a perfect job with the Russian and I would have to check out the meaning of some phrases using the Linguee and Wiktionary sites. That's going to take a while.

The masks I've described come with just a few lines of description and I've posted details about glass whenever they have been available. The reference to "silicate" glass in the "Respirator" mask is one of the rare occasions when such information crops up in a Russian source. The following may be useful as it comes from an authoritative Soviet book totally dedicated to diving gear and published in 1969:

Russian original: Смотровые стекла полумасок изготовляются либо из обычного силикатного стекла, либо из небьющегося органического стекла (плексигласа). Толщина стекол принимается от 3 до 6 мм. Недостатком силикатного стекла является его малая прочность на удар.Органическое отечественного производства стекло достаточно прочное, однако имеет большую склонность к запотеванию и легко царапается, быстро теряя поэтому свою прозрачность.
Rough English: The material used to make half-mask lenses is conventional silicate glass or shatterproof organic glass (Plexiglas). The accepted thickness of the glass is 3-6 mm. The drawback of silicate glass is its low impact strength. Although domestically manufactured organic glass is strong enough, it tends to mist up more and it scratches easily, quickly losing its transparency in the process."

I hope that covers, in outline, the matter of the glass material in Soviet mask lenses. The detail will be in the Soviet Standard, which will cover the use of "protective glasses" in a range of apparatus, presumably including dive mask lenses.

 

[dmaziuk]

just out of curiosity....is there any information on the glass / window of these masks...thanks for the information and research you have done.

This looks exactly like the kit I had as a kid, except ISTR the mask strap attachment wasn't a rivet. Must remember to ask dad if it's still buried in the shed somewhere next time I'm visiting... Anyway, it was plain regular glass on mine.

 

[dmaziuk]

... GOST 10958-78 ...

It covers the basic requirements WRT defects, testing, and marking the crates. E.g. that the glass will not have "open" bubbles anywhere, nor "closed" bubbles in the "working area". I'm not sure you'll find anything relevant specifically to dive masks in there.

 

[David Wilson]

It covers the basic requirements WRT defects, testing, and marking the crates. E.g. that the glass will not have "open" bubbles anywhere, nor "closed" bubbles in the "working area". I'm not sure you'll find anything relevant specifically to dive masks in there.

Thank you so much... That summary has saved me a lot of research time!

 

[dmaziuk]

I looked: glass is GOST-111 and it references a couple of GOSTs for measurement devices (e.g steel rulers) among a list of others... if you try to make sense of all of them, that way lies madness I'm sure.

In practical terms GOST stamp is like CE mark: it means the product complies with rules and regulations applicable to this "type" of product.

 

[David Wilson]

Indeed. The "CE" ("Conformité Européene" = "European Conformity") mark on a diving mask is there to confirm that the product complies with the European PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) directive.

British Standards (prefixed BS) and later European Standards (prefixed EN) usually refer within their pages to other relevant Standards and so it goes on, ad infinitum. In case anybody is interested, here is a list of national and international Standards relating to diving masks:

BS 4532 (1969): Specification for snorkels and face masks.
BS 4532 (1969): Specification for snorkels and face masks. [Amendment Slip No. 1, December 1969]
GOST 22469 (1977): Маски резиновые для плавания под водой. Общие технические условие. Rubber masks for submarine swimming. General specifications.
DIN 7877 (1980): Tauch-Zubehör. Tauchbrillen. Sicherheitstechnische Anforderungen und Prüfung. Diving accessories for skin divers. Diver’s masks. Requirements and testing.
ANSI Z87.11 (1985): Underwater Safety. Recreational Skin and Scuba Diving. Lenses for Masks.
CNS 12497 (1989): 潛水鏡. Diving mask.
CNS 12498 (1989): 潛水鏡檢驗法.Method of test for diving mask.
BS EN 16805 (2015): Diving equipment. Diving mask. Requirements and test methods.

So there are (or have been) British, Russian, German, American, Taiwanese and European Standards for diving masks. If anybody is aware of any others, do let me know.

 

[David Wilson]

Moving on to Sangigiena dive masks. The name "Sangigiena" is a combination of words for "Health" and "Hygiene" and is a predecessor company of the Moscow Alfaplastik concern, which makes the marbled "Del'fin" fins. We'll start with the Sangigiena Type I mask.

Sangigiena Type I

Serebrenitsky's book on Soviet diving equipment provides the following specifications (my translation) for the Type 1:

Note how the Type I mask resembles the metal-rim original version of the "Neptun" mask, except for the compensator bosses:

The Type I mask may bear the following mark:

Note the date 1963. "МОСГСНХ" appears to stand for "Московский Губернский Совет Народного Хозяйства", which means "Moscow Provincial Council of National Economy".

Next up is the Sangigiena Type II mask, known as "Amfibia".