Vintage Healthways Double Hose Reg

[John C. Ratliff]

You know, Herman I'll have to agree with you on this particular regulator. It has seen such abuse, and does not have the original clamp for the exhalation diaphragm, that it will be a major undertaking to restore it. It is possible, but may not be worth the time and energy. Saying that, if someone wants to go for it, it could be done.

SeaRat

 

[herman]

Absolutely it can be done, it's just not the best choice for a novice DH restorer.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

As for the exhaust diaphragm: This is a unique device that was used to circumvent USD duckbill patent. Basically it is an extension of the exhaust horn into the can. The extension is a rectangular tube cut at an angle that mirrors the rubber diaphragm you see inside the can with the wire "clamp". In theory, when air is being demanded, the pressure inside the can is greater than that in the exhaust hose and extension, thus this exhaust diaphragm is forced upon the extension and blocks it off. When exhalation occurs, the pressure of exhaling exceeds the pressure inside the can and the exhausted air pushes the diaphragm away from the end of the exhaust extension and escapes into the water via the holes. Healthways apparently had two modifications to this mechanism. The extension had holes in it that were covered by basically a rubber band. So that if the end was blocked too much by the exhaust diaphragm, air would exit via the holes that were covered by the rubber band. However another addition was made that was essentially a rubber impregnated "duckbill" that fit inside the exhaust extension. It was held in place with a internal spring clamp.

Simonbeans, I would like to apologize for putting on some Greek sentences. I started using the Greek in response to your earlier post. In the one I just pulled, I said that one of the reasons you didn't like some of what I said is that it is my experiences, and that sometimes it goes against the "mainstream" vintage community. For instance, this regulator that people say is difficult to work on has only seven moving parts. This particular one probably should be used only for the good parts. In the Greek that I put in, I said that you could be a bit overbearing. I tried today to reverse translate this part to see what it said, and couldn't get it translated, so I pulled it.

I use my experiences because I have done quite a bit of experimenting on this regulator, and my history with it goes back to 1959. This may appear narcissistic to you, but it is about the only way I know (I know, another "I") to communicate my findings on this regulator.

I have experimented on the exhaust, for instance by substituting sheet latex from a clean room glove for the exhaust diaphragm, and not having an internal duckbill. This actually produces very good exhalation characteristics, but when in a head-down position allows water to enter the exhaust hose. But in a normal swimming position it gives very good breathing characteristics for the exhalation phase. One other finding is that the use of this type of exhaust necessitates the use of an inhalation non-return in the mouthpiece, or the exhaust will be shut by the increased pressure exerted on the exhaust diaphragm by the exhalation. Here is a photo of the experiment with sheet latex:

And here are the parts:

One thing not too many people understand about this regulator is that having the lever arms at a 90 degree angle to the intake hose helps the breathing characteristics by providing a slight venturi going into the intake hose. This is because of the concave area near the lever arms in the valve body. The other thing that makes breathing better on this regulator is to have the lever arms adjusted as high as possible without leaking air. This takes a few minutes, and can be best done by holding the two parts (box and cover) together hard to simulate the effect of the clamp. Adjust it so that the arms are as high as possible and just leak, then back off the adjusting screw about 1/4 turn, put it back together then squeeze hard. If it doesn't leak, then tighten the lock nut and put it back together for one last test. If it doesn't leak, then you can put the parts back together, and the clamp on it. Breathing is actually pretty good. The venturi will never match the later model, or the Mistral, bit it is acceptable. [Now, that is one whole paragraph without an "I" except here.]

I appreciate your putting together the information on the exhaust system. [Another "I", if you're still counting.]

SeaRat

 

[Carolhardinn]

I think its very good way to make disscussion healthy and keep it always safe. I never seen such a natural way and we will just use it in our home we haven’t need to going anywhere. Great, thanks

 

[Sitkadiver]

Is anyone familiar with this reg? It is my first vintage double hose! I just picked it up along with a bunch of other vintage stuff locally. I'll be posting more stuff that came with it but, I thought this was the treasure.

I have one Jacked_72, it belonged to my grandfather, so mine a lot sentimetnal attachment.

In case you're wondering, everything I was able read about the exhaust system on these regs was that it was a way to get around USD's patented buckbill system. Healthways changed it to the more conventional system that was used by HW and Sportways for their double hose regs. I'm not certain, but I believe the Deluxe exhaust was worked over and redesigned by Sam Lecocq.

Here'a pick of a Gold label exhuast, you can see that the exhaust is on the other can and not inthe same can as the intake.(like the SCUBA)

Now, your pictures got me thinking....... Hold on to your socks people.

What if you soldered a solid flat plate over the exhaust of the SCUBA and then used an insert similar to a 1 in wagon wheel to hold a mushroom valve and then inserted that into the exhaust horn? The flat plate would keep the intake dry, while the mushroom insert would act like the weird stubby internal duckbill.... Just a thought.

As it is now, I've dove my HW and it does a leak a little water in a head down position like Searat described, but once I became aware of it I was able to deal with the leak simply by clearing the hose every few minutes. A bit of a pain, but not life threatening in any way.

 

[herman]

I assume you mean covering the hole normally covered by part 28 (see above). That does not solve much, it is easier to create a makeshift part and in either case you still have the rubber band to deal with. Then you have to find some way to secure the wagon wheel in place...might as well just use a cut off duckbill. In any case, that is not DH reg restoration 101 and I am not to sure its even in the 201 class. And when you are finished, you still have a less than optimal reg when you are done.

I am not against greatly modifying the old reg, you should see some of the stuff on my bench, Dr Frankenstein would be proud of me. Still, for someone wanting to do his first restoration and get into DH diving, it's just not the best choice, there are at least 4 or 5 other regs that would be much better...... if I can get some of the other projects off my bench, I have what I think will be a really cool Frankenstein project in mind.

 

[SwimJim]

The other thing that makes breathing better on this regulator is to have the lever arms adjusted as high as possible without leaking air. This takes a few minutes, and can be best done by holding the two parts (box and cover) together hard to simulate the effect of the clamp. Adjust it so that the arms are as high as possible and just leak, then back off the adjusting screw about 1/4 turn, put it back together then squeeze hard. If it doesn't leak, then tighten the lock nut and put it back together for one last test.

This works well on the bench. As soon as you get to 20 feet or so you'll get an unwelcomed surprise. The reg will freeflow and you won't be able to do anything about it. Been down that path, but hey, give it a shot and see what happens.​

 

[John C. Ratliff]

The other thing that makes breathing better on this regulator is to have the lever arms adjusted as high as possible without leaking air. This takes a few minutes, and can be best done by holding the two parts (box and cover) together hard to simulate the effect of the clamp. Adjust it so that the arms are as high as possible and just leak, then back off the adjusting screw about 1/4 turn, put it back together then squeeze hard. If it doesn't leak, then tighten the lock nut and put it back together for one last test...
​

Exactly...this is especially important for the first two generations of the Healthways SCUBA regulator.

Here is the Hope-Page mouthpiece system, and you can see that I have modified it for some applications (no non-return in the intake hose).

If you really want some fun, try this:

SeaRat

 

[Sitkadiver]

Did you put a gold label 1st stage into your SCUBA body?? I was wondering about the venturi tube in the above picture.... That looks totally wicked!!!

 

[herman]

I thought something looked odd, those are GL guts..