Vintage Healthways Double Hose Reg

[Ed Palma]

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.

I liked that idea Sitka, but you'd need to get the exhaust valve as close to the center of the sensing diaphragm to avoid free-flows in certain positions.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

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!!!

Yes, you are correct. It is a Gold Label Healthways SCUBA guts inside a first generation SCUBA body. I had it put together that way about a year ago, and took the photos then. Then I put it back together as a first generation regulator, and last night reconfigured it to the hybrid Healthways SCUBA with the GL body. It really breaths nicely. The lever adjustment with the diaphragm exhalation valve is critical, as if there is any leakage it seals the diaphragm against the inner tube, and increases exhalation resistance. But with the lever height set so there is no leakage, this regulator breaths like a charm on both inhalation and exhalation.

Let me talk a bit about the exhalation, and your idea of a plate. I don't think this is a good way to solve the problem. Like DocEd says, you would then create a situation that has a height problem. This exhaust system was created by the Healthways team under Gustav Dalla Valle's direction, and they actually did a very good job. The internal exhalation diaphragm allows a huge air flow out the exhalation tube, and is no problem in most orientations except head-down. In a head-down position, there will be leakage, as you now know. It is minor, but is also annoying as there can be a significant amount of water to be cleared from the tube once you regain a horizontal or head-up position. Healthways placed the small duckbill (see the first photos by Jacked72) to keep water from coming up the hose when in that head-down position. In all other orientations, the internal air pressure seals the diaphragm against the inner tube. There are a few ways to cope with this without the original duckbill:

--Add a duckbill, trimmed to fit inside the inner tube of the exhalation horn. This is easily done with a bit of experimentation. I took off enough rubber from a conventional USD duckbill to allow it to fit inside without touching the sealing surfaces of the diaphragm at the end of the inner tube. I also took off the end, allowing the duckbill to open completely if enough exhaust exhalation was needed. All you need is to have the two surfaces together to keep water out of the hose.

--Instead of a duckbill, you can put a non-return wagon wheel from a Nemrod Snark III mouthpiece into the first corrugation of the exhaust hose. This will keep the water from going beyond that point, but will still allow a bit of water into the hose. It wall also, in most orientations allow the exhaust diaphragm to seal against the inner tube. But it does increase significantly the exhalation resistance, as all mushroom valves do (including the Gold Label SCUBA).

This regulator, configured with the GL guts and with a USD cut-down exhalation valve, will most likely out-perform a USD Mistral in both inhalation and exhalation resistance with the same hose/mouthpiece system. I have the Hope-Page mouthpiece, with Mares silicone mushroom valves in the inhalation and exhalation wagon wheels.

SeaRat

 

[John C. Ratliff]

About three weeks ago, I acquired another Healthways SCUBA regulator, the original one. It had the exhaust duckbill still in the regulator, and intact. After spraying it with silicone several times, I was able to peel it away from the regulator exhaust tube, and got it out pretty much intact (one small slit in the side where the C-clamp goes). It was very "brittle" when I started, but is now supple and looks like it can be used. I have photos, which I have yet to download, which I'll share later. This is another project, and will give me another opportunity to experience my first regulator from 1959 again.

SeaRat