Vintage?
- Thread starter RickI
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Ron,
I've had no problem getting a visual inspection from my LDS. My cylinders are current, and I think I got a recent hydro too. I'll check during supper tonight and see when I got the hydro.
SeaRat
I've had no problem getting a visual inspection from my LDS. My cylinders are current, and I think I got a recent hydro too. I'll check during supper tonight and see when I got the hydro.
SeaRat
AfterDark,
I'm stumped then about how your regulator failed. I thought that if it was an AMF Voit 50 Fathom, with the downstream valve, I had a plausible answer. Now, since it is a Jet Air (which uses the same mechanism as a Mistral, just a plastic body, a bit different orifice and slightly different orientation of the nozzle to the intake horn) I decided to take my Mistral mechanism and try to duplicate the levers falling off due to a wrong alignment. But after loosening, removing a nut to the adjusting wheel, and shaking the regulator (assembled in my hand), I could not get the levers to disengage. They physically cannot be changed one for the other. Even when very loose, they would not come inadvertently out of their slot. So a loss of the demand levers was not at all probable. This was an informal FEMA (Failure Modes and Effects Analysis). One of the previous posters has already shown that even the HP spring breaking would not cause a failure. This regulator is so simple, and well-designed, that it is darn-near fool-proof.
I'm now tending to think it wasn't the regulator at all. If you were diving in the early 1970s or 1960s when this happened, you were probably diving a steel 72 cubic foot tank. Those tanks, when not well cared for, develop internal rust. You were diving, head down I presume. It is possible that a large rust scale broke loose, hit and stuck into the valve's tube. If it did not have a tube (some were removed), this is even more probable. This would cause an instantaneous loss of air; those valve tubes are there because of this possibility, and I think a piece of rust got lodged in that tube, as improbable as that may seem. Anyway, it is a thought I wanted to share.
SeaRat
OP
RickI
Contributor
Excellent photos David, thank you for putting them up. They put me in mind of some of the full face masks with twin snorkels that showed up on this side of the Atlantic in the 1950's. Did anyone ever try one? I am old school, not that old however, in liking wide bore, short barrel snorkels. Usually cut them off a bit in decrease breathing resistance. The length of the snorkels suggest some significant breathing resistance even fogging issues. Were they that tough to use? Great stuff, thanks again.
I did use full face masks at times in the past but only with SCUBA. A USD that I set up with a mic and housed tape recorder to aid taking notes on the reef as a teen. It was funny that divers over ten feet away could hear what I was saying. Lots on here probably also used Desco and Kirby Morgan masks, nice systems. Never tried one with an integrated snorkel though.
I did use full face masks at times in the past but only with SCUBA. A USD that I set up with a mic and housed tape recorder to aid taking notes on the reef as a teen. It was funny that divers over ten feet away could hear what I was saying. Lots on here probably also used Desco and Kirby Morgan masks, nice systems. Never tried one with an integrated snorkel though.
Several models of snorkel mask were manufactured as early as the 1950s in Europe. The following file contains information about, and illustrations of, a few early examples, mostly with one snorkel:
http://www.hdsitalia.com/articoli/20_attrezzature.pdf
I also recall seeing masks of this kind in stores selling snorkelling equipment during the 1960s. There are still one or two snorkel masks in production, for example the following product of Greek diving equipment manufacturer Majorca Sub:
Snorkel masks fell out of favour over the years, but I remember a recent thread on a spearfishing forum where the original poster was seeking a snorkel mask for someone who wanted to float on the surface of the water without diving, watching the sea life below, but gagged when using a conventional snorkel. I think the thread had a positive outcome for the OP in the form of the twin-snorkel mask below, made by another Greek diving equipment maker, Eurobalco:
You can read the full thread at
Mediterranean Fishing • View topic - EUROBALCO - Help from Greece?
David Wilson
Contributor
Thanks for responding to my snorkel mask message. I've never tried one myself, so I can't comment personally on the potential of the item for fogging or breathing issues. However, I've read somewhere that they do still have a place when snorkelling on or just below the surface of the water. Here's a further couple of snorkel masks from the 1950s, a Cressi Italian import:
Thanks again for your interest.
OP
RickI
Contributor
Great post again! Really like the old ads, checkout those spring driven spearguns. The mask descriptions even layout a hierarchy for use. It is interesting how most of the dual snorkel full face masks use similar stoppers. Wonder how well they worked particularly in waves. It is interesting the Rodines seem to have changed little over all this time.
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