Watching Jacques Cousteau Silent World. What are the three tanks for?

[00wabbit]

Hi, I'm a newly certified diver and have been watching a lot of videos on diving. I just watched Silent World by Jaques Cousteau in the 50's. They are diving with 3 tank "aqualungs". How did does three tanks work?

 

[Wookie]

Isn't that the coolest thing ever, and they were made by US Divers. It's 3 30 cu ft cylinders on a triple manifold. Works exactly like a single tank. There's a bunch of pictures in this thread.

 

[james croft]

Hi, I'm a newly certified diver and have been watching a lot of videos on diving. I just watched Silent World by Jaques Cousteau in the 50's. They are diving with 3 tank "aqualungs". How did does three tanks work?

I have a set of triples from 1956. It is really no different than a set of doubles that has a manifold that allows all the tanks to equalize together. There are no isolation valves to separate the tanks. My set has a j-valve with a pull rod that allows me to have a reserve of a few hundred pounds. I pull it when it becomes harder to breath and it allows me to use the rest of the air to make my ascent. They are fun to dive and look pretty cool.

 

[regulator bj]

The triples used by "Cousteau one of the cylinders the right hand was inverted and was the reserve which could be activated when the main supply was depleted circa 1947 same sets issued to the French Navy at that time .

 

[captain]

Isn't that the coolest thing ever, and they were made by US Divers. It's 3 30 cu ft cylinders on a triple manifold. Works exactly like a single tank. There's a bunch of pictures in this thread.

Those were not the tanks used by the Cousteau team in the 1950. They are a much later attempt at replicating the tanks used by Cousteau during the filming of the TV series The Under Sea World of Jaques Cousteau in the 1970's

 

[Paladin]

If I remember correctly, in the original triple tank setup, the third tank was a reserve as regulator bj said.

 

[koozemani]

Where can I find a DVD copy of Silent World?

Hijack done

 

[regulator bj]

Copy of "The Silent World" and "World Without Sun" can be found via the "Amazon"web siteView attachment 127711

 

[00wabbit]

I'm on my phone right now but if you go over to the books and media section I posted a YouTube link to the full length movie.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

The triple tanks used by Cousteau in the 1950s through the 1960s were never available in the USA. The valving of the third cylinder was pretty unique, and allowed the one cylinder to remain full while the other two were breathed down to almost zero psig. As Cousteau described it in the patent:

...Referring to Figs. 1, 2 and 3, A and B are two cylinders containing compressed air but which might as well be filled with any other compressed breathable gas. On the cylinder A is mounted a [valve] J through which the compressed air is admitted to the two cylinders for purposes of filling them. The air inhaled by the diver is with drawn from the cylinders through a common pipe N. A third cylinder C serves as a reserve; the gas contained in it being available for the diver when he feels that the supply of gas contained in the two cylinders A and B is close to being exhausted. The capacity of this third cylinder is sufficiently large to supply sufficient air to the diver to enable him to rise to the surface sufficiently slowly. The diver can thus dispense with any instruments for measuring the pressure in the two cylinders A and B. The air is withdrawn from the reserve cylinder C through a pipe O. Pipes N and O are provided with [valves] K and L, respectively, which are operated by the diver. While two cylinders A and B have been shown for the normal supply of air to the diver, only one could be utilized instead...
United States Patent Office, Patent #2,485,039, DIVING UNIT, Jacques Yves Cousteau and Emile Gagnan, Paris, France, Application March 10, 1943, Serial No. 733,658, page 1

(I have substituted the word [valve] for a word that is not allowed is some internet programs, but also means a valve.)

Note that Cousteau specifically decided against an underwater gauge. They used this unit for about 20 years before going to other styles.

The advantage of this system, which is not currently available, as that all the dive team members could hear when one of the divers went on the reserve cylinder, and the ringing of the equalizing air from the third cylinder into the other two cylinders was quite distinct. It is heard on the movie version of The Silent World and described by Cousteau in the book of the same name.

The closest that divers in the USA came to having this type of audio reserve was the sonic reserves provided in Healthways Scubair 300 regulators and in Scubapro's Mark 7 first stage, with its "Audio 'Low Air' Warning". Scubapro's 1986 Catalog stated:

In 1972, Scubapro introduced a unique first stage, The Audio "Low Air" Warning Mk 7. This totally new first stage, made from a massive 66.7 ounce solid brass forging, combined the balanced flow through piston with a "Sonic Alarm" that triggers on inhalation after the tank pressure drops below approximately 350 psig. This extremely dependable warning signal has the advantage of "announcing a low air condition not only to the diver using the regulator, but also to all other divers in the water up to 60 feet away."...

This Mark 7 first stage was discontinued when tropical divers felt the vibrations from this system attracted sharks, from what I've been told.

SeaRat