Allison Finch
Contributor
I still have my old mark VII first stage. I have really good air consumption, so I never got to the audio.
Watching Jacques Cousteau Silent World. What are the three tanks for?
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james croft
Contributor
Obviously or you would not have been writing this as you would be in the belly of a shark right now.
DaleC
Contributor
These are the tanks wookie was talking about
and, while not exactly the same as the "Silent World" tanks, these tanks show how the reserve mechanism works. The valve on top opens tanks left and middle while the valve on bottom right opens tank right:
and these are some USD triples with the J valve as described:
all are photo's taken of Ryan's "Flashback Scuba" display at the Tacoma Dive Expo.
and, while not exactly the same as the "Silent World" tanks, these tanks show how the reserve mechanism works. The valve on top opens tanks left and middle while the valve on bottom right opens tank right:
and these are some USD triples with the J valve as described:
all are photo's taken of Ryan's "Flashback Scuba" display at the Tacoma Dive Expo.
Dale,
I think he's talking about the triple set shown in this thread, and not any of the ones you show above:
The Vintage Scuba Diving Community Forum - Cousteau triples survive!
John
I think he's talking about the triple set shown in this thread, and not any of the ones you show above:
The Vintage Scuba Diving Community Forum - Cousteau triples survive!
John
captain
Contributor
The Cousteau tanks had necks on both ends. The two outside tanks necks were plugged on the top and the center tank had the post valve screwed in the neck to attach the regulator and serve as the filling point.
At the bottom the tanks were manifolded together. The right end of the manifold was valved and acted as the reserve. What appears to be a manifold on ther top and bottom acts as bands to hold the three tanks together. It is three collars connected together by a bar that I suspect screwed over the necks of the tanks.
When filling the tanks from the top middle post valve the bottom valve on the right tank must be open. Once the tanks were filled the bottom right valve was closed and it became the reserve tank.
At the bottom the tanks were manifolded together. The right end of the manifold was valved and acted as the reserve. What appears to be a manifold on ther top and bottom acts as bands to hold the three tanks together. It is three collars connected together by a bar that I suspect screwed over the necks of the tanks.
When filling the tanks from the top middle post valve the bottom valve on the right tank must be open. Once the tanks were filled the bottom right valve was closed and it became the reserve tank.
Allison Finch
Contributor
Some Cousteau photos of the rigs
With the faring
Inside
Frederick Dumas in a Cousteau rig
So futuristic
Click on photos to enlarge.
With the faring
Inside
Frederick Dumas in a Cousteau rig
So futuristic
Click on photos to enlarge.
captain
Contributor
Cousteau was a film maker and his enclosed cylinders, helmets, silver wet suits and other futuristic gear was more about showmanship than function. Only the divers who were being filmed wore the futuristic gear.
DaleC
Contributor
Now the cat's out of the bag.
When I was climbing we used to say that for the french, it was just as important to look good that to be good. Though to be fair - they were pretty good. The Canadians on the other hand always looked like refugees from a logging camp.
When I was climbing we used to say that for the french, it was just as important to look good that to be good. Though to be fair - they were pretty good. The Canadians on the other hand always looked like refugees from a logging camp.
All of those are Cousteau/ Calypso diver’s pictures and equipment except for the second one.
The first picture is JYC himself with a RAID system made by Technisub. It was commercially available and the Calypso team used them in that color and silver. That system only had two cylinders with a very well designed reserve.
The second picture is of the inside of a US Divers UDS system. That had a Conshelf style single hose regulator built into the manifold. Cousteau and the Calypso divers never used this system.
US Divers made this system to look similar to the earlier yellow shell Cousteau hydrodynamic rig, just to capitalize on the somewhat similar look, but it actually was very different than anything the Calypso divers ever used.
For more information and lots of equipment pictures Cousteau/ Calypso, I recommend going to:
Flashback Scuba: Simply Adventure
Look under the museum link. You will find lots of great dive pictures and gear.
The first picture is JYC himself with a RAID system made by Technisub. It was commercially available and the Calypso team used them in that color and silver. That system only had two cylinders with a very well designed reserve.
The second picture is of the inside of a US Divers UDS system. That had a Conshelf style single hose regulator built into the manifold. Cousteau and the Calypso divers never used this system.
US Divers made this system to look similar to the earlier yellow shell Cousteau hydrodynamic rig, just to capitalize on the somewhat similar look, but it actually was very different than anything the Calypso divers ever used.
For more information and lots of equipment pictures Cousteau/ Calypso, I recommend going to:
Flashback Scuba: Simply Adventure
Look under the museum link. You will find lots of great dive pictures and gear.
I own a UDS-1 and have written extensively about it here.
It was manufactured with two problems:
1. It's harness was a combination of European and USA designs. It had the European shoulder straps, which go way down on the unit, and it had a waist strap originating from where the lower attachment for the shoulder strap. Unfortunately, this placed the unit's waist strap below the hips, or the shoulder straps too tight.
2. The unit's buoyancy was such that the top of the unit came away from the diver's back (valves on the bottom of the unit) and caught a lot of water. This caused this "streamlined" unit to act anything but streamlined.
These two engineering design problems were overcome in my unit by not using the waist strap (pictured is the unit hooked up to my Para-Sea BC with hip connectors for the scuba), and by weighting the top of the unit by about six pounds. Then, you had a dream unit. The openings were larger than any unit I know of, so the air flow was almost effortless even at very low pressures.
Unfortunately, it still has problems and is sitting disassembled in my garage right now. The problems are that the filler hose attachment broke, and I need to rig up a better means of filling it. But more importantly, the cylinders are one-of-a-kind, with a one-inch opening instead of a 3/4 inch opening. Because it is an aluminum tank, no one currently will hydro test these cylinders as the eddie-current test apparatus apparently does not exist for these one-inch opening cylinders. The hydro facility my LDS uses declined to test the cylinders. I'm currently looking at options for getting the hydro test accomplished on them.
John
It was manufactured with two problems:
1. It's harness was a combination of European and USA designs. It had the European shoulder straps, which go way down on the unit, and it had a waist strap originating from where the lower attachment for the shoulder strap. Unfortunately, this placed the unit's waist strap below the hips, or the shoulder straps too tight.
2. The unit's buoyancy was such that the top of the unit came away from the diver's back (valves on the bottom of the unit) and caught a lot of water. This caused this "streamlined" unit to act anything but streamlined.
These two engineering design problems were overcome in my unit by not using the waist strap (pictured is the unit hooked up to my Para-Sea BC with hip connectors for the scuba), and by weighting the top of the unit by about six pounds. Then, you had a dream unit. The openings were larger than any unit I know of, so the air flow was almost effortless even at very low pressures.
Unfortunately, it still has problems and is sitting disassembled in my garage right now. The problems are that the filler hose attachment broke, and I need to rig up a better means of filling it. But more importantly, the cylinders are one-of-a-kind, with a one-inch opening instead of a 3/4 inch opening. Because it is an aluminum tank, no one currently will hydro test these cylinders as the eddie-current test apparatus apparently does not exist for these one-inch opening cylinders. The hydro facility my LDS uses declined to test the cylinders. I'm currently looking at options for getting the hydro test accomplished on them.
John
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