What do you call this gear?

[scubadada]

I was fortunate to have the opportunity to dive a Mark V helmet while taking Dick Rutkowski's hyperbaric medicine course at Hyperbarics International in Key Largo. This was really a tremendous experience, one that I will not forget, highly recommended.

Good diving, Craig

 

[Akimbo]

hard hat (both the old and the new as in your avatar...both are hard, not necessarily heavy, right?)

True. The “old” hats were spun copper, and displaced a lot more water than they weighed. The weight varies but the US Navy Mark V is 54 Lbs for the hat and breast plate. The navy used an 85 Lb weight belt plus 35 Lb shoes, though the commercial diving industry’s models were around 15-25% lighter.

Modern lightweight hats are pretty close to neutral in the water and in the 20-30 Lb range. Most are fiberglass and a few are Bronze or Stainless. The industry leader is Kirby Morgan. This is the same Bev Morgan who was an early pioneer in Scuba diving. With few exceptions they have demand regulators, support freeflow, and bailout bottles to backup the primary umbilical supply. Also hard-wire communications is standard.

Kirby Morgan actually started building heavy-gear/spun copper hats with dramatically improved large view ports made from 1" Plexiglas. They soon added fiberglass full face masks and starting building experimental mask/hat hybrids for the Navy. Fiberglass was one of Bev’s many talents picked up from building surf boards.

Those divers with the heavy duty metal helmets and lead boots. WWII Salvage diver.

"....the what?"…

I guess "....the what?" prompted my question. It was called “Deep Sea” or “Hard Hat” gear in the Sea Hunt Days (1950s). Heavy Gear became common in the US commercial diving industry after lightweight FFMs and hats started to dominate. I lost track of what the general population called it. Believe me, I wished it was WWII vintage. In hind sight I don’t regret training in this gear, but I am sure glad I never had to actually work in it.

As much as I hate to say it, being one of the many post-heavy gear evangelists, heavy gear still has its place. Aside from being the least expensive gear to maintain, it is what you want to wear in a cold contaminated harbor running a hack hammer. You can make yourself 50 Lbs heavy on the bottom or wrap your arms around some 200 Lb part, inflate the suit, and walk it over the bottom like you are superman… just don’t let go.

 

[ermaclob]

I now call these types of divers "hard hat diver", but before i ever started diving i was prone to call them "Big Dady" or "Metal Dady" as i played alot of Bioshock.

What is the offical term for these divers?? OP if you say that the helmet you have isnt a "hard hat" isnt it pretty much the same thing.

---------- Post Merged at 11:02 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 11:01 PM ----------

i think you answered my question as i was writing this post

 

[DandyDon]

I can buy that, but a lot of posts call the lightweight hats like the one in my avatar “hard hats”???

Your helmet looks hard. Is it?

 

[smellzlikefish]

Having no comercial or saturation diving experience, this is one of the most interesting threads I have seen on this site. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Akimbo]

I now call these types of divers "hard hat diver", but before i ever started diving i was prone to call them "Big Dady" or "Metal Dady" as i played alot of Bioshock. …

I would call these guys Sir followed up with a humble bow as I am looking for the door!

…What is the offical term for these divers?? OP if you say that the helmet you have isnt a "hard hat" isnt it pretty much the same thing…

No joke, that is why I asked the question. There is no “official name”. Even if there was, American’s probably wouldn’t use it anyway.

Hard Hat and Deep Sea Divers are the “classic” names I know. But there is obviously no “standard” used here. Besides, by modern saturation diving standards it is hard to call common air-breathing surface supplied divers “Deep Sea” — especially dressed in gear invented before the Civil War. I would not expect the term “Heavy Gear Divers” to be used outside the commercial diving industry so I thought I would ask.

---------- Post Merged at 09:09 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 09:02 PM ----------

Your helmet looks hard. Is it?

Sure, 316 Stainless Steel. Nobody is to say Hard Hat is wrong, but the term was used for the spun-copper Mark V variety long before lightweigh hats and hot water suits (or wetsuits for that mattter) were invented.

 

[ermaclob]

Sure, 316 Stainless Steel. Nobody is to say Hard Hat is wrong, but the term was used for the spun-copper Mark V variety long before lightweigh hats and hot water suits (or wetsuits for that mattter) were invented.

just as a generality, any dive helmet thats make a knocking sound when you knock on it is a hard hat to me.

to be honest i, think of "hard hat diving" as the type of diving when some one walks (no fins), with a surface air line to a helmet (doesn't mater what its made of). if you use use tanks its scuba even with a hard helmet. at least thats how i think of it. this really isnt a subject i ponder about

 

[DaleC]

I call it awesome!

When they came on the scene, the first SCUBA divers (Cousteau first labeled them "menfish") were called "skin divers" because they were relatively naked in comparison to hardhat divers, who were just called "divers". They were also called "free divers" because they were not tethered to the surface like real divers. This was all very distrusted by most of the existing diving fraternity as being quite dangerous. As SCUBA became common place, snorkelers began to be called "skin divers" as they then became rather lightly dressed in comparison. Now the term "free diver" is used to describe a snorkeler who's main objective is to descend beneath the surface (rather than float and look down).

 

[AfterDark]

I can buy that, but a lot of posts call the lightweight hats like the one in my avatar “hard hats”???

Hard Hat (heavy rig) Helmet rig a major diffference IMO is the helmet rig can faciltate underwater swimming.

 

[Drewpy]

Museum artifacts..