When did modern BC's show up???

[Ed Jewell]

Back in the 70s, I remember divers bemoaning the newly introduced back-mounted BC. "If your uncounscious on the surface, they will float you face down and kill you".

 

[ew1usnr]

Hey, Devjr. Great article. The hard shell Dacor BC that you mention came out in 1977. It was called the Nautilus and was an automatic BC. It had its own built-in regulator that would add air as you went down and would vent air as you came up. You established bouyancy at the beginning of the dive and the BC would automatically maintain it thoughout the dive as you changed depth. It would also maintain a constant ascent rate chosen by the diver. No more run away ascents from an expanding BC. I'm not making this up. It worked like a ballast tank on a submarine and was the most advanced BC ever marketed. The crazy US Diver BC with the straps that you mentioned was the Calypso. A horse collar was infinitely better than that thing.

An ADV advanced design BC took a jacket type BC and replaced the middle part of the front air bags, on left and right, with adjustable straps. This gave you the open front of a wings BC with the ability to float you head up like jacket BC. These came out in the mid-80's and became the standard BC design.

 

[caveseeker7]

Ed Jewell once bubbled...
... Fenzy (a British or French company) developed the first true buoyancy compensator ...
... has stood the test of time and is still available from Scuba Pro

Fenzy is a French company, and the horse collar design has stood the test of time, too. It's still available from a handfull of companies, including Fenzy in France and A.P. Valves in Britain. These days they have a LP hose hook-up, though the A.P. Valves versions still come with their own cylinder (as do most of their BCs).

Walter, the jackets have a circular airspace through which your arm goes. Most have some sort of harness inside for adjustment, but for most part they either fit or don't. As mentioned, Scubapro still sells them, and A.P.Valves' Sea King is in that category.
The ADV have the airspace below your arm, and usually yp your back. But ist doesn't go around your shoulders. That's where the adjustable quick-release buckles are.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

My first BC was a Scubapro BCP. I eventually upgraded it to use the newer nylon cam strap rather than the metal strap with it's nifty locking handle, but eventually ran into problems with seam leaks and traded it in on a new jacket styl BC.

I also used a Watergill Atpac. The weight integration was ahead of it's time and used fairly large diameter shot. It was carried inside the back pack and was dropped through a trap door in the bottom of the back pack. The problem was the large diameter shot could hang up and not actually dump when needed. The system also used marbles to take up the extra space in the pac to prevent the lead from shifting around.

One of the main problems was that the over pressure relief valve was built into the inflator hose assembly and was a little inadequate by modern standards. Dumping was accomplished through the power inflator and the LP inflator hose ran inside the larger hose leaving just a fitting on the shoulder and a short 8" section of hose. Pretty streamlined even by modern standards. The fitting by the way is essentially identical to the standard LP fitting used today.

Some also used a plastic assembly to connect the hose with the bladder and contain the OPV and the LP fitting. This assembly had a bad habit of cracking which rendered the BC largely useless due to the lack of another OPV valve. My original Atpac had the plastic assembly and of course cracked and the bladder developed a series of pin hole leaks before blowing a seam. I got a few more years out of it by buying another one for parts but it too eventually died.

I used to dive extensively below a hydroelectric powerplant and the low drag qualities of the back mounted wing were preferable in the 5 kt currents you could encounter. The atpac offerred much less drag than the "new and improved" jacket style BC's in the long dry spell before back mounted wings and BC's came back into vouge.

I bought another one a couple years ago in excellent condition with the metal assembly and a leak free bladder for all of $20.00.

I also still have the fairing and while well made, it is large and a little unwieldy out of the water. It also requires you to thread your SPG/console through a smallish hole over one shoulder and your second stages through a smallish hole over the other shoulder. Given it's size, I always doubted it's drag reduction potential and have never used it much.

 

[drbill]

I used a backpack from the early 60's until 1989 when I was told I had to dive with a BCD on a Cousteau trip in the Channel Islands (Santa Cruz). I put it on and had nothing but trouble (it was auto-inflating but I had trouble convincing my buddy). Finally pulled the inflator hose and did the dive without the BCD.

Started using them routinely in the mid-90's and appreciate them now.

Dr. Bill

 

[Bob3]

The UDT vest I used in the late 60s was made in 1951. The bugger is still useable today, tho I yanked the CO2 detonators off a long time ago.
SEATEC still makes the wing version that goes on the plain vanilla plastic backpacks.
Fred, you're right about the Northern Diver Xwing, I've had one of those on the old plastic packs as well.
Did I ever mention the plastic backpack that I filled with lead shot?

 

[Dave McLean]

History of BCs: https://drive.google.com/folderview...6YW5udTQ&resourcekey=0-6GqzbfA2lyX5WYQvoh56fg

I was the design engineer for the ADV.

 

[scubadada]

I bought my first scuba gear in 1972, state of the art Scubapro, This included a MK5/109 with a SPG. My back pack and flotation vest were separate, however, the vest was very much like a modern BC, complete with low pressure inflation hose

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Interesting how we gone almost full circle with BC systems.
At first there was no BC, then different crude versions of experimental BC’s, then an “official” marketable BC in the form of a jacket, then jackets on steroids, then the modern back plate gets introduced, and now it seems the modern back plate and a few offshoots are gaining ground in popularity just based on their simplicity, minimalistic design, modularity, streamlined nature, adjustability, and ease of maintenance.
If the modern BP/W was invented back then at the same time the jacket was invented and used as it is today with proper weighting and trim, I don’t believe the jacket would have ever made it. There would have been no reason to.
The only reason the poodle jacket made it was because there was no other effective alternative.
Now there is.

 

[Nemrod]

Interesting how we gone almost full circle with BC systems.
At first there was no BC, then different crude versions of experimental BC’s, then an “official” marketable BC in the form of a jacket, then jackets on steroids, then the modern back plate gets introduced, and now it seems the modern back plate and a few offshoots are gaining ground in popularity just based on their simplicity, minimalistic design, modularity, streamlined nature, adjustability, and ease of maintenance.
If the modern BP/W was invented back then at the same time the jacket was invented and used as it is today with proper weighting and trim, I don’t believe the jacket would have ever made it. There would have been no reason to.
The only reason the poodle jacket made it was because there was no other effective alternative.
Now there is.

This thread is so old it is fossilized. But I am (was) a geologist with a minor in paleo so it is okay. I like fossils.

I was numerous times denied the use of my early SP back inflate BC and later fussed at incessantly by self appointed DMs about my back inflate SeaTec BCs to the point that I always kept (and still do) a functioning horse collar BC and almost threw in the towel and got a poodle jacket. Why so much grief, and we are talking 70s and 80s mostly here, well, it was claimed that the back inflate BC would shove a diver face down and a jacket style (or horse collar) would float me face up (prove that!). My retort was to show me the USCG approved Type rating on any BC of any sort showing that they are designed to be anything other than for buoyancy compensation regardless of what other possible and unproven qualities they might have.

I dive a wing/BP, basically always have since circa 1976, before that none or a horse collar. And two years ago I finally got my wife into one, only took 42 years to transition her and finally she has seen the light. And then she immediately grabbed my spare VDH plate and VDH 18 pounds wing claiming them both as hers. What can I do----- . Roses come with thorns!

James