Who invented the first backplate and wing?

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John Zumrick introduced the term "Hogarth" as his description of what Main and others were doing at the time. If you listen to John tell it, there is a lot of double meaning in the use of the name itself, Bill's attitude, and what went "wrong before" with that particular diving "group" that drove Bill nuts. A lot of North Florida cave diving prior to the early WKPP was done solo or by a pair of divers. Zumrick was diving deep into the WKP (I mean 300' on air) in the 1960's, so was Sheck in the 1970's, and several others were doing who know's what?

A lot was invented, modified, and goofed-around-with. Flanagan, at the least, came up with what was needed that had not existed before in other backplate designs.
 
Then you agree ;


"The first Back plate was manufactured by a defunct company called Sea Craft in Wilmington, Mass. in 1960. It was a 1/8 thick aluminum plate to which the scuba tanks of that era were attatched.
They were idenified as follows;
FA 320 singe tank................$15.95
FA 321 double tank...............$21.95
FA 322 triple tank (44cuft) ....$24.95
I do not know who invented it..The company was sold to New Enland Divers in the mid 1960s.

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F.J. Voit, of Santa Ana, California introduced the first detachable back plate in 1963. The back plate attatched to the bands on the tank via clips.
It was identified as follows;
DS 297 single tank unit....$11.00
DS 261 Double tank unit....$13.00
It was designed by Fred Roberts Jr.
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The "BIU" or "Wings" origin and inventor can a probably will be always be disputed. Scuba Pro and Sea tec inflatable systems both introduced units in 1975.

The Scuba pro unit was idenified as follows;
Bouyancy control pack #570 $165.00.
Scuba Pro had a number of very inovative engineers and may have designed the unit, how ever I suspect that they copied the unit forn Inflatable Systems.
It was produced in Ensenada Baja California Mexico (Yes it was Mexican Made!) by Ruben Pena for Scuba Pro in Compton California, USA
`````'
Sea Tec Inflatable systems of Orange California concurrently introduced a unit identified as Back Inflation Unit (BIU) for only $89.00. It was the revolutionary double bag unit that could and was produced and marketed at 1/2 the price of Scuba pro units and the ones that followed.
It was manufactured in Orange California by its designer and CEO Harry Rescigno (Pro++ "re cin o0")

If require more information it will be necessary to purchase my forthcoming book..

Cheers from California where it all started

SDM"]
 
And after all that, cave divers had to make their own to get something that worked?
 
MikeFerrara:
And after all that, cave divers had to make their own to get something that worked?

We are talking about Scubapro here. About the only thing they've made that's been worth it's money has been the Jet fin, their MK series regulators, and some of their computers, which were part of a company purchase. :11: :popcorn:
 
H2Andy:
i think his backplate was not "of the modern standard" that you see today

that goes back to Flanagan

there were backplates in the market prior to Main making his own ... i assume he just decided not to pay for one and make his own out of a stop sign, or perhaps he was not aware of them

Greg Flanagan invented what we we consider the modern backplate out of a stop sign in 1979. One thing that was commonly used up to that point was the Navy harness which basically had the harness built into the bands through slits in the bands. Most people used a horsecollar BC for lift,or later with wings they tied the wings into place using cave line. I actually still use a homemade backplate that came from that early period.
 
Whether Greg Flanagan's plate would have been patentable is one issue. Regarldless of who had what filed in a patent office someplace, his plate and subsequent use by cave and technical divers is how we came to use them.
 
While Greg clearly came up with a design in 1979, that was hardly the first such system, as Sam Miller clearly shows.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/
http://cavediveflorida.com/Rum_House.htm

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