Standard diving dress
Encyclopedia
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
, brass
Brass
Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc; the proportions of zinc and copper can be varied to create a range of brasses with varying properties.In comparison, bronze is principally an alloy of copper and tin...
or bronze
Bronze
Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...
) diving helmet
Diving helmet
Diving helmets are worn mainly by professional divers engaged in surface supplied diving, though many models can be adapted for use with scuba equipment....
, an airline or hose
Air hose
Air hoses are used in underwater diving, such as scuba diving, to carry air from the surface or from air tanks or diving pumps to the diver. Air hoses are therefore a necessary part of standard diving dress and any type of surface supplied diving equipment....
from a surface supplied diving
Surface supplied diving
Surface supplied diving refers to divers using equipment supplied with breathing gas using a diver's umbilical from the surface, either from the shore or from a diving support vessel sometimes indirectly via a diving bell...
air pump, a canvas diving suit
Diving suit
A diving suit is a garment or device designed to protect a diver from the underwater environment. A diving suit typically also incorporates an air-supply .-History:...
, diving knife
Knife
A knife is a cutting tool with an exposed cutting edge or blade, hand-held or otherwise, with or without a handle. Knives were used at least two-and-a-half million years ago, as evidenced by the Oldowan tools...
and boots. An important part of the equipment is the addition of lead
Lead
Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...
weights, generally on the chest, back and boots, to counteract the buoyancy
Buoyancy
In physics, buoyancy is a force exerted by a fluid that opposes an object's weight. In a column of fluid, pressure increases with depth as a result of the weight of the overlying fluid. Thus a column of fluid, or an object submerged in the fluid, experiences greater pressure at the bottom of the...
of the helmet and diving suit.
This type of diving equipment is also known as hard-hat equipment or a "John Brown
John Brown & Company
John Brown and Company of Clydebank was a pre-eminent Scottish marine engineering and shipbuilding firm, responsible for building many notable and world-famous ships, such as the , the , the , the , the , and the...
" rig, so-called after the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
company that built many of the helmets. In the United States, it is sometimes known as a "Diver Dan" outfit, from the television show of the same name
Diver Dan
Diver Dan was a series of 104 seven-minute live-action shorts made for children's television. Made by Brian Cartoons, it was syndicated and distributed by ITC Entertainment...
. It was commonly used for underwater civil engineering
Civil engineering
Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including works like roads, bridges, canals, dams, and buildings...
, commercial diving
Commercial Diving
Professional diving is a type of diving where the divers are paid for their work. There are several branches of professional diving, the most well known of which is probably commercial diving...
and naval diving.
Suit description
From the late 1800s and throughout most of the 20th century, most Standard Dresses consisted of a solid sheet of rubber between layers of tanned twillTwill
Twill is a type of textile weave with a pattern of diagonal parallel ribs . This is done by passing the weft thread over one or more warp threads and then under two or more warp threads and so on, with a "step" or offset between rows to create the characteristic diagonal pattern. Because of this...
. Their thick vulcanized rubber collar is clamped to the corselet
Corselet
A corselet or corselette is a type of foundation garment, sharing elements of both brassieres and girdles. It may incorporate lace in front or in back...
making the joint waterproof
Waterproofing
Waterproof or water-resistant describes objects relatively unaffected by water or resisting the ingress of water under specified conditions. Such items may be used in wet environments or under water to specified depths...
. The inner collar (bib) was made of the same material as the dress and pull up inside the corselet and around the diver's neck. The wrist cuffs are also made of vulcanized rubber. The twill was available as heavy, medium, and light with the heavy working best against rough surfaces like barnacles and rocks. Three sizes were available; however, there was only one size corselet. Different types of dress are defined by the clamping of the outer collar clamps to the corselet. The legs are laced to prevent gas from getting trapped in the legs and dragging the diver to the surface.
History
In 1405, Konrad KyeserKonrad Kyeser
Konrad Kyeser was a German military engineer, author of Bellifortis , a book on siege engines popular throughout the 15th century...
describes a diving dress that is made of a leather jacket and metal helmet with two glass windows. The jacket and helmet were lined by sponge to "retain the air" and a leather pipe was connected to a bag of air.
The first design for a diving dress to be printed in a book was by Vegetius in 1511.
Borelli
Giovanni Alfonso Borelli
Giovanni Alfonso Borelli was a Renaissance Italian physiologist, physicist, and mathematician. He contributed to the modern principle of scientific investigation by continuing Galileo's custom of testing hypotheses against observation...
published a dress that consisted of self-contained underwater breathing apparatus
Rebreather
A rebreather is a type of breathing set that provides a breathing gas containing oxygen and recycled exhaled gas. This recycling reduces the volume of breathing gas used, making a rebreather lighter and more compact than an open-circuit breathing set for the same duration in environments where...
consisting of a metal helmet, a pipe to "regenerate" air, a leather suit, and a means of controlling the diver's buoyancy
Buoyancy
In physics, buoyancy is a force exerted by a fluid that opposes an object's weight. In a column of fluid, pressure increases with depth as a result of the weight of the overlying fluid. Thus a column of fluid, or an object submerged in the fluid, experiences greater pressure at the bottom of the...
.
In 1690, Thames Divers, a short lived London diving company, gave public demonstrations of a Vegetius type shallow water diving dress.
Klingert designed a full diving dress in 1797. This design consisted of a large metal helmet and similarly large metal belt connected by leather jacket and pants.
A diving helmet was designed by Charles Anthony Deane
Charles Anthony Deane
Charles Anthony Deane was a pioneering diving engineer.Born in Deptford, Charles and his brother John and studied at the Greenwich Hospital School for Boys to become merchant seamen, going to sea at the age of 14 for a period of 7 years before returning to Deptford.Charles Deane then took up...
, a ship's caulker, in 1820 in England. The patent was sold to his employer Edward Barnard
Edward Barnard
Edward Barnard may refer to:*Edward Barnard , provost of Eton* Edward Emerson Barnard , American astronomer* Edward Barnard , Canadian politician...
. It was originally intended as a fire fighter's breathing apparatus, but was not well received and underwater use was an after thought.
In 1825, the first self-contained diving dress with a compressed air source was designed by William H. James. The helmet was a "thin copper or sole of leather" with a plate window. The air was supplied from an iron reservoir.
In 1837, Augustus Siebe
Augustus Siebe
Augustus Siebe was a German-born British engineer chiefly known for his contributions to diving equipment.- Contribution to diving :...
designed a suit where the helmet was sealed to the suit making the suit watertight. The helmet could not flood no matter how the diver moved, resulting in safer and more efficient underwater
Underwater
Underwater is a term describing the realm below the surface of water where the water exists in a natural feature such as an ocean, sea, lake, pond, or river. Three quarters of the planet Earth is covered by water...
work.
When Augustus Siebe died in 1872, he left his business to his son and his son-in-law and the firm became known as Siebe Gorman
Siebe Gorman
Siebe Gorman & Company Ltd was a British company which developed diving equipment and breathing equipment and worked on commercial diving and marine salvage projects...
. It continued until 1999.
The overall design of the helmet and dress changed little over the years until superseded in the 1950s with the Aqua-Lung
Aqua-lung
Aqua-Lung was the original name of the first open-circuit free-swimming underwater breathing set in reaching worldwide popularity and commercial success...
being adapted to surface supplied air, known as hookah. The Aqua-Lung is now called scuba
Scuba set
A scuba set is an independent breathing set that provides a scuba diver with the breathing gas necessary to breathe underwater during scuba diving. It is much used for sport diving and some sorts of work diving....
. The modern fiberglass
Fiberglass
Glass fiber is a material consisting of numerous extremely fine fibers of glass.Glassmakers throughout history have experimented with glass fibers, but mass manufacture of glass fiber was only made possible with the invention of finer machine tooling...
helmet and other lightweight designs now fill the role. Helmets are used primarily for commercial and industrial purposes which includes special uses such a deep saturation diving
Saturation diving
Saturation diving is a diving technique that allows divers to reduce the risk of decompression sickness when they work at great depth for long periods of time....
.
The standard diving dress has been used to depths of 600 feet of sea water. Air comes from hand pumps, compressors, and banks of high pressure storage cylinders. Some models were autonomous, with built-in rebreather
Rebreather
A rebreather is a type of breathing set that provides a breathing gas containing oxygen and recycled exhaled gas. This recycling reduces the volume of breathing gas used, making a rebreather lighter and more compact than an open-circuit breathing set for the same duration in environments where...
s or compressed gas supplies. A diving helmet is described by the number of bolts which hold it to the dress, and the number of vision ports, known as lights. For example a helmet with four vision ports, and twelve studs securing the dress, would be known as a "four light, twelve bolt helmet". When the telephone was invented, it was applied to the diving dress. The helmet diver remains dry and has a dry head, a big advantage during long dives.
In the diving helmet, a principle similar to that of the wet diving bell
Diving bell
A diving bell is a rigid chamber used to transport divers to depth in the ocean. The most common types are the wet bell and the closed bell....
is used, where compressed air is provided to the helmet. The air lets the diver breathe normally and equalizes his internal pressure with the water pressure outside. The helmet must have a non-return valve at the rear air input port of the helmet, to prevent massive and fatal squeeze, should the air line be cut at the surface. Diving helmets, while very heavy, displace a great deal of water and combined with the air in the dress, would make the diver float with his head out of the water. To overcome this, some helmets are weighted, while other divers wear weighted belts which have straps that go over the base of the helmet. The diver may have an air inlet control valve, while others may have only one control, the exhaust.
A full diving dress can weigh over 80 kilos. Helmet diver's boots have canvas or leather uppers, and soles of iron, brass or lead.
While Siebe Gorman became the standard from which all helmets developed, the U.S. Navy Mk V helmet of 1914, has become the iconic helmet. Diving helmets were made all over the world. However, in the traditional form are still used to a limited extent. They are now primarily used by historical divers and collectors.
Helmet divers are subject to the same pressure limitations as other divers, such as decompression sickness
Decompression sickness
Decompression sickness describes a condition arising from dissolved gases coming out of solution into bubbles inside the body on depressurization...
and nitrogen narcosis
Nitrogen narcosis
Narcosis while diving , is a reversible alteration in consciousness that occurs while scuba diving at depth. The Greek word ναρκωσις is derived from narke, "temporary decline or loss of senses and movement, numbness", a term used by Homer and Hippocrates...
.
Popular culture
- While searching for Red Rackham's TreasureRed Rackham's TreasureRed Rackham's Treasure is the twelfth of The Adventures of Tintin, a series of classic comic-strip albums written and illustrated by Belgian writer and illustrator Hergé, featuring young reporter Tintin as a hero. It is a continuation of The Secret of the Unicorn, and is one of very few Tintin...
, TintinTintin (character)Tintin is a fictional character in The Adventures of Tintin, the series of classic Belgian comic books written and illustrated by Hergé. Tintin is the protagonist of the series, a reporter and adventurer who travels around the world with his dog Snowy....
, Captain HaddockCaptain HaddockCaptain Archibald Haddock is a fictional character in The Adventures of Tintin, the series of classic Belgian comic books written and illustrated by Hergé...
, and the Thompson TwinsThomson and ThompsonThomson and Thompson are fictional characters in The Adventures of Tintin, the series of classic Belgian comic books written and illustrated by Hergé. Thomson and Thompson are detectives of Scotland Yard, and are as incompetent as they are necessary comic relief...
used diving suits, with varying levels of success. - "Big DaddiesBig Daddy (BioShock)A Big Daddy is a fictional character in the BioShock series of video games. Designed by 2K Boston/2K Australia, they first appeared in BioShock and were promoted heavily...
" from the video game BioShockBioshockBioShock is a first-person shooter video game developed by 2K Boston and designed by Ken Levine. It was released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 on August 21, 2007 in North America, and three days later in Europe and Australia. It became available on Steam on August 21, 2007...
wear Standard Diving Dress, with each variation wearing a different style of suit and helmet; "Bouncers" (close-combat with a mining drill) wear Carmagnolle helmets, while "Rosies" (long range with a rivet gun) wear a more traditional three-port helmet. - The 2000 film Men of HonorMen of HonorMen of Honor is a 2000 drama film, starring Robert De Niro and Cuba Gooding, Jr. The film was directed by George Tillman, Jr...
, which was set in the 1950s, prominently featured divers in Standard Diving Dress.
External links
- The Historical Diving Society
- US Naval Undersea Museum
- Mixed Gas Diving Helmets
- Pumps
- "Iron Men Under The Sea", January 1931, Popular Mechanics detailed article on salvage divers and diving school in Bremen, Germany
- "Undersea Acrobatics The World Never Sees", December 1931, Popular Mechanics training given divers to go against current on ocean floor pages 974/975
- History of Diving Museum