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#4136
70’s Dive Gear
oceanfloor - 10/13/2009 5:33 PM
Category: Equipment
Replies: 23

Someone who discovered that I now scuba dive has given me some old dive gear that was packed away in their attic. Pretty cool stuff.. scubapro regs, a dive BC (if you want to call it that), mask, scubapro fins, scubapro dive belt, 2-6 lbs weights, a 6" Wenoka diving knife, air tank, bags, a shorty 3mil suit XL, wetsuit boots. Oh, the instructions for some sort of underwater device you can use to speak underwater with. A dive flag, a scuba pro decompression thingy..sort of gauge (in a neat box). An old yellow device that holds 3 pieces; a compass, air monitor, and depth gauge. The thing is as bigger than the first cell phones, for those of you that are old enough to remember those (not me though). A re-chargeable diving light, big, big... though. The dates in the dive log were in the 70’s. My question is... what now. Most is in pretty good condition but most looks like it belongs in a museum. Oh gosh…now what?
#5193
jimran - 10/13/2009 5:59 PM
sell it on e-bay
#3936
seawolfdiving - 10/13/2009 7:32 PM


You might want to contact the Historical Diving Society. They are at http://www.hds.org/ .


You may find someone there who has an interest in these items...


Good luck


 


 
#4136
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oceanfloor - 10/13/2009 7:35 PM
I sort of thought of that but I’ve never sold anything on e-bay but it’s a thought.. thanks.
#4136
Subscribed
oceanfloor - 10/13/2009 7:38 PM


Good idea, I think I’ll check out the Historical Diving Society. The underwater talking device instructions is something I’ve never heard of before. Sounds like a unique thought that may not have gone anywhere. Thanks for the idea.


From seawolfdiving:


You might want to contact the Historical Diving Society. They are at http://www.hds.org/ .


You may find someone there who has an interest in these items...


Good luck


 


 
#12323
mike2424 - 10/13/2009 9:15 PM
hi oceanfloor could you post a pic of that stuff i would really like to see it thanks
#4136
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oceanfloor - 10/13/2009 9:41 PM
Sure, I’ll do that tomorrow. I just started sorting through it today. I cleaned some of it with dive equipment cleaner just to get the musty smell off. It looks like it may be in decent shape, its just been packed away for a long time. Thanks for your response.
#1344
Pixel - 10/14/2009 2:48 AM
Oh wow! Just like Mike, I’d love to see a picture. I wasn’t even thought of in the 70’s. hehehe

The underwater talking thing sounds really interesting. Was it used with full face helmet or did you type on it?
#4136
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oceanfloor - 10/14/2009 5:58 AM


I’m not sure the whole thing is still with the rest of the gear. I this point I only located the instructions on how to use it along with pictures. It looks like a balloon that you hold up to your mouth and speak into. I’m not sure how the sound carries but it says you need to stay close to your buddy when using it. I’ll post the pic later.
#4136
Subscribed
oceanfloor - 10/14/2009 9:06 PM
Ok, getting ready to post those pics. I’ll try not to spam the site with too many boring pictures of old gear and promise to remove them after a short while. I wasn’t able to locate the parts to the "Sea Voice" device but I’ve included some pictures of some of the pages in the instruction booklet. Interested device. 
#870
ncdiveinstructor - 10/14/2009 9:13 PM
I have actually got one of the automatic decompression meters , a different brand though. It is really kind of cool to see how far dive gear has come.
#4136
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oceanfloor - 10/14/2009 9:28 PM
I’m new to diving and a bit confused about what the decompression meter is. Is that a dive computer? Your right about much more advance our gear is now. I have the Galleo del Sol wireless dive computer. It does everything for me except the swimming (darn). 
#11589
badintexas - 10/15/2009 7:49 AM
From oceanfloor: I’ll try not to spam the site with too many boring pictures of old gear and promise to remove them after a short while.

Oceanfloor - Don’t worry about posting pictures of old gear on here. (they won’t be considered spam at all!) I’m sure many divers will be interested in checking them out and I just looked and saw that you posted the instructions to a part of it. I can’t wait to read over that.
#495
roguediver - 10/15/2009 7:58 AM
the "air tank" is that a steel 72, if so I might be interested in making an offer
#870
ncdiveinstructor - 10/15/2009 8:22 AM
The best I can tell the decompression meter was a fancy name for what we now call a depth guage. " Accurate" depth guages didn’t come out unitl the 70’s.
#12323
mike2424 - 10/15/2009 10:53 AM


oceanfloor that stuff looks to be in real good shape four is old as it is hopefully you will find a good home four it.
#4136
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oceanfloor - 10/15/2009 12:40 PM


Greg.... thanks!


NCdivingInstructor - the picture with the yellow frame holds three devices, one is a compass and one is an air gauge. Apparently the automatic decompression meter was a unique item developed by Scubapro at one time that gave way to the modern computer,


" The story of Scubapro begins in the early 60’s when founders Gustav Dalla Valle and Dick Bonin started the company. Since its inception, Scubapro has offered a wide range of products.One of these products was the Automatic Decompression Meter. While these units are no longer sold today, back in 1966 it was a breakthrough in diving technology. This device would become the predecessor for modern dive computers." I don’t know if this is one of those meters... maybe I should contact Scubapro and find out huh.


Mike2424 - Thanks, I hope to find a good home for it also :)


Roguediver - I’ll try and find out what kind of tank that is. I do know that it was inspected in 77.


Pixel - well "hello"
#1344
Pixel - 10/16/2009 1:37 AM
I look at the pictures of the talking thing and I can’t help thinking that all the other diver would hear is: gloop gloop bubble
#55
mtnredhed - 10/20/2009 1:35 PM
A few points. The underwater speaking device actually sort of worked over short distances, but was a pain to use since you had to remove your reg (I had one). The sound was muffled but generally understandable. They worked by transferring the air vibs to the water through the "ballon". Depth guages WERE common in the 70’s. The cheap ones were capillary tubes with index marks. They were very accurate in shallow depths, harder to read deeper. Bourdon tube (modern mechanical) have been around for quite some time and the design dates to the mid 1800’s and is essentially the same device as your TPG. The BC was an early jacket style from late 70’s (a bit fuzzy there). They often had CO2 inflators which sucked if they were accidentally fired at moderate to shallow depths. At least it’s not the "horse collar" style. The deco gauge was an early mechanical dive comp. Actually, its an analog computer of sorts. It attempted to integrate time vs. depth and estimate the nitrogen load (probably based on the old Navy tables). I’ve seen an earlier model that looked like a needle and graph. aka the bend-o-matic.
#4136
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oceanfloor - 10/20/2009 3:01 PM
Hey mtnredhed.....great info...thanks... you help clear up allot of the curiosity on the gear. Its neat that you got to use the sea voice. I wonder ... if someday... my state of the art gear will be looked at in the same antiquish way. If your ever in this area.. I’d like to share a dive with you..but hey no oceans here only quarries.:) maybe I should change my name to "quarryfloor". 
#1344
Pixel - 10/20/2009 4:40 PM
So if the talking thing worked....even a little bit, how come it’s not used anymore? Or is it and I’m just very behind on equipment information....
#55
mtnredhed - 10/24/2009 4:44 PM
Well, like I said, it was a pain to use (basically 2 hands, one to hold your reg and one to hold the device) only worked over short distances, for a short sentence (until you had to breath) and wasn’t the clearest. I hadn’t seen one in years. The upside was they were fairly cheap compared to anything else on the market. It was one of those things that seemed cool on paper but just didn’t catch on.
#55
mtnredhed - 10/24/2009 5:37 PM
just my take on futures... The one hose, 2 stage open circuit regulator has been around for over 40 years that I’m aware of. My first reg was a USD piston calypso IV and while there have been refinements, the basic design hasn’t changed much. The tech has reached maturity, much like film cameras by the ’90’s. Then comes along cmos and ccd imagers, and an entire industry turns over in 10 years. The problem will be what is the driver? Divers aren’t staying away because they need a big tank that has to be refilled every 30-60 minutes of diving. Unless there’s some unforeseen breakthrough, I think all you’ll see are incremental changes. I do thing you might see the full face mask/reg/comm unit driven down to more reasonable prices.


The breakthrough might be some easy/reliable/cheap to maintain and replenish Closed Circuit Rebreather system. It would have to compete with roughly $10/hour and $500/rig current prices. Last I checked CCR rigs started around $9k and then you still needed O2/air/absorbent 
#2636
NWKatShark - 11/20/2009 6:42 PM
Stash it in a closet out of the way somewhere. In another 10 years it may be worth more.