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1715
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Chevalier de Beauve (a guard
in the Navy) developed a waterproof suit with lead shoes. Air was surface-supplied
by two leather tubes, fastened to the helmet. |
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1719
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The “free”
man and the “confined” man;
the “free” man – a diver
wearing a diving suit with his head placed in a box with a porthole. Weights,
fastened to his belt, help the diver sink. There are four pipes for breathing
– two for inhalation and two for exhalation.
The “confined” man – a diver
lying face down in a large box which resembles a coffin (thence evolves
his name). It has a porthole for the diver to see through it. Air is transported
through hoses each of them having devices to inhale and exhale air. |
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1772
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The French scientist Freminet
invented a helmet-hose diving apparatus, in which air was pumped from the
surface with an egg-shaped reservoir and it reached the diver through a
hose. Thus, a constant air supply was produced. With this device, Freminet
stayed submerged at a depth of 16 meters for 1 hour. |
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1797
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Klingert created a device
which is the first to be called “diving suit”. It had leather jacket and
trousers, and a helmet with small round windows for the eyes. |
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1837
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In 1819 Augustus Siebe invented
the first diving suit with “heavy-footers”.
A metal helmet with portholes;
a cramp-iron, which passed between diver’s legs, supported the tightly-attached
helmet; air was supplied by a surface pump through a hose; unneeded air
bubbles went out the helmet because of the constant flow of air through
the hose;
One major disadvantage was
that water would flow under the helmet if the diver was out of the vertical
position. Siebe was aware of that problem and in 1837 he improved his device.
He created the first waterproof diving suit with a metallic neckpiece to
which the helmet was screwed. Unneeded air which accumulated in the suit
came out through a non-return valve that could be opened in case. |
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1855
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Cabirol
developed a diving suit with extremely secured equipment - air was
delivered to the diver through a hose, a valve allowed the diver manually
to adjust the air intake and another security hose which emerged form the
mouth. |
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1873
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Rouquayrol and Denayrouze
designed a device which allowed the diver to swim wholly independently
under water for some time. It weighed 85 kilos. It was stable and perfectly
air-supplied, with surface-to-diver telephone communication. The diver
could go to greater depths because of the helmet with portholes and lead
soles. |
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1923
|
 In
the early 20-th century the German engineer Neufeldt created a rigid diving
suit – a metallic suit adapted to great depths, in which air under pressure
was supplied in order to avoid long-lasting decompression after staying
a long time under water. With this suit the diver could descend to a depth
of 160 meters but he is quite limited in his movements.
Grips, attached to the steel
sleeves, served as hands;
Motion with such a diving
suit was impossible as a result of the strong hydrostatic pressure which
caused the parts of the suit to squeeze. It was beyond human power to overcome
this pressure and move freely. Work with rigid diving suit was not effective
at all – the diver could merely be an observer. That is why, these apparatuses
did not develop any further. |
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