Yes, I actually bought this...

[tomcatpc]

I found the remains of what was once a Cressi Pinocchio Mask today.  I took it home for $2.  As many of you know there were different versions the Pinocchio mask in the past.  Some had a plastic lens frame whilst others had a metal frame.  The current incarnation of the Pinocchio only comes with the black plastic frame.  I'm going to have a go at "upgrading" my current Pinocchio
mask. 

Here is my current production Cressi Pinocchio.


Also having a spare lens and a set of strap buckles can be a good thing.  Anyway, thought you'd all get a laugh out of this.
Mark
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[SeaRat]

Mark,

I did that with my tri-window Scubapro Visionaire mask. I like the black neoprene version, and have gone through three of them in my years of diving. But I like the type which has no nose valve, but instead only glass. So I have saved that, and have two silicone versions of this mask. When my current version "expires," I'll simply migrate the front glass to the silicone version and keep using it.

John

[broxton coalition]

tomcat, is your current 10-20 somewhere in the western frontier of the buckeye state,over?
cool mask project, BTW!

[tomcatpc]

What?

If you want to know if I live in Ohio...yes for now.  Might take me the rest of my life, but I am working on a plan to get out of here...
Mark

[tomcatpc]

The old and the new before combining.



Left overs, a set of buckles and lens from the old rotted mask and the lens frame and wire tension clamp from the new mask.



How it turned out. Not perfect, the frame has a slight bend in one place and it sort of sags, but overall I think it looks good. Looks better in real life...
Mark

[tomcatpc]

I will say one thing, the metal lens frame fits a heck of a lot tighter than the plastic frame did. Was the black plastic frame band was used in the 50's/60's?, or was it all metal frame bands back then? The old mask I got today had a purge valve in the nose, where as mine does not. I know there is somewhere that has details of all the incarnations of the Cressi Pinocchio mask somewhere on the internet...
Mark

[SeaRat]

Mark,

I Think the metal frame predominated in the early days.

I think you may be able to use the purge valve from the old mask in your new mask, but be careful. These in The early 1980s were little button purge valves you could put into any mask, by making a smooth, circular cut in The bottom of the nose piece (but NOT in the mask skirt, where it won't work and is painful--from experience). So if this purge is a button purge, you can simply slip it out of the old mask and put it into the new one. But, practice this on a piece of sheet rubber first (and perhaps second, third, and possibly fourth time) before trying it on your mask. The circle cut might be accomplished with a paper hole punch, but He holes needs to be clean, circular and slightly smaller than the sealing area of the purge button.

John

[tomcatpc]

I can live without a purge valve, so I will leave it be. I like the look of the metal band, think I will quit whilst ahead.
Mark

[SeaRat]

Mark,

Well, at least keep the button purge. Those are pretty rare right now, and maybe David Richie Wilson will tell us whether the,y are still available.

John

[tomcatpc]

I actually throw very little away when it comes to things like this, already planned to keep it.
Mark

[DavidRitchieWilson]

Congratulations on your great find. Below is an image of Luigi Ferraro wearing the Cressi Pinocchio diving mask he designed:

And here is the Soviet Union's response to the design, the Buratino, made in the "Mosrezina" factory in Moscow in the early 1970s. They do say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Buratino



This mask was given the name "Buratino" (Буратино), which is the main character in a book written by Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy (not Leo Tolstoy, author of "War and Peace"), who "had read Pinocchio as a child, but, having lost the book, (...) started re-imagining it many years later in an attempt to come up with a series of bedside stories for his own children." Read more at Buratino - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The Pinocchio-like character is clearly visible as a moulding on the top of the mask skirt in the picture below:


The mask was reviewed in a Russian diving book as follows:

Original Russian: Пригодны также маски «Буратино» того же завода со стеклом, имеющим форму сдвоенных очков, и специальным приливом для носа. Однако при очень небольшом подмасочном пространстве маловата и их обзорность. Существенный их конструктивный недостаток еще и в том, что стекло, имея глубокую выемку для носа, часто лопается пополам при самом легком случайном нажиме. С этой маской необходимо обращаться осторожно. Кроме того, форма стекла не позволяет охватить его хомутом. Проволочная стяжка в узком месте стекла не гарантирует герметичность, особенно при перепадах давления.

Rough translation: Yet another suitable mask is the ‘Buratino’ [Pinocchio] from the same plant. It has a dual-pointed shape lens and a dedicated nose pocket. With its very low inner volume, however, the mask is a bit short on size and visibility too. One of the significant design flaws arises from the deep recess in the lens for the nose, which frequently and very easily results in the lens breaking in semi face when pushed accidentally. Handle this mask with care. Furthermore, the lens configuration does not meet up with the skirt. The wire tie at the narrowest point of the lens does not guarantee that the mask will be leakproof, especially when there are differences in pressure.

Not an uncritical review. I wonder how much of the above is applicable to the Cressi Pinocchio as well? Like the latter, the Morezina Buratino came in other colours:

1. Black, shown here with an Estonian-made "Tegur" drysuit and a pair of Mosrezina Number 7 Nerpa fins:


2. Red


3. Blue

[Deleted]

I bought one for my son a few years ago from a shop in England. He didn't like it.....too narrow a view he said.
I on the other hand used a Super Pinocchio in 1971 in Okinawa with 72mm corrective lens glued in place. A optician in NY who advertised in Skin Diver Mag, named Leonard Maggorie (not sure of the spelling of last name) made the lens and attached them to the mask for me......was a bit heavy but when one is nearsighted one makes do........alas I left it in my hot garage one summer years later and the rubber melted.........a few years ago I found another, was sold off by a fellow, again in England whose father used it diving Malta before he passed away.......there is (are) some photos of it on my head in the photo section of VSS, in Okinawa and more recent. The old Okinawa photos you can see the big correction lens in the mask. The supper Pico has a much wider field of vision but is still pretty heavy compared to other masks and I don't need corrective lens now after cataract surgery.

[tomcatpc]

I think I recall seeing the photo you mentioned on Okinawa? (Way off topic. My Dad's squadron flew several strikes on Okinawa during the campaign including the D-Day I think?)

I really like my Pinocchio mask, I like it better with my impromptu "upgrade" last night. I sometimes have it leak slightly, but I can't get any mask to work perfect. The good news is I can clear it easy.
Mark