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Post by technidiver on Feb 19, 2019 8:15:51 GMT -8
TD, when I was a wee-lad, The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau came on as TV specials: they weren't on on a regular basis, and you made absolutely-totally-utterly-completely-sure you didn't have anything to do that night, because you couldn't tape them! I remember the Britannic episode as being a very big deal: imagine something between the final game of the World Series and the moon landing--it was magical! What I remember most is their squeaky voices from the gas mixture they used. All that week that was all my friends and I would talk about and recreate the adventures during school recesses. JB TV is overrated nowadays! I bet you no kid could ever relate to the joy's of yesteryear and having to wait to watch a show one every couple months and then raving about it for the next while. Sadly I was born a bit too late to catch the craze. However some of my colleagues do remember JYC's specials well and the enjoyment they had watching them. Some even remember Sea Hunt! (WAYY too old for me) I, like John, couldn't help myself and watched the Britannic episode again. It's really neat how they went down to 400 feet for 15 minutes and went thru stage decompression, in a diving bell too! No dry suits, BCDs, Octopuses, and a tank set soo heavy that floats were needed. Triple tanks are fascinating and I don't know why it's not used as much anymore. No manufacturer makes triples anymore. I'm not one for the whole sidemount gas slinging sluggers. It's more like being like a manatee in my opinion! TD
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Post by vance on Feb 19, 2019 17:11:32 GMT -8
Why not? Unequal hose length? This is also a bit of a problem with a Y valve, but it really doesn't make a difference. You can also use different length hoses, which aren't that hard to find. Couldn't you also use those EDPM stretchy hoses which would stretch to the shape of how the reg was used? There's many different solutions for this problem. Phil, didn't you have a fix for using two regs (one as a DH) on a Y valve? Something about spacing? TD Yup. It doesn't seem to make sense to others for some reason. I thought it was a pretty kew way to dive your old DH reg that had no ports for SPGs or LP peripherals. With this mod, you can add a single hose regulator with ports to run the peripherals. Here's the thing: A DH regulator is usually too big in diameter to fit on the Y valve and allow a single hose reg to fit on the other side. Dacor DHs and a couple others are smaller in diameter and might work as is. It's tight. But with my mod you can dive most DH regs with a single hose reg in tandem. Even so, not all single hose firsts are configured right to fit. You need to find one that clears, has ports in the right configuration, etc. But it does work well! I find that an old Healthways piston type first with a "T" fits great!
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Post by nikeajax on Feb 19, 2019 17:18:40 GMT -8
Yeah, Sea Hunt was before my time too, but I never watched a single episode until about ten years ago... As a kid we were way too poor to buy a decent TV that could receive UHF (ultra high frequency) stations at all well: Sea Hunt was on those stations still in syndication! We had a 21-inch black and white TV VHF-only, that still used vacuum tubes until about 1973, I think a Motorola, then we got a 12-inch Zenith portable, again, black and white, but it could at times pull in a couple of the UHF-San Francisco stations, but never clear. I kinda like listening to radios and watching TV's with a bit of static, the nuance is charming. Real black and white is pretty glorious, no, not B&W on a color set, it's got to be a real B&W cathode ray tube, it's like a silver nitrate photo, you can tell the difference and the images have a much warmer feel as opposed to the simulated B&W of an RGB-set (red blue green)--SIGH!
JB
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Post by SeaRat on Feb 19, 2019 18:40:26 GMT -8
Well, I may be aging myself, but Sea Hunt was not before my time. I watched the series as it came out on a black and white TV at the Salem, Oregon YMCA either just before or just after our swim team practice. So my perspectives are a bit different from other people's perspective. Also, I was already a diver, so I was able to see the weird things on the series. The other thing is that you won't see me imitating Sea Hunt, as I have no need for that; I actually lived out that dream, put a collar on the mock Apollo capsule, jumped out of helicopters on rescue/recovery missions, made parascuba jumps, participated in body searches, worked on an underwater archeological project, collected data on clam beds, etc. This is not me in the parachute, but rather another PJ on the same training jump as me. I took the photo though. As for the triple tanks using a double hose regulator on Sea Hunt, that was normal at that time. The first systems out for the Aqualung were triple tank systems, and the U.S. Navy UDT used these triple tank systems with a center-mounted DA Aqualung (Broxton) regulator. Note, this Navy diver's regulator appears to be slightly off-center due to the type valve being used on the center tank. Here you can see that the regulator is slightly off-center as its post is to the right of the main valve stem. John
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Post by fishnbeer on Feb 19, 2019 21:30:58 GMT -8
Hi everyone, it's been awhile since I posted here on the forum. I found this thread on triples very interesting so I decided to throw in my 2 cents. Here is my set of triples with the offset post. The tanks are unique in that they have outside threads on the necks. Phil I love your idea using the Y valve so a pressure gauge and octo reg can be used with a Mistral reg. This photo I am using a banjo fitting with my Healthways pressure gauge
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Post by technidiver on Feb 20, 2019 4:57:32 GMT -8
Nice triples! What size tanks are those??
TD
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Post by nikeajax on Feb 20, 2019 7:07:49 GMT -8
Jerry, good to have you back again: is this image at the fish-ladder? Also, did you make that manifold? JB
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Post by snark3 on Feb 20, 2019 14:50:07 GMT -8
JB, Those manifolds were available years ago. At one point I had 3 sets identical to those. I put one set on "the bait" and sold it for more than I paid for all 3 sets. I'm looking for a local or somewhat local facility to hydro them. Mine are 2100 PSI tanks and I believe they are about 35 CuFt each.
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Post by SeaRat on Feb 20, 2019 14:52:22 GMT -8
So far, most of the discussion has focused on the use of a double hose regulator on triple tanks without discriminating between old-style and the newer valves. It is the newer valve with the asymmetric location of the mounting for the regulator that is most concerning. To get an idea about this, look at the following diagram I put together Som eleven years ago. Here is a diagram of the triple tank with an offset regulator post, verses the center post. You will note that in a normal swimming position horizontal, there is about a 6 inch, or 15.5 cm, difference between the center of the lungs and the regulator vertically in the water column. But if the diver swims at an angle of about 40 degrees, that difference becomes negligible, equaling any single hose regulator position-wise. Note that there is a hose length difference, necessitating the reversing of the inhalation hose with the exhalation hose, so that the right becomes the exhalation hose and is extended 6 inches (15.5 cm) or so in length. This doesn't affect breathing, as the hose length on the inhalation side remains the same. But the water column difference (see the top diagram for differences between a single tank verses centered smaller twins) is significantly affected by the asymmetric mounting, for the positive. Something to think about. John
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Post by fishnbeer on Feb 20, 2019 16:32:52 GMT -8
Thanks snark3 for answering technidiver's question on my triples. I got hold of two sets years back at a garage sale and refurbished one set. One of these days I will work on the other set. I was able to get a hydro for them by a friend who ran a hydro shop in Sacramento. He had to get an spud adapter for the threads to hydro them. Unfortunately he no longer hydros scuba tanks. Like yours they are 2100 psi tanks.
Yes JB the photo was taken at the fish ladders in Oroville by duckbill.
John you are right about rolling the body down about 40 degrees. I found rolling my right shoulder down lowering the can my reg breathed so much better.
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Post by nikeajax on Feb 20, 2019 16:50:05 GMT -8
...I'm looking for a local or somewhat local facility to hydro them... As I try to suggest top everyone: find a shop that services fire extinguishers! I go to Acme Fire Extinguisher in Oakland, they really know their, er-ummm, fecal-matter, to put it nicely JB
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Post by SeaRat on Feb 20, 2019 17:37:07 GMT -8
I dove a very unique three-cylinder system in Clear Lake on June 14 and 16th, 1971. The unit had three cylinders; one normal cylinder with a single hose regulator on it, which was for use getting to the depth for the experiment. The experiment was to determine heart rate, air usage, and CO2 exhaled. So on top of the three cylinders, there was an electrocardiogram in a water-tight case. The center cylinder was calibrated, and had a special regulator on it, a single hose regulator with the exhaust routed to the vacuum cylinder. The other cylinder was a vacuum cylinder that sampled my exhalations. Here are photos of these dives, and my dive log entries. This is what I looked like either just before or just after the dives. You can see the unit on my back too. Here I am descending to the depth (either 37 or 73 feet) at which I switched to the sample cylinder, and began swimming on a line horizontally. Here I am at the swim depth, clearing my ears, and getting ready to swim. Dive Log entries: John
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Post by nikeajax on Feb 20, 2019 17:45:40 GMT -8
I need to ask Jim Steele again, but he said that back in the day, people used CO2 bottles, but made their manifolds out of welding tank valves: he showed me a set too!
JB
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Post by technidiver on Feb 20, 2019 18:20:30 GMT -8
I dove a very unique three-cylinder system in Clear Lake on June 14 and 16th, 1971. The unit had three cylinders; one normal cylinder with a single hose regulator on it, which was for use getting to the depth for the experiment. The experiment was to determine heart rate, air usage, and CO2 exhaled. So on top of the three cylinders, there was an electrocardiogram in a water-tight case. The center cylinder was calibrated, and had a special regulator on it, a single hose regulator with the exhaust routed to the vacuum cylinder. The other cylinder was a vacuum cylinder that sampled my exhalations. Here are photos of these dives, and my dive log entries. This is what I looked like either just before or just after the dives. You can see the unit on my back too. Here I am descending to the depth (either 37 or 73 feet) at which I switched to the sample cylinder, and began swimming on a line horizontally. Here I am at the swim depth, clearing my ears, and getting ready to swim. Dive Log entries: John Wow John. Those tanks look like a lot of clutter. Must've been like swimming with a car on your back. TD
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Post by SeaRat on Feb 21, 2019 17:52:48 GMT -8
Wow John. Those tanks look like a lot of clutter. Must've been like swimming with a car on your back. TD TD, I've been trying to think of how to reply. Here's my dive logs for those dives: Now, to put this into perspective, I had left DaNang, Vietnam and the 37th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron on June 9th, 1971. I arrived back in Oregon to my parents house on June 10th or 11th, right out of the war zone. Then I was diving in Clear Lake on June 14th, while my family was on vacation in Eastern Oregon fishing and hunting. I was sorta the outlier in our family, as no one else dove, and every time I went fishing, I got frustrated and wanted to be in the water with the fish. Also, I had dived on September 18th 1970 with Joe Russel and he talked me into doing these dives when I got back (I had extended my enlistment to go to Vietnam, then gotten an early out off my extension to go back to Oregon State University for summer school). In between, I dove on this project. I was probably in the best shape of my life, and I made no mention of the equipment I had to drag around. Mostly, I was in the water with this gear, as the barge they dove off was anchored, and all I needed to do is get hooked up, walk to the ladder, and enter the water with these three tanks and the two other sensors (I had electrocardiogram leads taped to my chest too). Once in the water, it wasn't too bad, although a bit awkward from what I can see in the photo of my descending. You can see that the water temperature was 42 degrees F, and the depths of the dives. I did not record anything bad about the drag or the equipment, figuring it to be simply necessary for the study. Also, I was used to jumping out of planes with about 150 pounds of gear on into water, so I don't think that bothered me much at the time. Now, well that would be a different story. Note that the last breath-hold dive of June 16, 1970 had a remark stating, "Ne Mask." The researchers wanted to know whether the use of a mask had any impact on their physiological data for breath-hold diving; I don't think so. I dove that dive to 25 feet for 30 seconds, sans mask, in 42 degree water, just as a comparison for the dive #25. John
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