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Post by westcoastcanuck on Oct 5, 2019 8:52:30 GMT -8
Does anyone have any info on the full face mask 5205?
I believe it is from the 60's, but cant find anything definitive.
Did US Divers sell a specific reg to go with it?
Cheers
Terry
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Post by nikeajax on Oct 5, 2019 10:32:56 GMT -8
Terry, to the best of my knowledge it wasn't meant to be pared with any specific regulator, but more as a replacement for the standard mouthpiece...
JB
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Post by SeaRat on Oct 5, 2019 11:17:35 GMT -8
If this is the full-face mask I'm thinking about, it could be fitted with any regulator. It had a rubber horn in front for a single hose regulator (sans mouthpiece), and two horns for a double hose regulator. Each regulator horn had to be cut out as there was a thick neoprene sheet behind it,so that if unused the integrity of the mask would not be compromised. I used mine with my Trieste II double hose regulator, and glued some sheet neoprene around the mask's skirt for extreme cold water. The actual face mask portion was separated from the inhalation portion by a bridge as that tha mask portion, with a large purge valve, could. Be flooded without affecting breathing. I nreally liked mine, but lost it from my bicycle while riding to the dive shop in the 1980s. It had a spider strap system with one strap over the top of my head, and two to each side.  John Photos004 by John Ratliff, on Flickr Here I am with my USD Full-Face Mask on an Aquamaster regulator. The suit I'm wearing is a Bill Herder, "Deep Sea Bill's" custom suit with a built-in "U" shaped bladder for buoyancy control in the back. I'm also wearing a scuba with a Mar-Vel Pak that houses 16 pounds of cylindrical lead weights in it (hence no weight belt). John |
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Post by SeaRat on Oct 5, 2019 16:12:15 GMT -8
I have just found in the U.S. Divers Company catelog for 1972 a page for their "Professional Equipment."  USD FFM001 by John Ratliff, on Flickr John |
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Post by DavidRitchieWilson on Oct 6, 2019 7:20:58 GMT -8
The earliest US Divers catalogue found to feature the full-face mask is dated 1968:  As you can see, it's labelled new full face mask on page 31 of the 1968 catalogue. It is absent from the 1967 catalogue. DRW |
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Post by nikeajax on Oct 6, 2019 9:36:07 GMT -8
Honnis' ossiffer, I... ain't been drinkin'... rillly!Gee-whiz John, you look like you've had one-too-many  Yeah, I know the sun's in your eyes, but it's such a wonderful image I had to say sumthin': thanks for Sharron (sharing)! JB
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Post by tomcatpc on Oct 6, 2019 9:38:12 GMT -8
I mean really...who DOSEN'T stop by Knuckleheads and have a few on their way to the site site?!?!
Mark
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Post by SeaRat on Oct 6, 2019 13:12:51 GMT -8
Honnis' ossiffer, I... ain't been drinkin'... rillly!Gee-whiz John, you look like you've had one-too-many Yeah, I know the sun's in your eyes, but it's such a wonderful image I had to say sumthin': thanks for Sharron (sharing)! JB Ya, I musta gotten narked in 15 feet of water watchin' juvenile lampreys in the sand and trout and salmon overhead in the Siletz River, Oregon. This was probably in 1973, when I still had hair on top. I wanted to mention Bill Herder's custom wet suit that I'm wearing, Bill, at Deep Sea Bill's in South Beach, across the bay from Newport, made these wet suits for us, and began in the early 1960. We needed a wet suit that protected us from col, North Pacific waters. This is a nylon-out, skin-in wet suit. The seams were first double glued, then blind-stitched on the outside. You needed powder to get into the suit (I used corn starch, but other divers used either talcum powder or liquid soap. This was a "Farmer John" style suit, with one bid difference; we used a hooded vest of 3/16 inch neoprene under everything. That hood I'm wearing in this photo was atta he'd to a full vest, and under the Farmer John wet suit. Bill started experimenting with buoyancy compensation, and initially placed an inverted "U" neoprene bladder on the outside of the suit. I had Bill do this to my jacked, and that's what you see on the back of my jacket. Bill then made a second generation, where the entire back of the wet suit was a BC bladder. I then had Bill convert this jacket into that design after I went to his shop and he told me, "Look, John, I'm now a push-button diver!" He had incorporated power inflation into his second generation wet suit/BC combo. Bill then went one step further, and made a vest BC out of neoprene, which I thought was a dandy idea. I was a NAUI instructor at the time, and active in the NAUI organization. I made a talk at IQ-7* about buoyancy compensation, and demonstrated Bill's concept in the hotel's pool. It was shortly thereafter that Scubapro, who had Representatives there watching, came out with their stabilizing jacket concept. Bill thought that Scubapro had stolen his concept, and not even given him credit for it. John *Seventh International Conference on Underwater Education. |
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Post by nikeajax on Oct 6, 2019 15:40:46 GMT -8
John, I was hoping you'd share some of the history behind the image. It took me a moment to realize that it was you, because you're squinting, I thought it was David Duchovney for a split second...  Oh, wait, that's John JB |
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Post by snark3 on Oct 7, 2019 14:08:22 GMT -8
In that 1968 catalog page DRW posted, did anyone else notice the triple 71.2 setup? Anyone got one?
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Post by SeaRat on Oct 7, 2019 15:34:31 GMT -8
In that 1968 catalog page DRW posted, did anyone else notice the triple 71.2 setup? Anyone got one? No, and I don't want one either. I just am recovering from hernia surgery (no water work for the next month), and cannot envision wanting to put 105+ pounds on my back.  It looks to be a double 71.2 set with a single sitting between the two. I don't see a link between the manifold, although there may be one. By the way, did you see the price of the Cousteau Constant Volume Dry Suit? $399! I just did a little research, and this is what I found: So Cousteau's suit, at that time, would cost $2,941.57 in today's dollars! It was way beyond most of us divers at that time. John |
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Post by nikeajax on Oct 8, 2019 10:42:16 GMT -8
OK these are from John68 in the UK...   I stitched them together to show front and back: the first one is from 1959. Hmmmm: I wonder if they were in response to the Cressi full-face? Just speculating--DRW can you answer that? JB |
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Post by DavidRitchieWilson on Oct 8, 2019 22:56:18 GMT -8
Cressi manufactured full-face snorkel-masks as early as 1947. See the "Medusa Gigante" model showcased below from that year's catalogue:  As for the Cressi full-face mask for scuba use, I'd have to do some in-depth research to find out when it was first introduced as I don't have access to 1950s Cressi catalogues other than 1953 and 1955. There's no real way of knowing the "politics" behind the introduction of new diving products unless people present at the discussions are prepared to be candid. The industry everywhere was notorious for ripping off everybody else's ideas even when inventions were patented! DRW PS. Here's Cousteau in his constant-volume drysuit:  |
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Post by crabbyjim on Oct 9, 2019 5:39:57 GMT -8
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Yeah, I know the sun's in your eyes, but it's such a wonderful image I had to say sumthin': thanks for Sharron (sharing)!
