wrcook
Regular Diver
Posts: 26 
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Post by wrcook on Jul 20, 2010 12:28:14 GMT -8
I remember Scott Hydropacks, they are very similar to the Scott air packs used by fire fighters. Does anyone still dive with one of those? I don't think that they were common originally, so they must be quite rare now.
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Post by SeaRat on Jul 30, 2010 17:42:28 GMT -8
The Scott Hydropack was available in the 1950s, but Scott decided to get out of the SCUBA market in favor of the life safety market. They are now Scott Health and Safety, and have not made a diving rig since that time. But in the 1950s, it was considered the premier SCUBA rig, and was featured on at least one diving show starring Jerry Lewis, titled "Don't Give Up the Ship." It used to be posted on You Tube, but has since been taken down.
John
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wrcook
Regular Diver
Posts: 26
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Post by wrcook on Aug 2, 2010 6:50:00 GMT -8
I remember the movie, and I remember seeing divers using the Hydropack in some of those early diving magazines. I used to read and re-read those when I was a kid, my parents never would let me take SCUBA lessons, but I read and waited till I was old enough. I remember that that upside down valve really bothered me. It is really not that bad using it on the firefighter's air pack, though I perfer "SurviveAir" to Scott.
Bill
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Post by SeaRat on Aug 2, 2010 17:12:06 GMT -8
The interesting thing about SurviveAir is that it was started by U.S. Divers Company (probably as a division of Air Liquide).
John
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Post by william on Aug 3, 2010 11:12:38 GMT -8
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Post by canadianbob on Aug 3, 2010 14:06:26 GMT -8
Thanks to William for the great display of photos! Another movie that featured the Scott pack (albeit briefly) was one of the first "Cinerama" movies called "Windjammer" and it had a short sequence of Navy divers exiting a submarine using the hydro-pak. I do believe the US Navy used them in the early 50's.
One drawback was CO2 buildup in the open "full-face" setup. Newer systems (such as the AGA) use a nose-mouth cowl to combat this. However , those inverted doubles and triples with the valve at the bottom were way cool.
There was a British company called "Normalair" in the 60's that also utilized the full face set-up. They had a Canadian subsidiary right here in Toronto on the Queensway but they never really caught on in the scuba market.
Really enjoy this forum ... keep em coming.
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Post by JES on Aug 3, 2010 14:08:36 GMT -8
William, that's awesome! Thank you for sharing these images and information with us.  |
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Post by william on Aug 3, 2010 15:59:38 GMT -8
 "Thank you too my friends."  I talked to Cyndy and she has agreed to let things go at the values that reflect the economic times right now. She & I feel it is much better to let friends have the vintage diving items than to just give them away. Setting a very low starting bid and much lower prices with low reserve prices to try and help, the reserve prices much lower than what we paid for all the things. Hopefully she can recover some of the money to help her and in the process be able to help the very nice people here at Vintage Scuba Supply forum to get the vintage diving items they would like to have so they too can have a great collection. 
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wrcook
Regular Diver
Posts: 26
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Post by wrcook on Aug 10, 2010 8:15:08 GMT -8
Thank you William for those wonderful images. It has been a long time since I have actually seen one. Very neat
Bill
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Post by silvershoes on Sept 15, 2011 17:44:50 GMT -8
I don't know exactly when it was made, but I do know there's a diver using one in one episode of Flipper. The episode title is A Job For Sandy, and there's some great closeups of Luke Halpin wearing the mask underwater, as well as a shot of him putting on topside.
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Post by SeaRat on Sept 15, 2011 18:16:50 GMT -8
Jerry Lewis used a Scott Hydropak in one movie in the 1950s. It allowed him to talk underwater, and it was hilarious. I don't remember the name of the movie at this time though. Maybe it will come later, as I let the thought drift to the surface.  By the way, Scott Health and Safety is now a division of Tyco, and is still in existence. They make self-contained breathing apparatus and respiratory protection for industry now. William, thank you for sharing this information. It looks like the regulator is a two stage regulator, with the first stage screwing into the second stage. It also appears that the fittings are almost the same as they are today for Scott's SCBAs. All Scott would need to do today to make their SCBAs into Scuba units would be to modify the full-face mask to make a flat visor on it instead of the rounded one. www.scottsafety.com/en/us/pages/ProductDetail.aspx?productdetail=Air-Pak+75+SCBAOkay, the film is Don't Give Up the Ship[/B] starring Jerry Lewis. www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0Qxou5RD88Well, I haven't seen it all and have not gotten to the diving part yet. There are at least 9 parts to this movie on You Tube...Part 9 has some of the diving, but the end of the movie is not there. www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VzpFbQRK4M&feature=relatedBut the part that shown is hilarious. I think the tech divers would enjoy how Jerry sometimes fins in this movie. Okay, Part 10 is there. www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsyjS5QPa5w&feature=relatedI don't think the ascent would be within our diving protocols today though!  John |
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Post by SeaRat on Sept 16, 2011 21:06:02 GMT -8
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Post by luis on Sept 17, 2011 4:11:40 GMT -8
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drado
Pro Diver
Posts: 186
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Post by drado on Sept 17, 2011 17:30:53 GMT -8
From what I know of SCBA packs, they must've had a heck of a time trying to get down. Quick thinking though! How deep were they? |
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drado
Pro Diver
Posts: 186
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Post by drado on Sept 17, 2011 17:52:25 GMT -8
Luis, does the tank need to be mounted that high? How was trim with this config? I'm thinking of a way to revive my Kirby Morgan mask.
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To try and help,
"Thank you too my friends." 
