Odd masks

[DavidRitchieWilson]

I think it's time for another thread about basic gear, particularly as I haven't posted here in a while. I've been researching national standards for dive masks and my online investigations led me to our Canadian friend Dale's review of dive mask history on his wonderful website at
www.manfish.ca/the-evolution-of-the-modern-diving-mask.html
When I began Googling in earnest, I chanced upon one of the earliest examples of a single-lens mask, which was Cressi's hand-glued model made from tyre inner-tube rubber:

It probably looks odd to modern eyes with its long wide flanges on both sides of the head ending in straps with a buckle positioned at the back of the head. This would have been the home-made prototype of Cressi's commercial "Sirena" mask which, though sold for over thirty years, was much less famous than Cressi's iconic "Pinocchio", still in production after sixty years and remarkably like modern mask designs:


The "Sirena" mask was the first mask to be featured in Cressi's earliest post-World War II catalogues:


It came in three sizes, "piccola" (small), "media o normale" (medium or normal) and "grande" (large), priced respectively at 600, 700 and 800 Lire. I found a picture of a couple of young snorkellers in 1959 wearing what looks like a "Medusa", the combined snorkel-mask version of the "Sirena", in the French edition of the Wikipedia article about snorkelling (randonnée palmée). Note those enormous side flanges:

Tip: It's often worthwhile when browsing through a Wikipedia article to click on one of the other language links to see how the same topic is explored outside the English-speaking world. You might not always understand the words of the article, but the accompanying images are often different from, and sometimes better than, the ones in the English version.

The Sirena wasn't a one-off company diving product. Mares appears to have imitated the concept when designing its "occhiale per il nuoto" (swim mask):

As did Pirelli and Squale too:

Pictures above derive from Fabio Vitale's excellent review of 1950s masks at www.hdsitalia.com/articoli/20_attrezzature.pdf

All of which made me wonder whether this curious mask design had some mileage when there are still people complaining nowadays that they can't find a mask that fits their face properly and won't leak. Today's low-volume masks look as though they come with hardly any skirt at all to seal against the face. They're not labelled with identifiable sizes either. I'm convinced my best-fitting vintage mask, a "Typhoon Blue Star" matches my physiognomy because it has a more generous skirt with the potential to remain in contact with more of my facial skin, therefore excluding more water. Just an idle thought on a quiet Sunday morning...

[nikeajax]

Bravo sir, well done! I like the way you've put this together...

I really don't like modern masks as I get this effect:



The art in the catalog has that, very late 1940's look, it's a specific style that I like and appreciate a lot.

I've got a few masks that the skirts have died on and have decided to recreate the foam skirt on the Voit Wide View:



I remember that John had good results replacing his!

Jaybird

[Linda]

Oct 26, 2014 9:14:18 GMT -8 nikeajax said:

I really don't like modern masks as I get this effect:



Jaybird

You mean your nose gets really long???

[SeaRat]

David,

Is that Gustav Dalla Valle in that photo with the Pinocchio mask?

John

[DavidRitchieWilson]

Oct 26, 2014 9:14:18 GMT -8 nikeajax said:

Bravo sir, well done! I like the way you've put this together...

I really don't like modern masks as I get this effect:



The art in the catalog has that, very late 1940's look, it's a specific style that I like and appreciate a lot.

I've got a few masks that the skirts have died on and have decided to recreate the foam skirt on the Voit Wide View:



I remember that John had good results replacing his!

Jaybird

Love the blinkers! You're right, Jaybird and Linda, that those long masks would have suited any nasally challenged creature, whether human, equine or otherwise.

Like you, Jaybird, I enjoy the fact that the art in diving catalogues reflects the spirit of their age. When I go on "Scaryboard", I find that too many people set too great store on "science and technology" when making their point about equipment. Dive gear, catalogues etc are all combinations of the arts and the sciences, and it's often the "arts" aspect that is the most interesting. It's no coincidence, for example, that East European full foot fins come with closed toes, while in the rest of the world open toes are preferred; it's simply a cultural phenomenon, nothing to do with science, and a fitting reminder that things such as fins or masks aren't just products of scientific progress but cultural artefacts in their own right, embodying the artistic design priorities of their age.

John, the picture is of Luigi Ferraro, a gifted Italian wartime military diver and peacetime inventor of Cressi Rondine full foot fins and the Cressi Pinocchio mask. Here is his official website, which can be viewed in English as well as Italian:
www.luigiferraro.it/en
Enjoy his biography, it's a great story of European achievement in the modern era.

[SeaRat]

Luigi Ferraro! Great--I knew the photo was of a historic person in the diving community, but did not know which one. By the way, I have a pair of his Caravelle fins. I used them to make my first pair of scoop fins in 1968. They are in my shed right now.

John

[surflung]

New Production, Old Design Masks...
- I've been using an AQA Compa mask that is nearly identical to one I used back in the '70s... Except it is brand new. I think it is neoprene, not silicone... It smells like neoprene. It has a thick foam neoprene pad under my nose that makes clearing my ears easy and comfortable without pinching my nose. And it has a large purge valve snout. The same mask is available without the purge valve. AQA Compa mask

- It also stops "Air Hood". Expanding air from my old mask was always venting into my hood... Messing with my buoyancy and being bothersome. The purge valve on this mask vents excess air away from my hood.

[scubadiverbob]

The Pinocchio mask are a really low volume mask and probably the easiest mask I've used to clear. Don't really need a purge valve; takes about half a breath of air to totally clear it.

[surflung]

- Actually, the mask I had in the '70s was a Waterlung with stiff rubber body and foam neoprene skirt. The AQA Campo has the stiff rubber body and foam neoprene nose pad but not the foam neoprene skirt. I'd like to try installing a foam neoprene skirt on one of these. Does anybody know where I could order the foam neoprene strips?

[DavidRitchieWilson]

I'm reviving this old thread to post one message describing what I came across in a 1968 US Divers catalogue recently:

The "Air Volume Reducer" seems like a long-overlooked answer to the rants of modern jeremiahs about the necessary wearing of "low-volume" masks when diving nowadays. I've never chanced upon this device before and it only seems to have lasted a couple of years before it was dropped from the catalogue. I wonder whether anybody actually used it. It reminds me a little of the mask in Andrew Lloyd-Webber's "Phantom of the Opera" :

[SeaRat]

David,

Yes, I had one and did use it in the 1960s when I was free diving and spearfishing off the Oregon coast and in Puget Sound. It worked well, but had to fit just right. It did not reduce the field of view either, as it was tapered to the field of view.

My LDS has one of these, and I can get a photo of it if you wish sometime this next week.

By the way, low volume masks are only necessary for free diving, although promoted for scuba diving. I would rather have a good, three-window mask with some volume in cold water to keep that cold from my face.

John

[diverdon]

I found an odd SP mask with vision correction. I believe they're for a far sighted individual But can't be sure. Can anyone tell? And what vintage/year would these be from? Thanks for the help.

DD

[luis]

Feb 5, 2016 8:51:58 GMT -8 diverdon said:

I found an odd SP mask with vision correction. I believe they're for a far sighted individual But can't be sure. Can anyone tell? And what vintage/year would these be from? Thanks for the help.

DD

The Scubapro Optical mask was around in the 70’s and 80’s. They also came out with it in clear silicone.
It was a great mask. At the time it was the best option at a reasonable price for someone who needed glasses.

Before I started using contact lenses, that was the best mask I had. At the dive shop where I worked in the 70’s, we sold many of those mask.

I do not consider it an odd mask. It was actually a very popular mask if you needed vision correction. It had a very good fit and the style is very similar to many masks that have been around and are still around. In many ways, it was very much ahead of its times (typical Scubapro in the 70's).

When I started doing some light commercial diving and using a Kirby-Morgan full face mask, I decided to use my contact lenses with my mask and after that I continued doing that just so that I could use any mask (not needing the prescription in the mask).

When we sold them, they only came in prescriptions for near sided divers, but I think that is negative diopters. I can’t remember if they had a minus sign for the negative diopters. Mine was a -5.0 at the time. An eye glass place can confirm if that is truly a +7.0 or if it is a -7.0 (that is missing the minus sign). In any case, it is a high prescription and you can tell from the curve on the lens and the glass thickness.

The only issue with the mask was that both left and right had the same prescription. We could change the lens for the individual diver, but left and right prescription had to be somewhat close for it be satisfactory (about + or – one diopter was OK). I don’t remember anyone that was far enough for it not to work.

BTW, almost 20 years ago I had Lasik surgery and it is one of the best things that I have done for myself. It was a great experience and I have had above average vision ever since. It is nice to be able to do all kinds of water sports (including white water kayaking) and not have to worry about vision correction of any kind.


Added: I just realized that the mask on the right picture of my avatar was taken about 11 years ago and I was wearing a Scubapro Optical mask. My original mask was black rubber and the rubber rotted a long time ago so I replaced t with the clear silicone skirt a while back. Then about 11 years ago, I found an Optical mask without a prescription on the lens so I used it to replace my lens since I can't use the prescription anymore. Therefore, the only-thing original in that mask is the metal ring. That is the mask that I used at Wazee lake in 2005.

Everything else on both pictures of my avatar is the same (regulator, snorkel, Fenzy). The pictures are over 30 years apart.

[DavidRitchieWilson]

From the 1973 Scubapro catalogue:

From the 1976 Scubapro catalogue:

Don't have any other Scubapro catalogues from the 1970s and 1980s.

[diverdon]

Thank you for the image DR. I think I need to start collecting brochures instead of masks I cannot use

DD