|
|
Post by nikeajax on Jan 31, 2017 10:32:01 GMT -8
Just when ya think, "I don't need anything else..." something so out of the ordinary is laying at your feet and you'd be a fool not to pick it up!  I found an eBait giveaway, for a buck and shipping I got a bunch of raw unfinished tilt valve second stages. I was thinking I could, "Whooo-hooo, time to make some hotrods!" Turns out, these are from the estate of Richard E. Anderson, the man behind Healthways. "History" is usually a word, like classic, that gets cheapened because people over use it, but this is one of those items that really is diving history. Here's my conversation with the seller: Me- Question: where the heck did you get these things?!?!? I'm kind of a real Healthways nut, and would love to know the back story on them if you know anything--don't make me grovel...
Seller- I got these mostly unfinished parts from the estate of Dick Anderson. He was a diving pioneer in the early 50's. Google him, he a very interesting guy. I helped his wife clean out his garage and I didn't want them to go to scrap. (a lot of stuff did, sadly). In the late 50's and early 60's he worked for healthways. Dick developed their first piston first stage, and did a lot of work on the second stage. I think these parts were early runs he experimented with.
I met him a few times over the years,he was a very nice guy. A real life Indiana Jones.Me- WOW! Yeah, I know about Richard Anderson: thank you for the info. I'm not one of those big money collectors, but I do have most of regs Healthways manufactured: I even have a working Divair, the first reg sold by HW, it's a 3rd generation plastic bodied. Gosh, I don't even want to think about what was thrown out. If you haven't seen it, you should watch "The Mermaids of Tiburon"1962 very fun, and the bad guys use the HW Scuba Star...
Thank you for your time--REALLY!I have never seen anything like these! Jaybird |
|
|
|
Post by tomcatpc on Jan 31, 2017 10:46:00 GMT -8
I saw that on Ebay last week or so. I don't regularly buy things there, but here as of late I've been looking a lot just for fun.
I'm glad you got this lot.
Mark
|
|
|
|
Post by SeaRat on Jan 31, 2017 16:30:29 GMT -8
Jaybird,
I was hoping you'd post on this, as it is a great find. It looks like you have both the single exhaust and the double exhaust showing, meaning that Richard Anderson was experimenting with both these. That is very interesting.
Mark, I am reading Eric Hanaure's book, "Diving Pioneers, An Oral History of Diving in America." It has a detailed chapter about Richard Anderson, and a detailed description on how he worked on the Scubair and Scuba Star regulators.
It looks, Jaybird, like some of these second stages you have above were ones that were to be used for the downstream second stage.
John
|
|
|
|
Post by nikeajax on Jan 31, 2017 16:41:59 GMT -8
John, these are all tilt-valves: the down stream uses the same but... well here:  I dare say that these ARE REAL prototypes too! I'll get some images up to illustrate why, but there are little things. I had to get them out of my sight because they are honestly making my brain race and a bit giddy if I think too much about what I just got. More later! JB |
|
|
|
Post by tomcatpc on Feb 1, 2017 0:25:03 GMT -8
I might have to re-read the section on Dick Anderson now? I'm about 1/3rd through the book and need to get moving.
Mark
|
|
|
|
Post by nikeajax on Feb 1, 2017 14:38:22 GMT -8
 John68 sent me an article about "Diver Dick" that I will share more of later, but uhhhh, WOW, to say that he is completely underrated is like saying Krakatoa was just another volcano! JB |
|
|
|
Post by SeaRat on Feb 1, 2017 14:59:37 GMT -8
Wow, I'm waiting...
John
|
|
|
|
Post by nikeajax on Feb 2, 2017 15:13:14 GMT -8
A few of the notables are:
He was one of the engineers that designed the Divair, the first all American designed and built regulator.
He designed the first piston regulator intended for diving: he instead went with the Sherwood which was being used at hospital, not diving! Evidently, Cousteau and his engineers didn't think o-rings would hold up to salt water...
He designed the first balanced-piston regulator.
Something else I thought was really cool was his first piston reg had two separate exhaust ports on the second stage, one on either side!
I'm going to make one these second stages dive ready: with patina intact! I'm trying to figure out the right adhesive for the old tilt-valve seats I have: I'm playing with JB Weld right now...
JB
|
|
|
|
Post by nikeajax on Feb 8, 2017 14:54:36 GMT -8
|
|
|
|
Post by SeaRat on Feb 8, 2017 17:37:16 GMT -8
Interesting; the CG-45 always had to be bent to make it work correctly. I have one of the DA Aqualung regulators, and until I had Broxton Chuck work on it, would not take it into anything other than a pool, it breathed so poorly. Bill Herter could not adjust it well enough for open water (Deep Sea Bill, Newport, Oregon). After Broxton Chuck worked on it, I took it into the Santiam River in Big Cliff Reservoir. The problem is that not only did the interstage pressure need to be correct, but also the horseshoe lever had to be bent up to correctly contact the diaphragm's metal discs in order to get much air out of it. Interesting about Dick Anderson and Glenn McCall. I'd be interested in more about their involvement with the early USD regulators. John |
|
|
|
Post by nikeajax on Feb 8, 2017 19:07:42 GMT -8
John, I'm rather amused at you inability to get that regulator working... The reason being that USD regs have a reputation of always being ready to go off the shelf ALWAYS! It seems kinda strange that someone like yourself was pounding his head against a rock for how long? Just as funny to me that there are a lot of people who pound their head against that same rock trying to get a Divair working. I didn't have my Divair very long before I figured out how to tune it the right way: I NEVER had to change any of the levers from factory. To quote Phil, "Just sayin'..."  Or, to put it another way, there are a lot of people who are grossly underrated or not even recognized, while others get god-like status... JB |
|
|
|
Post by tomcatpc on Feb 8, 2017 20:18:15 GMT -8
In reading the "Oral History of Diving" the chapter on Dick Anderson does not really paint a good picture of Rene Bussoz. I got the impression he was cheap and used others ideas as his own, or at least that is how my dyslexic mind read into the story, I could be very wrong?
Mark
|
|
|
|
Post by nikeajax on Feb 8, 2017 20:54:17 GMT -8
Dick Anderson does not really paint a good picture of Rene Bussoz. I got the impression he was cheap and used others ideas as his own... Mark SNORT!  Gosh, why doesn't this surprise me? It's my understanding that Mr. Anderson was an absolutely brilliant engineer, totally freakin' S-M-R-T (smart: to use a Homer Simpsonism). For some reason Gustav Dalla Valle convinced him not to seek patents for many of his inventions--DOH! JB |
|
|
|
Post by SeaRat on Feb 8, 2017 21:00:46 GMT -8
John, I'm rather amused at you inability to get that regulator working... The reason being that USD regs have a reputation of always being ready to go off the shelf ALWAYS! It seems kinda strange that someone like yourself was pounding his head against a rock for how long? Just as funny to me that there are a lot of people who pound their head against that same rock trying to get a Divair working. I didn't have my Divair very long before I figured out how to tune it the right way: I NEVER had to change any of the levers from factory. To quote Phil, "Just sayin'..." Or, to put it another way, there are a lot of people who are grossly underrated or not even recognized, while others get god-like status... JB Jaybird, One of The problems I had was not being able to set the interstage pressure. The DA Aqualung (Broxton Green Label) had no way other than a special gauge that fit into the LP seat hole to set interstage pressure. I did not have that gauge, which was part of the problem. Braxton Chuck had one. He also specialized in in the DA Aqualung. John |
|
|
|
Post by tomcatpc on Feb 8, 2017 21:27:53 GMT -8
Maybe I got Rene and Gustav mixed up? I need to re-read it maybe?
Mark
|
|
Gosh, why doesn't this surprise me?