Early Cave Diving with Aviation Oxygen Regulators

[antique diver]

1956 photo by Bill Helmer in Perry Water Cave (Texas). From the terrific and factual publication by Carl E. Kunath, 50 YEARS of TEXAS CAVING.

Jamie Spence, wearing the blanket, described his rig: "... two bright yellow oxygen tanks plumbed up with a converted surplus U.S. Air Force oxygen demand regulator, two corrugated hoses and a rubber mouthpiece... An article in Popular Mechanics had guided me in the construction of this homemade diving rig. Air stations had not yet been invented, so we had to fill the tanks with welding oxygen".

He describes using it: "...pulling hard on my mouthpiece trying to persuade the makeshift breathing apparatus to deliver sufficient oxygen. Breathing hard from the exertion and the cold..."

Now doesn't that just make you want to give it a try?

[SeaRat]

...Now doesn't that just make you want to give it a try?

No, actually It looks like it was a pretty cold, hard dive. Apparently, no wet suits at that time too. Wow!

I couldn't find this book on Amazon, but he wrote a few others:

www.amazon.com/s?k=Carl+E.+Kunath&i=stripbooks&crid=191KZ8FPWMA8C&sprefix=carl+e.+kunath%2Cstripbooks%2C125&ref=nb_sb_noss

John

[antique diver]

Mar 1, 2024 8:12:06 GMT -8 SeaRat said:

...Now doesn't that just make you want to give it a try?

No, actually It looks like it was a pretty cold, hard dive. Apparently, no wet suits at that time too. Wow!

I couldn't find this book on Amazon, but he wrote a few others:

www.amazon.com/s?k=Carl+E.+Kunath&i=stripbooks&crid=191KZ8FPWMA8C&sprefix=carl+e.+kunath%2Cstripbooks%2C125&ref=nb_sb_noss

John

Jamie did state that he was wearing a thin drysuit, which would have been latex, like the modern day Hydroglove (which doesn't seem to be in operation now... hope they get back to building them some time soon)

Try looking for the book at more bookstores or National Speleological Society. I think that's where I saw them for $65.
I was able to get a signed one direct from Carl when they were first published. Amazing amount of material on caving as well as section on cave diving.

He kindly included pretty accurate information on a couple of our cave diving projects.

[nikeajax]

Feb 29, 2024 22:19:46 GMT -8 antique diver said:

Now doesn't that just make you want to give it a try?

OH, (expletive deleted) YEAH! I totally WANT to; but would I? Knowing what we do now, (expletive deleted) NO! That sounds like a heart-poundingly-glorious adventure though, like when Tom and Huck were in the graveyard with their dead cat to cure warts and the grave robbers show up GULP! Huh, I wonder if anyone has ever written a novel using this gear?

Thanks for sharing this Bill, you've planted a seed in my head

JB

EDIT: If you do a right click "open image in new tab" you can see it much better, there's some kinda Aqualung on the wall...

EDIT 2: That water's probably so cold it hurts. In the lower right, you can see a cooking pot and a couple of cans, I can't help wondering what's in them, beans maybe?

[antique diver]

JB

EDIT: If you do a right click "open image in new tab" you can see it much better, there's some kinda Aqualung on the wall...

Yeah, that looks like an Aqualung Broxton era reg, or maybe even an Overpressure.