A little history on ...
The autonomous scuba diver
or
The Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus (SCUBA)
LA SPIROTECHNIQUE brand regulators are the emblem of autonomous diving and modern scuba diving.
However, it is essential to remember that the history of diving is not limited to the invention of Commander Jacques-Yves Cousteau and engineer Emile Gagnan in 1943.
In reality, the discovery of the marine environment dates back to Antiquity, and it was in the 19th century that the great revolution took place with the invention of the regulator.
The first regulator was invented in 1838 by Manuel Théodore Guillaumet, but it required a surface pump and did not provide real autonomy.
The history of the autonomous diving suit truly began in 1860, when Benoît Rouquayrol filed a patent for a regulator intended for rescue in mining environments . In 1862 , he improved his invention with the Rouquayrol insulator, a mask without a heavy helmet. In 1864, in association with Auguste Denayrouze , he created the Rouquayrol-Denayrouze device , one of the first autonomous diving suits, operating with a pump or a reserve of compressed air.
In 1865, they added a rubberized canvas suit and a copper face mask, nicknamed "groin," which was replaced by a traditional helmet in 1866. Several patents followed, including a warning whistle (1865) and a metal filter to protect the mechanism (1866).
Between 1872 and 1889, Auguste and Louis Denayrouze developed other innovations, such as the Denayrouze three-bolt helmet (1873), an underwater telephone (1874) and a hook helmet (1889), which were not successful.
The Rouquayrol-Denayrouze diving suit inspired Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and had a lasting influence on the history of scuba diving.
The word scaphandre was coined in 1775 by Abbé de la Chapelle to describe his invention, a sort of cork life jacket that allowed soldiers to float and cross waterways.
Scaphandre comes from the Greek skaphe (boat) and andros (man), and therefore means boat man. Nowadays the word scaphandre no longer refers at all to the invention of the Abbé de la Chapelle but it has remained in the use of the French language to refer to a set of suits or devices allowing a person to evolve safely in an environment that is hostile to him (example: heavy-footed diving suit, autonomous diving suit or space diving suit).
The diver equipped with an autonomous diving suit lacks the opportunity to take off from the bottom and to evolve in open water. It was Louis Marie de Corlieu, a French soldier, who was the inventor of the modern diving fin.
For his first prototype modern diving palm (Photo 4), he demonstrated in 1914 before an officer's parterre, including Yves Le Prieur who in 1926 was going to invent (and in 1934, perfect) a series of models of scuba . In 1939, De Corlieu was finally able to start mass production of his palms, which until then he had manufactured in his apartment in Paris. In the same year of 1939, the American Owen P. Churchill bought a license from De Corlieu to manufacture them in the United States and began to market them. They were adopted in 1940 by the US Navy and its combat swimmers who used them for example during the Normandy Landings.
In 1925 , during a demonstration at the Grand Palais, Yves Le Prieur witnessed the presentation of an underwater breathing apparatus designed by Maurice Fernez, which operated using a surface air pump. Le Prieur then suggested a major improvement: replacing the pump and breathing tube with a compressed air cylinder, the one used by Michelin in its puncture repair kits. This change would give the diver true autonomy underwater.
Fernez accepted, and in 1926 , they jointly filed the patent for the Fernez-Le Prieur diving equipement. This combined Fernez's innovations (a nose clip, special goggles called "Fernez goggles" and a non-return valve for exhalation) with Le Prieur's invention: a manual regulator (or manodréguler) connected to the compressed air cylinder.
In 1931 , Le Prieur made a further improvement by replacing the goggles and nose clip with a porthole mask , offering greater safety. This diving equipement, with manual valves, could supply up to two divers and delivered air at constant pressure, depending on the manually operated valves.
In 1935, Georges Commeinhes filed a patent for a breathing apparatus intended for firefighters, combining the Rouquayrol-Denayrouze regulator and the Le Prieur compressed air cylinder.
In 1937, he developed an amphibious version of his aircraft , which was officially approved by the French Navy.
It wasn't until 1942 that he filed the patent for the GC 42, a self-contained diving suit designed for breathing in pressurized liquids. This innovative model was equipped with a fairing, two 4- or 5-liter cylinders, a diaphragm regulator, a pressure gauge, and an audible alarm.
With this revolutionary equipment, Georges Commeinhes made a dive to a depth of 53 meters off the coast of Marseille on July 30, 1943 .
In 1940, during the German occupation of Paris, Émile Gagnan adapted the Rouquayrol-Denayrouze regulator to power gas-powered car engines due to fuel shortages.
He then filed a patent for his own regulator, a miniaturized version of the Rouquayrol and Denayrouze model, made of Bakelite.
At that time his employer, Henri Melchior, former admiral of the French Navy and director of the Air Liquide company, discovered his invention.
However, his daughter Simone Melchior is the wife of Jacques-Yves Cousteau, a naval ensign who has been seeking to improve Commander Yves Le Prieur's autonomous diving apparatus since his meeting with Lieutenant Commander Philippe Tailliez.
Informed by Melchior, Cousteau met Gagnan in Paris in December 1942 .
A few months later, he tested a first prototype equipped with a single corrugated pipe in the Marne on June 22, 1943 in Champigny sur Marne behind one of the Air Liquide establishments.
However, he found that inspiration was difficult when head down, while air rushed in when head up, forcing the diver to remain in a horizontal position to breathe properly.
Following these observations, Cousteau suggested adding a second corrugated tube to bring the exhalation back against the membrane and balance the pressure.
The modification was made without delay and the prototype took the road to Toulon where the body arrived at the station on June 28.
On July 4, it was used to carry out this famous test at Barry beach in Bandol with Frédéric Dumas, Jacques-Yves and Simone Cousteau (without Philippe Tailliez who would test it later).
The future “Mousquemers” were born.
In 1944 , Georges Commeinhes died during the liberation of Strasbourg, and his regulator fell into oblivion, eclipsed by the invention of Cousteau and Gagnan.
In 1943, they filed a patent for their invention under the name "Scaphandre Cousteau-Gagnan." Cousteau insisted that Air Liquide include Émile Gagnan's name on the patent.
Marketing officially began on May 26, 1946, with the creation of “SARL LA SPIROTECHNIQUE,” a subsidiary of Air Liquide. Following the success of the CG45, the company evolved into “SA LA SPIROTECHNIQUE” in 1950.
For fun, the happy owner being Aqualung...
The holy grail of all collectors: the CG 45 prototype in 6 photos. They were sent to me by Jacques Chabbert, who received them from Manuel Cabrère of Aqualung.
détail prototype CG45
détails prototype CG45
détail prototype CG45
détail prototype CG45
détail prototype CG45
détail prototype CG45