Basic gear from mid-twentieth-century Greece

[David Wilson]

The 407 model is perhaps Balco sub's best-known mask. It is still manufactured today.

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So a stainless-steel rimmed oval mask fitted with a split headstrap and with corrugated bosses on the inside and finger wells on the outside to pinch the nostrils and clear the ears at depth.

 

[David Wilson]

The Balco sub 1124 model diving mask.

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A plastic-rimmed mask, also fitted with a split headstrap and a compensator device. The mask box identifies the target user as a young person.

More Balco sub masks midweek.

 

[David Wilson]

Balco sub 1125 model diving mask:

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A kidney-shaped mask fitted with a metal rim, a black rubber skirt and a Cressi Pinocchio style nosepiece to pinch the nostrils when ear-clearing.

 

[David Wilson]

A diving mask simply embossed with the company name "Balco". Probably an early model.

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A traditional oval mask. The rubber skirt came in either black or yellow (metal rim with top screw). The skirt was ribbed to prevent collapse at depth.

More Balco sub equipment at the weekend.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

A diving mask simply embossed with the company name "Balco". Probably an early model.

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A traditional oval mask. The rubber skirt came in either black or yellow (metal rim with top screw). The skirt was ribbed to prevent collapse at depth.

More Balco sub equipment at the weekend.

This one looks very much like the French La Spiro Champion Deluxe mask.

SeaRat

 

[John C. Ratliff]

Let us start with the Greek diving equipment manufacturer Balco sub:

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According to Facebook’s Balco Sub site, the manufacturing business also known as Eurobal Diving Company was established in 1954 by two partners, surnamed Ballas (Μπάλλας) and Colaros (Κολαρος), hence the company name Balco (BAL+CO).

At Balco: Οι Ελληνικές μάσκες, βατραχοπέδιλα και ψαροντούφεκα., a Retromaniax forum member posted a 2013 thread entitled “Balco: Οι Ελληνικές μάσκες, βατραχοπέδιλα και ψαροντούφεκα” (Balco: Greek masks, fins and spearguns). According to the thread initiator, Balco Sub was first based in Kifissia, now one of the most expensive northern suburbs of Greece’s capital city Athens and traditionally home to rich Greek families and major Greek politicians.

The original poster continues, and I translate, “(Ballas and Colaros) processed rubber and made masks and fins as well as spearguns; (…) they actually exported to other countries, e.g. Australia, Germany and Lebanon. One of them lived with his father and his wife (the father in a separate house) on the same property and we knew them well; both father and son happened to die of cancer, relatively soon one after the other. (…) I must tell you that when the father and the son died, the property was completely abandoned with hundreds of masks, spearguns and fins stored there in a total muddle. There were also raw materials from the factory, e.g. rubber in small balls and sulphur with a sweet-smelling chemical additive and magnesium salt too, all of these in some paper barrels. There was also a huge pile of paperwork from the company’s offices. (…) the property was not far from us, almost everything there was demolished in 2007 after it was bought by someone else, and nothing remains of these things I am telling you about (they were in storage and in fact in good condition until the end)”.

In 2019, “Balco team” updated this thread with the following information (my translation): “The Company is now called Balco sub. The headquarters is located on the industrial side of Menidi, manufacturing its products with the exact same know-how and quality since the 1970s. There are selected shops and diving centres all over Greece where you can find the products and soon the company’s new website at www.balcosub.gr will be up and running”. Menidi was a northwestern suburb of Athens, Attica, Greece, and renamed Acharnes in 1915. The firm’s present address is EUROBAL DIVING CO. Georgia Frydas. 10 Themistokleous, 13671 Acharnes, ATTICA, GREECE.

More information about Balco sub and its underwater products midweek.

DRW,

I look at this entry a bit differently, as my training is in industrial hygiene. So I looked up in Google Scholar the topic "Rubber manufacturing and cancer," and got some very interesting results.

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Meta-analysis of occupational exposures in the rubber manufacturing industry and risk of cancer​

Mathieu Boniol, Alice Koechlin, Peter Boyle
International Journal of Epidemiology, Volume 46, Issue 6, December 2017, Pages 1940–1947, Meta-analysis of occupational exposures in the rubber manufacturing industry and risk of cancer
Published:

26 July 2017
Article history

Introduction​

Occupational exposures in the rubber manufacturing industry have been considered since 1982 as carcinogenic to humans and have been classified as group 1 by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.1,2 This classification was based mainly on observational studies on workers mostly employed before the 1960s, with some studies showing an increased risk of bladder cancer, leukaemia, stomach cancer, lung cancer and lymphoma. The IARC monographs also reported limited evidence of association for oesophagus, larynx and prostate cancers.

Two compounds are largely involved in production of tyre and rubber goods:3,4 1,3-butadiene and benzene, both of which are established as carcinogens to humans.5 The production of tyre and rubber goods involves the use of hundreds of different chemical compounds.2Several of them are known carcinogens. In addition, several by-products can result from vulcanization and other processes, concerning which effects of exposures are not known. This industry was therefore emblematic of potential exposures confirmed or suspected as carcinogenic to humans. As no clear single carcinogen could be identified as causing the increased risk of cancer, the IARC maintained in its successive evaluations that the whole sector of rubber manufacturing industry was carcinogen to humans.1,2

The rubber manufacturing industry has undergone radical technological changes since the 1950s, entailing major reductions in rubber dust6 and fume exposure and the removal of known carcinogenic agents. The re-analysis of a mortality study conducted in the British rubber industry, covering the period 1967–76, showed that initially increased risk of bladder cancer could be no longer observed in men not exposed to known carcinogens.7 More recently, a multicentric study in Europe on 38 457 workers employed since 1975, with nearly a million person-years, showed no increased risk of cancer mortality for bladder cancer, leukaemia, lung cancer, stomach cancer or non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.8 Recent studies8–10 have suggested that risk of cancer has decreased in recently employed workers...

Meta-analysis of occupational exposures in the rubber manufacturing industry and risk of cancer

AbstractBackground. Occupational exposures in the rubber manufacturing industry showed an increased risk of cancer and have been classified as a group 1 ca

academic.oup.com

From you photos, it does not appear that anyone was protecting themselves from exposures to the potential chemical carcinogens by using respiratory protection and personal protective equipment such as gloves, boots and aprons. I looked up the chemicals in the NIOSH Pocket Guide on-line, and found these entries:

1,3-butadiene

CDC - NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards - 1,3-Butadiene

Biethylene, Bivinyl, Butadiene, Divinyl, Erythrene, Vinylethylene Colorless gas with a mild aromatic or gasoline-like odor. [Note: A liquid below 24°F. Shipped as a liquefied compressed gas.]

www.cdc.gov

Benzene

CDC - NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards - Benzene

Benzol, Phenyl hydride Colorless to light-yellow liquid with an aromatic odor. [Note: A solid below 42°F.]

www.cdc.gov

While I admire the products that were produced, it appears that the lack of industrial hygiene controls cost the company its two corporate pioneers by producing their cancers.

SeaRat

 

[David Wilson]

Thank you for highlighting the cancer exposure risks run by unprotected workers in the Greek rubber industry as late as the 1990s, John. A very sobering story.

Here in the UK, I recall the industrial diseases generated by asbestos and coal dust, which might only have emerged after workers retired.

 

[David Wilson]

A pair of Balco goggles...

These goggles, being made entrirely from rubber, would likely have been designed for surface swimming only. Goggles with metal bridges between the eye cups were intended for underwater hunting use as the position of the eye cups could be adjusted to correct vision.

 

[David Wilson]

And here is an image of a Balco sub snorkel, model 605:

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Just a plain old J-shaped breathing tube with a lugged mouthpiece and a keeper for attachment to the mask.

Next time, midweek, we shall take a look at the Balco sub snorkel mask, which is still in production in this twenty-first century.

 

[dmaziuk]

These goggles, being made entrirely from rubber, would likely have been designed for surface swimming only. Goggles with metal bridges between the eye cups were intended for underwater hunting use as the position of the eye cups could be adjusted to correct vision.

They leak just like a mask: you have to find the ones that fit. An adjustable nose bridge helps with that, although I'm not sure how well it would work in these "over the socket" type goggles that have a continuous seal for the whole thing. It works well in the regular swimming goggles: 2 separate cups that fit in the eye sockets -- but you can't dive below 3-4 metres in those.