Innovation In Recreational Scuba Diving?

[dumpsterDiver]

If we are gonna move on to innovations we WISH for: A single HP tank that is molded into the shape of a streamlined turtle shell would be very cool and of course higher pressure.. I remember the diveator (spelling?) gear which was like 5,000 psi back in the early 70's.. and we are still using 2400 psi steel tanks?

 

[rx7diver]

Bringing my phone with me on a dive? I'd call that DE-evolutionary.

:d

---------- Post added November 25th, 2014 at 02:41 PM ----------

I think I might throw a survey tool together to see if we can "crowdsource" a rating/ranking of the innovations listed above.

Anyone think there's anything else NOT listed above that should be put into the mix?

Stay tuned.

RJP,

A formal survey might be very useful, indeed! You might test it out first in a pilot study before you roll it out completely, though. Your previous survey suffered a serious downside, imho, as you seemed to be using specific terms to represent very specific and distinct concepts (to you), yet it seemed (to me) that many people responding to the survey did not interpret these terms consistent with your intentions. It seems that many people, myself included, were confused by your terms. A pilot study can help identify and eliminate this type of confusion.

You might include questions to help tease out some important subtleties, too. For example, I wrote above that the dive watch, the BC, and the Calypso/Nikonos 1 camera should be regarded as true innovations. The truth is, I began diving when all three of these were mainstream, so I have no *real* appreciation--only an *imagined* appreciation--of how these inventions significantly changed scuba diving.

Safe Diving,

rx7diver

 

[Trace Malinowski]

Given the concept of evolution vs. revolution I can't think of anything revolutionary in the sport. The Aqualung was THE revolution and after that it has all been evolution. But, there is nothing wrong with that. In our quest for the next greatest piece of gear or the next better method of training we have put too much emphasis on how we dive rather than why we dive. We've become divided by philosophy, equipment, and agency and I hope we manage to devolve back to our roots - simple equipment and the simple joy of breathing underwater to pursue our varied interests in humble appreciation of the combined works of so many who've made it possible for us to dive in ease, comfort and safety.

 

[TSandM]

I think light, mobile dry suits and quality undergarments are a big step. Diving in cold water was very cumbersome in the days when thick, inflexible wetsuits were all you had; in addition, such divers could not enjoy the neutral buoyancy that we all take for granted nowadays.

But in many ways, this thread reminds me of some frustrating conversations I had many years ago. There was a woman living in my apartment complex in 1982 who was in her mid-80's. I was fascinated with the fact that she had seen the world go from gaslight and buggies to telephone, cars and computers. But every time I tried to talk to her about it, I didn't get the responses I expected (and wanted). To her, the changes had been so incremental, at no point were they amazing. Kind of like cell phones and the internet during my lifetime. We didn't have them, then we had them a little bit, and then we couldn't remember how it was when we didn't have them.

What constitutes an innovation, anyway?

 

[RJP]

The most important innovation has to be thermal protection. Cousteau didn’t have any. First was the wetsuit in 1952, followed by practical drysuits — dry suits were actually first but they were awful. The next innovation I hope to see is a practical and cost-effective non-compressible wetsuit material, at least to 100 Meters/328'.

Where would you place introduction of "practical drysuits" on a timeline - year wise?

 

[Akimbo]

If we are gonna move on to innovations we WISH for: A single HP tank that is molded into the shape of a streamlined turtle shell would be very cool and of course higher pressure.. I remember the diveator (spelling?) gear which was like 5,000 psi back in the early 70's.. and we are still using 2400 psi steel tanks?

The Divator 324 is my all-time favorite even today and is still available from Interspiro. The “324” stands for 300 Bar (4,351 PSI), 2 cylinders, and 4 Liter capacity (3.8 really). They have just under 80 Ft³ total capacity. They are about 16 Lbs negative in seawater so are not very good in warm water .

They really ride nicely, are worn valve-down, and are wonderfully compact. Today you would probably want support for two regulators and isolation valve though.

They are designed to wear with the valve pointing away from you but I prefer to have the valve pointing toward my butt. They are only 4.33" OD and 22" tall. I think they mostly sell in the firefighting and mine safety markets and most are the lightweight composite cylinders.

 

[Peter Guy]

Ray asks "By "fundamentally" I mean something that has expanded the who, how, where, or when of recreational diving in a meaningful way."


I'd suggest the following two things:


a. DSDs -- The "organized" (and yes, that IS in quotes) creation of a simple, but clear introduction to scuba diving I believe really expanded the "who, where and when" of recreational diving.


b. Dive Focused Resorts/Liveaboards -- when I started (long after RJPs 1943 time) the type of dive focused travel available today was minimal if at all. The fact that now we have dive focused resorts all around the world has certainly had a significant impact on the "who, when and where" of recreational diving.

 

[RJP]

What constitutes an innovation, anyway?

Funny you should ask... I've recently come across a pretty good construct for evaluating products and services. Was sort of the genesis of the thread after having attended DEMA. I don't want to give too many details away immediately, as I'm going to throw together a survey to capture people's feelings about the things captured in this thread let things that are a bit more objective allow us to "crowdsource" some concensus - to the extend that is ever possible on ScubaBoard. Would be interesting to see what we come up with and then sort of publish it as a "whitepaper" on scuba innovation.

In order to pull it together I could use a bit of help, as I'm not as familiar with timelines of introductions before I began diving. In no particular order, here's what I've captured in this thread. For now, don't worry about whether these things were innovative or how much. If folks can help me determine the following things for the items on the list:

INTRODUCTION - what was the new or evolved product or service
USE CASE- what functional purpose does the new or evolved product or service provide
PRIOR SOLUTION - what was the previous product or service


So below is what I'm considering if people can correct me or fill in the blanks. Note: I've left off things that are clearly minor/incremental improvements such as "smaller, better, faster, warmer, lighter, etc" anything.


INTRODUCTION: Demand regulator/tank scuba unit
USE CASE: Breathing underwater
PRIOR SOLUTION: Surface supplied air


INTRODUCTION: Wetsuit
USE CASE: Exposure protection
PRIOR SOLUTION: none


INTRODUCTION: SPG
USE CASE: Determining gas supply
PRIOR SOLUTION: J-valve


INTRODUCTION: Horsecollar BCD
USE CASE: Establishing buoyancy
PRIOR SOLUTION: None


INTRODUCTION: Recreational dive tables
USE CASE: Dive planning
PRIOR SOLUTION: Navy tables


INTRODUCTION: Broad commercial agencies with reach through shops/resort
USE CASE: Training and certification
PRIOR SOLUTION: Clubs and universities


INTRODUCTION: Digital photography
USE CASE: Still image capture
PRIOR SOLUTION: Film photography


INTRODUCTION: General digital videography
USE CASE: Video capture
PRIOR SOLUTION: Film


INTRODUCTION: GoPro
USE CASE: Video capture
PRIOR SOLUTION: Digital videography


INTRODUCTION: Octo/alt reg
USE CASE: Primary failure or otherwise not available
PRIOR SOLUTION: None


INTRODUCTION: Low pressure power inflator
USE CASE: BCD inflation
PRIOR SOLUTION: Mouthpiece only


INTRODUCTION: Single-hose regulator
USE CASE: gas delivery/exhaust
PRIOR SOLUTION: Double hose regulator


INTRODUCTION: Rebreather
USE CASE: gas delivery/exhaust
PRIOR SOLUTION: open circuit reg


INTRODUCTION: Modern BCD (irrespective of type)
USE CASE: establishing buoyancy
PRIOR SOLUTION: horsecollar


INTRODUCTION: Personal dive computer
USE CASE: dive planning/execution
PRIOR SOLUTION: Recreational tables


INTRODUCTION: Recreational enriched air nitrox
USE CASE: breathing gas
PRIOR SOLUTION: Air


INTRODUCTION: Dive-focused resorts & liveaboards
USE CASE: Destination diving
PRIOR SOLUTION: None


INTRODUCTION: Discover Scuba Diving/Resort Course
USE CASE: Introduction/exposure
PRIOR SOLUTION: None


INTRODUCTION:
USE CASE:
PRIOR SOLUTION:


INTRODUCTION:
USE CASE:
PRIOR SOLUTION:

 

[Akimbo]

Where would you place introduction of "practical drysuits" on a timeline - year wise?

The granddaddy of practical, but very expensive, drysuits was probably the Poseidon Unisuit in the late 1960s. The NASA developed waterproof zipper was the enabling technology and ran from about diaphragm level under the crotch and partway up the back. It required a bit of technique and some assistance to don and doff. They were pretty baggy and you wore “woolies” under them very similar to ones worn under Navy Mark V-style deep sea suits. There was a power inflator hose with chest-mounted button and separate manual vent button. The attached image is of John Clark and Bob Hollis, founders of Oceanic Products, getting ready for a dive on the Doria in 1973.



As I recall, there were a few much less expensive uncompressed Neoprene drysuits in the early 1970s with a simple oral inflator/deflator on a short corrugated hose on the chest. I think the first I saw was made by O’Neill. The much shorter and less expensive waterproof zipper was across the back of the shoulders. They never really took off because they were cut like a wetsuit and had no space inside for underwear.

Dick Long of DUI began experimenting with drysuits when his major market was custom wetsuits and hot water suits for the military and commercial diving markets. We often dove together off mutual friends boats in the late 1970s through the early 1990s. I had a back-shoulder zip compressed CF-200 then, but still preferred one of his 1/4" Rubatex custom wetsuits unless the dive was especially deep and long. Dick was always experimenting and came onboard with his first prototype telescoping across the shoulder zip drysuits. Everyone onboard said it looked way too complicated, baggy, and expensive due to the long zipper length — every inch was still very expensive at that point. That should tell you something about how important tenacity is. Obviously the design is now the most successful and copied on the market.

I don’t remember when I saw the first adjustable automatic counterbalance dump valve. The manual ones weren’t that bad because most divers used the suit as a BC. Keep in mind that this was in the horse-collar days when they were mostly used for emergency buoyancy and filled off a tiny separate HP bottle... not truly a buoyancy compensator.

Here is an image of the first drysuit design which was part deep sea gear and dates back to the 1830s.


Here is the Cousteau Constant Volume drysuit developed in the late 1940s, which was used by Hannes Keller on the first 1000' dive in December 1962. This is easily the most miserable suit I ever used, way worse than Mark V deep sea gear. Edit: You equalized it by letting gas slip past your lips on the mouthpiece that protruded into the hood (no neck seal) and there were mushroom valve vents on the lower legs. The mask was molded into the attached hood and the lens was removable so you could breathe through your nose on the surface.

 

[RJP]

RJP,

A formal survey might be very useful, indeed! You might test it out first in a pilot study before you roll it out completely, though. Your previous survey suffered a serious downside, imho, as you seemed to be using specific terms to represent very specific and distinct concepts (to you), yet it seemed (to me) that many people responding to the survey did not interpret these terms consistent with your intentions. It seems that many people, myself included, were confused by your terms. A pilot study can help identify and eliminate this type of confusion.

You might include questions to help tease out some important subtleties, too. For example, I wrote above that the dive watch, the BC, and the Calypso/Nikonos 1 camera should be regarded as true innovations. The truth is, I began diving when all three of these were mainstream, so I have no *real* appreciation--only an *imagined* appreciation--of how these inventions significantly changed scuba diving.

Your point of having the survey be straightforward is well taken. (Though your suggestion to "tease out subtleties" might go counter to that.) My previous large survey utilized a specific methodology that the overanalytical/hypercritical here picked apart. (It works fine with children, teachers, plumbers, cardiologists, etc) The instrument I'll use here will be a much more straightforward piece.