Innovation In Recreational Scuba Diving?
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KeithG
Guest
Recreational Scuba innovation? Almost none...well none...Nothing...Nada...Zip...Zero...Not a Sausage!
Innovation is a new idea, device or process. Innovation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
We have had some technical evolution of the dive tables. They are in a small grey box now. I now use a dive computer that allows me to dive longer without spending a whole pile of brain power pre-dive to calculate multiple multi-level dive scenarios.
But nothing mainstream innovative. Much of my gear is 25 years old. Still current. Working just fine. Not close to obsolete.
Maybe we need to ask: What significant change has happened?
- dive computers have replaced tables
- nothing else...
We still use a compass to navigate. We still take pictures and videos. We still use a tank full of gas. We still take lights down when it is dark. We still need a suit to keep warm.
Some of the devices we use have been replaced by newer models, but this is not innovation.
The only recent innovation I can think of is rebreathers - but not for recreational divers! So out of scope.
Innovation is a new idea, device or process. Innovation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
We have had some technical evolution of the dive tables. They are in a small grey box now. I now use a dive computer that allows me to dive longer without spending a whole pile of brain power pre-dive to calculate multiple multi-level dive scenarios.
But nothing mainstream innovative. Much of my gear is 25 years old. Still current. Working just fine. Not close to obsolete.
Maybe we need to ask: What significant change has happened?
- dive computers have replaced tables
- nothing else...
We still use a compass to navigate. We still take pictures and videos. We still use a tank full of gas. We still take lights down when it is dark. We still need a suit to keep warm.
Some of the devices we use have been replaced by newer models, but this is not innovation.
The only recent innovation I can think of is rebreathers - but not for recreational divers! So out of scope.
Rebreathers, although I agree with your points # 1, and 2. For you point #3, you have not a good idea of what a rebreather is.
Please read from wikipedia "A rebreather is a breathing apparatus that absorbs the carbon dioxide of a user's exhaled breath to permit the rebreathing (recycling) of the substantially unused oxygen content of each breath. Oxygen is added to replenish the amount metabolised by the user. This differs from an open-circuit breathing apparatus, where the exhaled gas is discharged directly into the environment."
In summary, it is not really It's still really just breathing (and rebreathing) compressed gas underwater from a tank you bring with you
---------- Post added November 27th, 2014 at 12:28 PM ----------
I have been diving with tables only for a few years. Then you know that dive computors @ less that $200 is a real break-through.
Please read from wikipedia "A rebreather is a breathing apparatus that absorbs the carbon dioxide of a user's exhaled breath to permit the rebreathing (recycling) of the substantially unused oxygen content of each breath. Oxygen is added to replenish the amount metabolised by the user. This differs from an open-circuit breathing apparatus, where the exhaled gas is discharged directly into the environment."
In summary, it is not really It's still really just breathing (and rebreathing) compressed gas underwater from a tank you bring with you
---------- Post added November 27th, 2014 at 12:28 PM ----------
I have been diving with tables only for a few years. Then you know that dive computors @ less that $200 is a real break-through.
OP
Thank's for the explanation... I had NO IDEA what a rebreather was until I read your post.
:cool2:
Damn... the interweb REALLY needs a sarcasm font.
Basking Ridge Diver
Contributor
I think the OP totally under values the impact of dive computers. There is no dive table in the world that lets you Maximize the bottom time of a multi level dive profile like today's computers do. With a good SAC rate 80 minute dives are the norm for me in Coz. Was NOT that way before my first computer.
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A revolutionary change would be use of a breathing gel inserted into your lungs or breathed from at depth-that allowed us to get rid of tanks. Everything else mentioned so far may be innovative and evolutionary but nothing revolutionary.
lamarpaulski
Contributor
I thought the auto inflator for the BC (was a horse collar at the time) was a great help. Previously you had to remove reg..blow into BC..return reg...repeat..NOT very feasible in an emergency or under stress. SPG of course eliminated the dangerous J valve wire pull-down BS reserve system. Both made it easier and safer for the masses to SCUBA.
I have to agree. Everything in diving is an adapted technology from the time Augustus Siebe “invented” deep sea gear in the 1830s, through Cousteau/Gagnon’s demand regulator, and today’s dive computers. Name one dive computer that is anywhere near as evolved or reliable as a smart phone.
Seibe’s suit was an adaptation of the Deane brothers smoke helmet. Cousteau’s Aqualung was an adaptation of a demand regulator Émile Gagnan was developing for cars to run on cooking gas in occupied France during WWI. The dive computer has always been well behind the state of the art in the computer industry.
Diver’s rebreathers were adapted and SLOWLY evolved from pure oxygen rebreathers made for mine safety and originally conceived around 1620. The difference between today’s rebreathers and the Electrolung in the late 1960s is modest and evolutionary at best. Modern drysuits resulted from the NASA-developed waterproof zipper. Silicon compounds and molding were developed for the medical device and food processing markets. Thank spy satellites for digital cameras.
Even the most advanced and technically sophisticated form, Saturation Diving, is completely an adaptation of long-existing products and technology. Captain Bond’s ground-breaking work that proved saturation could be practical was based on Edgar End, Max Nohl, and Albert Behnke’s work.
Granted, every human innovation is based on previous works — from the wheel to sequencing the human genome. However, I honestly can’t think of any development in diving that wasn’t obvious to a great many people at the same time or driven by a labor of love because someone wanted to accomplish something underwater and searched long and hard for things that could be adapted for the job.
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