Some History On Nitrox

[uwsince79]

I thought I would Post a quick History On Nitrox so some of you can see just how long this has been in use as a breathing gas for diving. I have edited this post and is now a direct copy of the GUE's book The Fundamentals of Technical Diving. If you are new to Nitrox or thinking about it send me an email and I will recommend some great books on the subject. Enjoy!

1773: English Chemist, Joseph Priestly discovers Oxygen. Shortly there after, the French chemist Lavoiser determines that oxygen is vital to life.

1794: English physician Reddoes establishes breathing oxygen enriched air as a medical procedure.

1874: A Breathing Mixture of 40 percent and 70 percent oxygen to be used by balloonists to survive the hypoxia associated with altitude was first prepared by Paul Bert.

1878: Paul Bert then published the results of 670 experiments with O2-enriched atmospheres using a hyperbaric chamber. Also proposed through the same experiments that CNS toxicity is a function of oxygen concentration.

1874 Paul Bert prepares breathing mixtures containing 40% O2 to be used by balloonists to survive hypoxia associated with their ascensions.

1878 Paul Bert publishes the results of 670 experiments with oxygen-enriched atm's using a hyperbaric chamber , and proposes that oxygen toxicity is a function of oxygen concentration.

1879: First documented dive using oxygen-enriched air by Henry Fleuss. The dive is made on a mix that was 50 to 60 percent oxygen. (this edited to it's original statement by the GUE is now incorrect.)

1912: Robert Davis and Leonard Hill Under the direction of J.S. Haldane developed a self – contained ridged diving helmet, utilizing a 50% O2 /50% N2 mix of breathing gas with an operating depth of 100 FSW.

1913: Draegerwerk produces a self-mixing diving dress that automatically mixes Nitrogen and Oxygen supplied to the diver. this would be the fore runner of the modern-day rebreather

1942: The adverse effects of high partial pressures of oxygen are becoming documented and it established that concentrations of greater than 2.0 ATA could not be tolerated for an extended period of time.

1942: The Royal Navy Commandos regularly use breathing mixtures of 32.5%, 40%, and 60% in closed circuit diving, reducing the decompression and the risk of Oxygen Toxicity. ( I have further discussed these tests below)

1955: Dwyer calculates Nitrox tables for the US Navy EDU, the Navy begins to use these mixes to lower decompression obligations significantly

1965: Workman publishes decompression schedules for nitrogen-oxygen and helium-oxygen breathing gasses.

1970: Dr Morgan Wells, Diving Officer for NOAA, begins instituting diving procedures for oxygen-enriched air.

1978: NOAA publishes operational procedures for standard mixtures. NOAA I is 32% Oxygen, and soon after, produces tables for NOAA II is and is 36% Oxygen.

1985: Dick Rutowski brings NOAA diving technology to the recreational diver by forming the International Association of Nitrox Divers (IANTD) in Key Largo, Florida. At about the same time Ed Bettes formed the American Nitrox Diving (ANDI) to support the Northeast diving community.

1987: Members of the Woodville Karst Plain Perject (WKPP) begin to accelerate the use of mixed gasses in deep cave explorations of Tallahassee, Florida. This deep cave exploration pioneers the regular use of mixed gasses in technical diving (I do not agree with this statement at all, and I did omit this before for that reason, and so do a lot of others in the diving community, but you know that they can't do it wrong, they only know how to "Do It Right".)

Here is where I still start to lose the time line. I do not think PADI, NAUI or any of the major agencies embraced Nitrox Until 1995 –1996. (I would love some clarification on this.) I do have a great collection of articles of these agencies and skin diver magazine, for that matter trashing Nitrox in the early to mid part of the nineties, but do not have a defined time when they started to embrace it. I could use your help to finish the time line if any one knows.

Hope you still enjoyed the info. A complete reference to some great topic on Nitrox are listed in a lower post as well as some more defined information.

 

[100days-a-year]

Cool UW,I can remember lying to the owners of the shop we used that the air left in the tanks 200-600psi was air not o2.They suspected most of the spearfishermen here were making our own cocktails as we were diving 4-6 tanks a day and not bending.Of course po2 wasn't even something we'de ever heard of .That was '87-'93.The encyclopedia is much more informative about mixed gases(helium,neon,argon etc).

 

[joewr]

But I sure did enjoy your well thought out, succinct history/timeline. Thanks, UW!

Joewr

 

[ScubaBaby]

1879!!!!

WOW - i never knew it was that far back!
I havent done my nitogen specialty yet - but its on the list of things i want to do....its good to know the history - thanks for that uwsince79!

 

[roakey]

Obviously, since what you posted, except for a couple minor rephrases, is a word-for word copy from GUE's Fundamentals of Technical Diving book.

I would at least give credit to the source, since otherwise what you've done is called "plagiarism."

Roak

 

[uwsince79]

Why yes I do like my book, as well as the over 200 others that I have on the topic of diving. Yes This time line is similar to GUE I use GUE's and other books, magazines as well as web references to make sure I was not giving some false statements. (Do you think I can recite this off the top of me head?) I know the first submarine used was in 1776 with out using reference materials I would not have the CORRECT history. What I did leave out is everyone's claims to when their group began to be the "FIRST To USE NITROX" including GUE's statements. To the individuals looking to use Nitrox I do not think this is useful information. Like the GUE's Claim, I know some other cavers that would disagree. I also know both people in the NE and SE that would also not agree with the GUE's claims. I do like the GUE and what it stands for and did purchase ALL of their reading material. But if you would like email me and I will send you a complete list of library reference and will note where you or the GUE pulled the information. As for plagiarism, give me a break, History is history and I do not know of any other way to post then a time line. My apologies to the GUE if it looks like their material I do like there simple format.
All the time lines have similar reference to the same material and variable dates. I did leave out the animal testing., but if you like will enter that as well.
Along with the GUE here are some more on the topic all reviewed before the post was made and are great reference.

http://www.aquanaut.com/misc/nitrox.txt

Here are some more.
http://www.nitroxdiver.com/Library/library.html
http://www.iantd.com/index1.html
http://www.dnax.com/new_nav/index1.html
http://www.deep-tech.com/
http://www.andihq.com/
http://www.tdisdi.com/tdi/sandp/doc/advtrox.pdf
http://home.earthlink.net/~rottner/karntrox.htm
http://www.divedivedive.com/techdive/nitroxfaq.htm
http://www.cs.fsu.edu/~decker/nitrox.html
Deeptech
Aquacorps
immersed
Nitrox blenders handbook
NOAA
GUE's Tech HandBook
Technical Divers Handbood
Naui and Padi Manuals
Oxygen and the Diver

 

[uwsince79]

The early history of Nitrox is really the history of research into oxygen toxicity which is not defined in the time line I posted.

The toxic effect of enriched oxygen mixtures were first demonstrated by Paul Bert in 1874. He discovered that high partial pressures of oxygen were directly responsible for causing convulsions. His experment lasted until 1878.

In 1899, A fact that I left out was that Lorrain Smith demonstrated that animals breathing moderately increased partial pressures of oxygen over a long period develop pulmonary problems. For example, a partial pressure of about 0.8 bar breathed for more than 4 days produced severe lung problems.

1879 the first documented dive using oxygen-enriched air was made by Henry Fleuss. The dive was believed to be made on a mix that was 50 to 60 percent oxygen.

1903, Hill and Macleod noted that resistance to pulmonary damage in individuals varied enormously.

1910 and 1912 various experiments were carried out using Nitrox including riding a bike while breathing nitrox 10 and a dive to 100 fsw (30 msw) using a surface supplied 50:50 nitrogen-oxygen mixture. These may have been the first experiments in which the effects or Nitrox were observed in man. Under the direction of J.S. Haldane Robert Davis and Leonard hill developed for commercial expermential use a self – contained ridged diving helmet, utilizing a fifty percent oxygen and a fifty percent nitrogen mix of breathing gas. It had a maxium operating depth of 100 fsw (30 msw)

1913 Draegerwerk produces a self-mixing diving dress that automatically mixes Nitrogen and Oxygen supplied to the diver. This is the begining of devolpment of the rebreather.

During the 1930's a great number of experiments were carried with individuals breathing PO2's in the range of 2 to 4 Bar - even one of breathing up to 7 Bar. When taken overall these experiments demonstrated the enormous variation in susceptibility. Some people were okay after an hour while others convulsed within minutes. One even convulsed after switching back to air.

1933, Shilling and Adams noted the extreme variation in CNS O2 toxicity tolerance although they erroneously concluded that man should have ample warning of the onset of symptoms. It was discovered that prior to the onset of CNS O2 toxicity there is a loss of respiratory control where breathing may become jerky and irregular and then change to become prolonged and labored. They also noted that the effect varied enormously between individuals.

1939, Lambertson claims to have developed the first Nitrox working rebreather. In some of Haldane's experiments some subjects said they could taste the oxygen at 5 to 7 Bar. Dr Kenneth Donald, author of "Oxygen and the Diver", breathed O2 at 10 Bar for 25 to 30 seconds along with Haldane and another man. Only Haldane thought he might have tasted something.

1944 Experiments with cats showed that repeated CNS O2 hits produced symptoms similar to that of neurological damage but the effects apparently disappeared a few weeks after the exposures were stopped. The cats also appeared to develop a tolerance to the high partial pressures during the experiments but this also returned to normal after a few weeks break.

1942 the Royal Navy carried out extensive work on oxygen poisoning in divers. The experiments are documented in Kenneth Donald's book. His conclusions were that diving on pure O2 deeper than 25 fsw (7.6 msw) is a pure gamble.
He found that tolerance is reduced underwater (compared to dry experiments) and that the variation in symptoms, even for the same person, makes the onset impossible to predict. These experimant ended in 1945

1950 Rev Lanphier worked on producing O2 exposure tables for the US Navy. He reached many of the same conclusions as Dr Donald but there were some discrepancies. Despite experimental evidence from Dr Donald's experiments to the contrary, Rev Lanphier concluded that oxygen was more toxic when breathed as part of a Nitrox mixture. Experiments by other researchers have supported the conclusion that nitrogen has no effect on oxygen toxicity. However, Lanphier's conclusions were the basis of the US Navy's exposure tables in 1959, and for many years after that. Rev Lanphier also tried to find a way of predicting CO2 retainers but could not find one. He realized that breathing resistance at depth, due to higher gas density, may increase CO2 levels. A higher CO2 level in the body would increase the risk of O2 toxicity, however, the fact that divers are breathing out an increased level of CO2 cannot be used to infer the arterial and body CO2 levels. Thus it does not immediately follow that Nitrox divers are at an increased O2 toxicity risk due to CO2 retention.

The work to find out if divers adapt and become CO2 retainers continued through the 1960's and is still continuing today. Dr Donald's opinion is that there is no conclusive evidence that divers adapt and become less sensitive to the carbon dioxide breathing stimulus.

A major step was taken in 1970 when Dr Morgan Wells of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) began experimenting with Nitrox. He recognized the advantages of Nitrox for the type of diving that NOAA divers were carrying out. Dr Wells was responsible for the (now) standard Nitrox I (published in 1978) and Nitrox II (published in 1990) mixes.
Agencies WILL NOT LIKE THIS BUT It is largely as a consequence of NOAA's decision that we have Nitrox in the recreational diving scene today.

Dick Rutkowski formed the International Association of Nitrox Divers (IAND) in 1985 to teach Nitrox to sport divers. For further clarifaction In 1992 the name was changed to the International Association of Nitrox and Technical Divers (IANTD). The T was added when the European Association of Technical Divers merged with IAND. Prior to founding IAND, Dick Rutkowski worked for Dr Wells and was director of the diver training at NOAA. This was the first organization to offer international training to recreational scuba divers.

In 1987 or 1988 depending on which page you read in the manual and whose manuals you read Ed Betts, who had previously been with Dick Rutkowski at IAND, formed the second organization for recreational Nitrox training: American Nitrox Divers Inc. (ANDI).

By 1995 Most agency had begun to accept Nitrox.

Does this read better or is it a little wordy????????????????

same references as previous posts a compleate list will be sent if requested by email.

 

[roakey]

You seem to have missed my point entirely.

You COPIED, almost word for word, a copyrighted text.

You didn't say you copied it.

That was my only point, and all your statements about this and that person's claims do not address my that point whatsoever. Neither does your list of sites.

“My appoligies [sic] to the GUE if it looks like their material…”

Looks like their material? C'mon, let's look at "your" very first Nitrox datapoint:

1773: English Chemist, Joseph Priestly discovers Oxygen. Right after that a French Chemist Antoine Lavoisier determined that Oxygen is vital to life.

Now let's look at GUE's first Nitrox datapoint:

1773: English chemist Joseph Priestly discovers oxygen. Shortly thereafter, the French chemist Antoine Lavoisier determines that oxygen is vital to life.

Great minds must think alike, eh?

I’m not challenging your accuracy, your knowledge or your use of a timeline. The only point I’m trying to make is if you copy text this closely, credit the source. Then if folks like 100days-a-year, joewr and ScubaBaby find it interesting, they know where they can find even more information.

That's it, nothing more. Now back to our regularly scheduled discussion.

Roak

 

[joewr]

I actually appreciate the contributions of Roaky and UW and can understand both. I suspected that UW had a "little help" in putting his table together: the grammar was a dead give-away (No criticism intended.). But, in truth, I had not read all that much about Nitrox since I have never had an interest in diving with anything but air. So, I liked the opportunity to read a predigested history.

On the other hand, I would have not felt any negative thoughts about UW's post if he had written that he was summarizing materials from published matter. But since this is not for profit and not an academic journal, he is under no obligation to do so. None-the-less, it was likely the "correct" thing to do.

Well, anyhow, I agree with Roaky...back to our regularly scheduled discussion...and, Roaky, that was a damned clever way to say it!

Joewr

 

[rstone]

If i remember quickly.. not quite as easy as you get older... up until a few years ago.. dive shops filling nitrox where breaking the law, since at that time only 1 dive shop had been given permission to fill tanks by OSHA, however since then OSHA has gave amnesty to all dive shops.