This is a long story but perspective is needed.
History largely credits Paul Bert with the first scientific investigation of hyperbaric medicine described in his paper published in 1878. The specific information was not widely known outside of a pretty esoteric group of physiologists, but it did provide the basis for the concept of decompression and oxygen toxicity. All this was too late for the caisson workers on the Brooklyn Bridge where the name Bends was coined — a popular dance of the time that involved contorted gestures was called the Grecian Bend.
The phenomenon that was known as Diver's Palsy, Compressed Air Illness, and Caisson's Disease was a mystery to most of the medical community. Actual work to develop useful decompression procedures began with empirical testing in the early 1900s rather than tissue theories. They basically slammed navy divers in the barrel and tried ideas out.
Tables evolved as data was gathered and analyzed, almost exclusively from the world's navies (who could pay for it). Tables got more conservative when hit rates were too high and made more lenient when hits were low to nonexistent. Decompression theories evolved and were tested against this statistical base fueled by research money from world navies, the offshore oil service industry, and the availability of computers starting in the 1960s.
So, where did 60'/minute come from? I doubt anyone is alive who can conclusively say, but I can see a couple of hard hat divers standing in front of a chamber at the old Experimental Diving Unit at the Navy yard in Washington DC saying to the Doc "let's see how 1'/second works because it is easy to control". Think stop watch, big pressure gauge calibrated in Feet of Sea Water, and manipulating a valve trying to maintain an exhaust rate.
