Origin of "Horse Collar" & "Mae West"

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I guess I'm getting old. I thought everyone knew about Mae West.

I should think she'd be very popular with feminists: She defied convention, empowered herself, and successfully branded her sexuality in her forties without starving herself to look like a teenager.

Think Madonna--but with a great sense of humor and no body image issues. She always assumed the audience was in on her jokes.

She had some truly memorable lines:

Judge: Are you trying to show contempt for this court?
Mae West: I'm trying to hide my contempt for this court.

Young woman: Goodness! Look at those diamonds!
Mae West: Goodness had nothing to do with it.

"When I'm good, I'm very good. But when I'm bad, I'm better."

And her signature line:
"Come up and see me some time."

Google her quotes and watch some of her movies.


Thanks for posting these details and introducing Mae West to the younger divers. She was one of a kind. I think of her fondly. Cheers.
 
I remember back in the 60s and 70s when my marine biology students had these but their poor teacher couldn't afford them as they were nearly a month's take home pay!

diving at Toyon 02.jpg
 
Mae West, on an elevator.

A fellow passenger requested, "ballroom," to which West was said to have replied, "I didn't know that I was crowding you . . ."

Gotta love the monkey rimshot
 
This video includes a number of interesting snippets that explain the origin of Horse Collar & Mae West, familiar terms to vintage divers.

Not only terms, but one could go the the local military surplus store and buy one and use it for diving. As time went on, they were manufactured specifically for diving, but the name stuck.
 
I borrow a Mae West quote when teaching about plant nutrient uptake.

"I ain't exactly discriminatin', if you catch my meaning." (Or something to that effect.)

West was talking about men, I was referring to dissolved elements in the soil.

But we called them horsecollars when I learned to dive...
 
My first encounter was with the small cylinder fed "Bouee Fenzy" horse collar from France. That was before the LP hose fed buoyancy aids arrived, but after the use of carbon dioxide cartridge units that were not designed for diving. Eventually diving units had both, the LP hose and a CO2 cartridge. Still have my Dacor horse collar somewhere. When crawling into the boat it was not unknown for the lanyard activator to snag on something and inflate the vest.
 
When crawling into the boat it was not unknown for the lanyard activator to snag on something and inflate the vest.

Had that happen once with a Seatec jacket when diving off a canoe. My buddy took his sweet time to finish laughing before getting me unhooked. I never felt so much like a puffer fish in my life.
 
Had that happen once with a Seatec jacket when diving off a canoe. My buddy took his sweet time to finish laughing before getting me unhooked. I never felt so much like a puffer fish in my life.

After I got myself unpinned from the ceiling I just left the spent cartridge in the BC forever. (entrance to Shangri-la, very shallow)

Some buddies are A-holes. Lotta bubbles around mine...
 
After I got myself unpinned from the ceiling I just left the spent cartridge in the BC forever. (entrance to Shangri-la, very shallow)

Some buddies are A-holes. Lotta bubbles around mine...

I was hanging off the canoe, upside down, hooking my arm over the side to keep my head out of the water so I could save the gas for the dive. Later I put a new cartridge in, but was a lot more careful about the lanyard thereafter. One mistake over decades isn't bad, and I always pulled the cartridge and blanked it when in an overhead environment.

Yeah, he was an A-hole, but in a real emergency he performed much better. I can count on one hand the number of buddies I would trust with my life, he was one. Of course his sense of humor wasn't in the best of taste, at times.
 
The trick is to modify the crotch strap into a double parachute-inspired arrangement.
I actually did that, and patented it, but no manufacturer would take it on. I call it the “Para-Sea BC,” and I still use it. It has a four-point harness connection, using hip connectors, and no waist strap.

Concerning the CO2 inflator mechanism, I’m pretty sure it is now almost unknown that there are three holes in the lever and the area the lever slides into the body of the inflator mechanism. These holes are meant for a thin copper wire to be inserted through in order to help keep inadvertent inflations from occurring. With the wire inserted, it takes a pretty good tug to activate the CO2 mechanism (it has to be purposely pulled).

A couple of years ago, my wife and I were planning a vacation to Maui, Hawaii, and I wanted to find her a snorkeling vest for our snorkeling. Guess what? No diving manufacturer now makes a vest with a CO2 inflation mechanism (from what I could tell). I asked the LDS why? She stated that a few years ago someone had inflated one of the CO2 vests, then took a breath off the gas in the vest, causing CO2 inhalation and a lawsuit.

IMG_1011 by John Ratliff, on Flickr

Para-Sea BC Drawings by John Ratliff, on Flickr

SeaRat
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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