Basic gear from mid-twentieth-century France

Beuchat included a snorkel-mask in its range.

Beuchat Snorkel diving mask




Stock code 125. The caption accompanying the last image reads "125 'Snorkel'. Masque permettant de respirer par le nez", meaning "125 'Snorkel'. Mask enabling breathing through the nose". Note from the second and third images how this mask covers the eyes and the nose, leaving the mouth uncovered. It is a myth that all, or even most, first-generation snorkel-masks came with full face coverage. The Beuchat snorkel-mask features a single swan's neck type tube topped with a ball valve and leading into the mask interior via a bracket installed centre top on the mask. When such masks were introduced, they were designed to serve the needs of spearfishermen who seldom had their hands free to insert and remove separate snorkels in the mouth. It is also a myth that these devices were first marketed as children's toys.

 

My last posting today concerns Beuchat's vintage-style masks currently on sale.

Beuchat Senior Securit diving mask



Beuchat Senior Securit diving mask

Both Beuchat masks have survived the silicone binocular revolution to remain available in all their single-lens, rubber-skirted, steel-banded oval glory to this very day. And there's even a choice between plain and compensator models.

Our next port of call in a few days' time will be Beuchat snorkels.

 

Bonjour Le monde,
si je peux me permettre de rajouter de l'infos sur l'établissement Godel, tout d'abord les publicités Edouard Godel

 

Edouard Godel était autodidacte avec les compétences pour devenir ingénieur, mais préférait travailler seul, il était essentiel de faire avancer la plongée sous-marine. voici quelques brevets

 

Edouard Godel achetait en pièces détachés des fusils Harpons, il les remontait et leur donnait un nom pour mousser les ventes, Lorsque je fais une recherche sur un personnage qui a marqué l,histoire de la plongée, j'essaye de retrouver des membres de la famille existante ou des descendants, J,ai eu la chance de retrouver l,un des fils Godel, le plus jeune, qui a vécu sur la rue Renié ou était situé l'atelier de son père, c'est comme celà que j'ai appris l'histoire de Edouard Godel.. il faut savoir que son père faisait tout pour ne pas avoir de contact avec les médias, son nom fut mentionné lors des procès entrepris par Louis de Corlieu. la France a tout fait pour essayer de faire oublier Louis de Corlieu , sachez que dans les années soixante la Justice Française donnait raison à la contrefaçons donc tous les établissements sportifs , établissements Turover, Société Montana Sports, Établissement Forgeot, Société S.E.E.S.S.A dont M. Dubois était gérant ,Établissements Sardou,, Société United Service Agency, Waterspots,, Pulvénis,Cavaléro ont tous fabriqués des palmes contrefaites en millier d'exemplaires, sans que Louis de Corlieu ne reçoit aucune royalties. Pour lire toute l'histoire de Louis de Corlieu vous pouvez me contacter pour faire l'achat de mon livre le Premier Delphinus Humain, merci

 

Thanks, Yves. here is an English summary of your messages for the benefit of the non-Francophones among us.

Message #1: The attached files are images of advertisements for the Edouard Godel company. Godel was Louis de Corlieu's successor.

Message #2: Edouard Godel was self-taught with skills that equipped him to be an engineer, but he chose to work on his own. The attached files contain his many patents for fins, masks, weight belts etc. There's a picture of Edouard Godel too.

Message #3: Edouard Godel bought harpoon guns in kit form, he went back and gave them a name to boost sales, When Yves does research on anyone who has made his mark on the history of diving, he tries to find members of the existing family or descendants. He was fortunate enough to find one of Godel's youngest sons, who lived on Rue Renie where his father's workshop was located. That's how he found out all about Edouard Godel .. His father did everything to avoid contact with the media, his name was mentioned in the lawsuits filed by Louis de Corlieu. France has done everything to try and forget Louis de Corlieu, aware that in the 1960s the French Justice system condoned counterfeiting by all sports facilities, Turover establishments, Montana Sports company, Etablissement Forjot SEESSA Company including manager Mr. Dubois, Etablissements Sardou, United Service Agency Company, Watersports (Pulvénis), Cavalero have all made counterfeit fins in their thousands without Louis de Corlieu receiving any royalties. To read the whole story of Louis de Corlieu you can contact him and buy his book "The first human Delphinus". He attached an image of the front cover of his book.

 

Thanks again for sharing your research. Just wanted to add this : this masks exists also with a silicone skirt. Tried one about 2 months ago, but it didn't fit

 

On to Beuchat snorkels. The models above are from The company's first catalogue, issued in the late 1950s, when the company was calling snorkels "respirateurs" instead of the now universally deployed French term "tubas".

Let's focus on the first three images. You will note that their captions feature the word "rhodoïd", which is a type of thermoplastic made from cellulose acetate. This material was presumably used to create the barrel of the snorkel.

The Tarzan 202 is described as "rhodoïd de face", indicating a front-mounted snorkel. We are more familiar with frontal snorkels nowadays within the context of competitive swimming, but during the 1950s they were the snorkels of choice of many breathhold divers and spearfishers. If you have been following this thread, however, you may remember the French patent drawing Maxime Forjot filed in December 1938:

In a different thread you may recall the following photo:

The above image appeared in Kimmins' title "Underwater Sports on a Small Income" from 1956. Here's another example from the British Sub Aqua magazine "Neptune" (January 1956):


By way of contrast, the Tarzan 203 was described as "rhodoïd de côté", indicating a side-mounted snorkel. This model came in a "S" shape for use with or without an "obturateur" or shut-off valve. The following photograph from Peter Small's 1957 book Your Guide to Underwater Adventure not only sums up underwater fun perfectly in the caption to the illustration below but also features a side-mounted breathing tube with a ball valve:

 

The Tarzan 204 snorkel is captioned "V silencieux souple", meaning "Flexible Silent 'V'". It was not long before the model acquired a newly designed mouthpiece, becoming Beuchat's flagship breathing tube in the process:

And here is a close-up of the mouthpiece with the accordion style neck designed to enhance mouth comfort:

The snorkel is reviewed in Ley Kenyon and Werner de Haas' Aqualung Diving: A Complete and Practical Guide to the Underwater World (London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd, 1970): "Tarzan V (Silencieux). A snorkel with a slightly bent rubber tube below, linked to the mouthpiece by a V-shaped angled piece made of plastic. Water collects in the insertion so that the gurgling noise accompanying breathing is largely eliminated." Beuchat's breathing tube received mixed reviews in a Which? Consumer Report of 1965:

Despite these reviews, versions of the Beuchat Silent V snorkel appeared in the British catalogues of Namron and Sous Marine.

 

The Tarzan 205 snorkel is captioned "tout caoutchouc", indicating an all-rubber breathing tube. There are several all-rubber Beuchat snorkels in the Musée Dumas online collection, among them:



The all-rubber design survived to the present day as the "Tubair", whose flexibility is illustrated here:


That's it for today. Beuchat fins next time, and not just the Jetfin.