Soviet Fins 3: Made in Leningrad

[David Wilson]

Time to start a new "Soviet Fins" thread, this time focusing on Russia's second city of Leningrad, now known as St Petersburg. Three enterprises there manufactured fins and the first message in this thread concentrates on the output of the "Krasny Treugol'nik" (Красный треугольник) plant. "Красный треугольник" is Russian for "Red Triangle" and the enterprise's core product was footwear. Here is the factory building:

Below is the original company, which was founded in the late nineteenth century as the Russian-American Rubber Manufactory:

Here is the company trade mark including the red triangle logo:

In addition to helping Mosrezina with the production of Model 4 fins (below),

the Red Triangle plant made one fin model of its own, the closed-heel, closed-toe "Amfibia" (Амфибия). "Амфибия" means "Amphibian". Here is a picture of the fin:

The triangle logo can be seen on the second image above showing the sole of the fin.

Here are two period descriptions of the "Amfibia":
1. Made of a special blend of rubber and plastic, which loses its elasticity, reducing the stiffness of the fins, when temperatures rise above +15-20°C. The fins have shallow foot pockets, so when exerting maximum effort, the fins fall off the feet. Due to their lightness and their reasonably large working surface, the fins are widely used in underwater sports.
2. This hard, closed and semi-heavy fin from the Leningrad ‘Krasny Treugol’nik’ [Red Triangle] plant is the lightest of all the closed-type fins. The fin has a good shape with hydrodynamic contours. The working area of the fin blade inclines at a roughly 25° angle. The shoe used to attach the foot to the fin is quite comfortable and retains the fin well when swimming.

The distinctive feature of this fin is that unlike its Moscow counterparts it is manufactured from a plastic / rubber blend. As we shall see later in this thread, the use of plastic in fin-making was unique to Leningrad factories. The Leningrad "Sport" enterprise made two kinds of fins, both incorporating plastic, and this will the subject of the next message in this thread.

I'll sign off with another image from one of my Soviet diving books. I expect my readers will know immediately what the device is, but it may still be of interest for comparison with its western equivalents.

 

[David Wilson]

Right, let's move on to Leningrad's "Sport" plant, which came up with two fin models in its time, both incorporating plastic material. Neither model had a product name, so I'll just number them:

1.

This plastic fin had an adjustable strap, an extended heelplate and an open toe. As can be seen in the third image above, it was marked with the price (2 roubles 30 kopecks) as well as the size. One of my Soviet diving books describes the fin thus: "The main advantages of this semi-open and semi-hard plastic-fin from the Leningrad ‘Sports’ plant are low weight and cost. Good hydrodynamic shape and contours have led to successful use of this fin in the early stages of swim training with fins, especially with children. Because of several shortcomings, this fin is unsuitable for competitive swimming."

The second fin from the "Sport" plant is more unusual:

2.

The unnamed fins above were made in the "Sport" Experimental Factory in Leningrad. They had closed heels and open toes. The foot pocket was made of rubber, while the blade was made of plastic. The blade could be separated from the foot pocket, whiuch enabled the latter to be used as a bathing shoe if desired. Note from the third image how this fin was manufactured in 1975, sized 36-38 and priced 3 roubles and 50 kopecks.

Now this "experimental" fin didn't originate in Leningrad. It was an early 1970s copy of an innovative fin first developed in the West in the early 1960s. So who invented the western original? Which western company launched it and what was the product name? I'll give you the solution to the puzzle in my next message, but please feel free to post your answer in the meantime. And does anybody know what the device is at the end of my first message in this thread?

 

[David Wilson]

Any suggestions for possible answers to the puzzles I set?

In the meantime, I'll move on to another Leningrad enterprise known as the Industrial Combine (промкомбинат) of the Leningrad Association of Hunters and Fishermen (Ленинградское общество охотников и рыболовов). This name was usually abbreviated to "ЛООиР" (LOOiR).

LOOiR manufactured three fin models. The first was simply called the "L" ("Л" in Russian), presumably in honour of the city where it was made (Leningrad).

L

The Cyrillic character "Л" is clearly visible on the top of the blades and there is a star on the top of the foot pockets. Here are two contemporary descriptions; note the negative criticism in the first:

1. The fins have two ribs. Some batches of this model come with an extra rib running along the sole of the blade. Open toes. The fins are made of low-quality rubber, so they perish easily. The fins are available in three sizes.
2. The hard, closed and semi-heavy fin comes with a flat blade working area reinforced on the top with two ribs along the edges. Relative to the foot, the blade inclines at a roughly 20° angle. The shoe used to attach the fin comes with an open toe. The fin serves the purposes of high-speed swimming over short distances and protracted moderate-speed swimming over long distances, both underwater with breathing apparatus and on the surface of the water. A similar fin design is available as well with a soft blade."

The "similar fin design" may be the one below:

The third model from the LOOiR combine was a black trapezoidal open-heel fin. The fin had lacing on the top. The foot pocket was wedge-shaped. The fins were size 41.

I wonder whether any of you noticed any similarity in design between the "L" closed-heel fins made in Leningrad and Cressi Rondine fins made in the Italian city of Genoa:

If so, I can't imagine that it's a coincidence. Just look at the sole patterns. I am certain that the Soviets were more aware of West European diving gear designs than we were of theirs back then.

I'll return with the answers to my puzzles and start a new thread dedicated to vintage fins manufactured in what was then another constituent republic of the USSR: Ukraine with its Black Sea resorts.

 

[David Wilson]

Here are the answers, as promised:

Who invented the western original? Which western company launched it and what was the product name?

Luigi Ferraro was a diving pioneer in wartime and a prolific inventor in peacetime. You can read about his contributions to the postwar development of diving equipment on the website dedicated to his life at Welcome to Luigi Ferraro's official site | Luigi Ferraro. His picture above shows him wearing one of his designs, the Pinocchio mask, which anticipated the low-volume diving masks of today and has been in continuous production at Cressi from its prototype in 1952 to the present. Over the years the mask has assumed something of a cult status.

Another of Ferraro's inventions was the Caravelle fin, which he designed for another Italian company, Technisub, in 1963. The Caravelle is often regarded as a technological success but a commercial failure, because it combined a detachable plastic blade with a rubber full-foot pocket, anticipating the introduction of composite fins by another Italian company, Mares, more than a decade later, but it did not sell well among the diving community of the early 1960s. You can read more about these two inventions on the Luigi Ferraro website at Inventor and Entrepreneur | Luigi Ferraro, which is a treasure-trove of information about this Italian innovator.