Submersible Pressure Gauge (SPG)

[agilis]

Were reliable high pressure hoses available? The tank pressure gauge I had back in the 60s and early 70s, for checking the amount of gas in a cylinder on land, had no hose. It fit directly on the tank valve. I'm reminded of some problems with those narrow diameter high flex hp hoses just a couple of years ago.

I still find it interesting and still unexplained why local dive shops, including a few large ones in NYC, did not sell, or at least did not have on display, SPGs until the early 70s. I can see from all the information here that they existed long before, but why didn't the shops I used and my NASDS certification course mention them? I sense that something else, some other element, is not being adequately discussed.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

agilis,

Let me put some perspective into this discussion. In the early 1970s we were still facing some real problems aside from the SPG. I have a 1970 publication titled Human Performance and SCUBA Diving, Proceedings of the Symposium on Underwater Physiology, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California, April 10-11, 1970. Attending were such notables as Jimmy Stewart, Bev Morgan, Dr. Glenn Egstrom, and Lt. Cdr. Thompson. One of the topics was "Effect of Equipment on Diver's Performance, with about 30 pages of material. Jimmy Stewart summarized in a public forum the main concerns of the day:

Mr. Stewart: Well, I think that it's been pretty well established that all of our feelings are the same. We have a great lack of buoyancy control, mobility as a function of rubber suit thickness vs. warmth, and communications. I think that these are the big areas that we must hit. I think that they're areas that are being looked at. And the response to this decompression meter thing, we have always insisted that two be used on a dive and we ride the hot one. Five of our divers using meters at 250' for 10 minutes had two failures. One gauge did not go into decompression and one gauge "failed-safe" holding the diver for 12 minutes at 10 feet instead of seven. But no matter what the limitations in diving we still get the job done...

The problems of the day were greater than what a SPG had to offer. Breathing resistance, warmth, mask visibility (discussed), decompression (and the then-new decompression meters) outweighed the use of a SPG.

I looked in NAUI NEWS too, and finally found a definitive statement in the June 1977 issue by Jon Hardy. (More later...)

SeaRat

 

[regulator bj]

John
The regs in the early image are "Heinke" MK1 two stage units circa 1955 they had the nickname of "Heinke Horns" due to the exhaust position which overcame the "Cousteau" patent of the time.

 

[Sam Miller III]

SDM 1959 page 48
Vu Air (SPG)
Diving Industries
Bradock Pa

SDM

 

[Akimbo]

What's this guy lookin at?

View attachment 178000
Ohgushi 1918

I guess it depends on the definition of “introduction”. It doesn’t look like any of us qualify with the possible exception of Sam.

 

[divergal80]

Who on this board began diving prior to the SPG introduction to the US Market?

Who on this board began diving prior to the SPG introduction to the European (world?) Market?

When did you begin your diving career?

SDM

I definitely did, "dived" with an O2 cyclinder in Galveston around '59-60, no mask nor fins, no gauges...not much fun until I got certified in 1977...