Heavy Suit Divers

Heavy Suit Divers

	Precursors			Joseph-Martin Cabirol
	Augustus Siebe			Denayrouze
	Heavy Equipment			Heavy Suit Divers in the World

The Strip Cartoons

Precursors

In XVIIIth century, divers looked for the mean to liberate them of the absence of mobility of diving bells. Researchers tried to create an individual apparatus supplied with air from the surface with bellows and pipes. In 1715 in France the chevalier Pierre Rémy de Beauve created a diving suit, which had not yet the French name "scaphandre" invented in 1775 by Father La Chapelle. In Germany during the same year Andreas Becker created a similar jacket which inspired Christian Caspar Von Hoppenstedt's in 1717.

the chevalier De Beauve's diving suit

That suit consists of an iron corset destined to protect chest against water pressure and a helmet with 2 glasses for sight was fixed on it. Over the corset, a leather jacket made the suit waterproof with a dorsal closing shut with copper sticks. Trousers and weighted shoes were added. On helmet were fixed 2 pipes to supply in air with bellows from the surface.

Hoppenstedt's diving suit

1817

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Augustus SIEBE

1788 - 1872

Augustus Siebe was born in Sax (Germany) in 1788. He went to Berlin to study boiler works and showed he was very talented for construction and repairing of mechanic tools and instruments. After the Waterloo battle where he was an artillery officer in Prussian army, he emigrated in England in 1816. He settled in London and, in 1819, set up his own business in London. His inventions ended to bring him a prize of "Arts Society". Perhaps he met the Deane brothers and the diving world because of that knowledge.

Deane

Helmet for smoke (1823)

Deane-Siebe helmet (1830)

in 1823 John and Charles Deane filled a patent to an apparatus to enter in smoked areas. It consists of a iron helmet fixed on cloth jacket and was linked by a pipe to a pump. In the years 1825- 1830 they set up a society to salvage nets and anchors lost by fisherboats. To convert the helmet for smokes into a diving helmet, Charles Deane called on Augustus Siebe who made a copper helme tnear 1830.

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Joseph-Martin CABIROL

1799 - 1874

Cabirol was a hat maker in Bordeaux. He invented a rubber cloth to make several waterproof clothes. As he was an enterprising businessman, he decided, near 1850, to work in diving suit making, Though he has no technical knowledge in that work, he created, using Siebe's patents, a diving suit with his waterproof cloth, as well as a diving helmet and a pump. The whole was less expansive than his English competitor. He obtained a great success in the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1855 and obtained his first order by the French Imperial Navy in 1857, June 3. He became the first maker of diving suit in France.

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DENAYROUZE

In 1872 Auguste Denayrouze decided, before problems met with his diving apparatus, to create his own diving suit to make competition with Siebe and Cabirol' s. In 1873 January, he showed to the French Navy minister a diving suit with several improvements

1.	Use of a 3 bolts helmet he created in 1867 to take the place of the "pig nose" mask of the diving apparatus. In that version, it had no mouth piece.
2.	Use of a rod he added in the helmet to take action on the air valve with the head of the diver.
3.	Use of an intermediate tank he placed between the pump and the diver to regulate the air flow and remove the pump air stokes in the ears of the diver.

To these improvements Denayrouze added 2 inventions

1.	An oil underwater lamp (Louis Denayrouze' s patent - 1872 June)
2.	A talking apparatus ( Louis Denayrouze's patent- 1874 February). That device allowed the communication between the diver and a man near the surface and got ahead of the underwater phone.

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Heavy Equipment

	the Helmet
	the "Goat Skin"
	the Weights

the Helmet

The first diving helmet was created in 1836 by Augustus Siebe from a Deane brothers' helmet for smoke, and with the Georges Ewards' contribution that had idea to pull the bonnet from he corselet.

Mark V US 12 bolts

DESCO 1951

Denayrouze 3 bolts

1873

Denayrouze 1889

with picklock

the Glasses

the glasses had several sizes and forms, and they were protected with copper bars or unprotected. Siebe created a 3 glasses helmet and Cabirol added an upper glass, or top light, to see at the top. The number of protected glasses was different from one helmet to the other.

the Fixings

During the XIXth century, 2 fixing system to link the helmet on the suit were used.

1	The 6 or 12 bolts Siebe's system . The bonnet and the corselet were linked with a screwing and helmet was linked on the suit with a flange with 6 or 12 bolts (that system could have from 2 to 14 bolts)
2	The 3 bolts Denayrouze's system. The bonnet and the corselet were linked with 3 bolts and the rubber flange of the suit was hold between the two pieces.

In 1889 Denayrouze created a fixing system with a picklock which, though it was used by several makers, didn't have the expected success to divers because they didn't have faith in that closing system.

the Tap and the Valve

the Tap

Denayrouze's valve with a rod (1873)

Denayrouze

Siebe-Gorman

Heinke

Draeger

Mark V

the Valve

the "Goat skin"

Nicknamed "goat skin" by divers, the diving cloth was made with a rubber later between 2 cloth layers which made it perfectly waterproof. Around the wrists, rubber bracelets guarantee the waterproofness of the sleeves. Under the suit, divers used wool clothes to protect them against cold and to mop the sweat, as well as a wool bonnet to protect their head against knocks in the helmet.

the red bonnet

Used by the Cdt Cousteau, that red bonnet aroused many hypothesis for its origin.

It was one of the bonnets used by convicts of Toulon, Brest ou Rochefort penal colonies. These bonnets were various colored according to the type of condemnation. From the XIXth century the use of guns brought about the end of the galleys and the convicts were used for hard works. They were used, among others, as extra staff for teams of heavy suit divers. Après la fermeture des bagnes métropolitains en 1873, les plongeurs continuèrent à utiliser ce bonnet sous leur casque et il devint le signe distinctif des plongeurs pieds-lourds. La disparition des scaphandriers le fit passer à la plongée autonome.

the Weights

the shoes

The leather or cloth shoes with lead soles and bronze tips weigh 20 pounds each and they took the nickname of 'heavy feet" to the heavy suit divers.

the weights on chest and back

These lead weights were hanged on the corselet with brass hooks. They were named "medals" and hanged on chest and on back of the diver and were linked with a rope. They weigh 40 pounds on chest and 36 pounds on the back.

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