History of SCUBA

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History of SCUBA
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History of SCUBA

• Diving bells as old as Alexander the Great
• Hard hat diving developed in England, circa 1825
• Demand regulator developed but never used until
• 1942-Emile Gagnon and Jacques Cousteau developed
  the Aqualung that supplied air at the correct for
  the depth of water.

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History of SCUBA

• Skin diving introduced into US in 1930s
• TV popularized SCUBA as a sport in the 1950s
• Shows like Sea Hunt with Lloyd Bridges
• The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau and
  National Geographic popularized scuba and raised
  environmental awareness

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History of SCUBA

• Military diving was the only national form of
  organized training.
• Los Angeles County developed local classes
• The YMCA developed the first national instructor
  training program in 1959
• NAUI followed in 1960 with NASDS in 1961, PADI in
  1964 and SSI in 1967

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History of SCUBA

• Recent Developments
• Universal use of SPG
• Universal use of BC with power inflator
• Universal use of redundant air supply such as
• the octopus,
• spare air
• or pony bottles
• Neoprene wetsuits
• Wide spread use of dry suits
• Wide spread use of silicone and plastics in
  equipment manufacture