Aqua Lung/La Spirotechnique
Company type | Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Émile Gagnan |
---|---|
Headquarters | , |
Owner | Montagu Private Equity |
Divisions | Aqua Lung America |
Website | www |
Aqua Lung International (formerly La Spirotechnique)[1] is a large and well-known firm which makes scuba and other self-contained breathing apparatus, and other diving equipment. It produced the Aqua-Lung line of regulators, like the CG45 (1945) and the Mistral (1955), among others. Until 2016, the company was a division of Air Liquide since its foundation in 1946. The company was sold to Montagu Private Equity in 2016.[2][3]
History
In December 1942 the lieutenant de vaisseau (
Early in 1943 Cousteau and Gagnan ordered Air Liquide to make at its factory in Boulogne-Billancourt two scuba set prototypes that Cousteau and Frédéric Dumas used to shoot the underwater film Épaves (Shipwrecks), directed by Cousteau the same year.[5] They were the first modern diving regulators to be made.
In 1946 Air Liquide founded La Spirotechnique, its own division destined to conceive and mass-produce regulators and other diving equipment. Also in 1946 La Spirotechnique launched the CG45, the first modern regulator to be commercialized. The year 1946 represents thus the beginning of the popularisation of scuba diving.
In English-speaking countries the CG45 was commercialized under the name of Aqua-Lung, a word coined by Cousteau himself on that purpose.
In the USA during World War II the American military physician Christian J. Lambertsen designed a wartime frogman's rebreather which in 1952 got called the SCUBA (acronym for Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus),[6] and later the name (changing to 'scuba' and treated as a word) was used to mean any underwater breathing set.
In Britain the word "aqualung" became a
From 1946 to 1955 La Spirotechnique sold only one model of regulator, the CG45.
F. Thomas Colsen inventor & machinist developed his own version of the Aqua-Lung (Single Hose Regulator) manufactured and sold them in Santa Barbara CA. in the 1950-60's. [citation needed]
In April 1955 it launched the Mistral, a single-stage regulator that was cheaper to build and easier to breathe than the CG45. The Mistral became the brands spearhead and set off to establish scuba diving across the world. The CG45 and the Mistral were
In 1955 La Spirotechnique launched its first single hose regulator. Conceived by Jean Bronnec and Raymond Gauthier this regulator was the Cristal, called the Aquamatic for English-speaking countries.
The first American branch of La Spirotechnique was
Spirotechnique produced the DC55 passive addition sem-closed rebreather.[8]
Brands and associated product lines
- Squale[citation needed]
- Apeks[citation needed]
- Aqua Lung
- Deep See[citation needed]
- Gorski[citation needed]
- SeaQuest[citation needed]
- Technisub[citation needed]
- U.S. Divers[citation needed]
- Whites[citation needed]
FROGS (Full Range Oxygen Gas System) is a model of chest mounted oxygen
Its working parts are in a dark-blue streamlined rounded shell. It can be worn on the front or on the back. It is rated as duration on a filling: oxygen 4 hours or more,
It is 48 cm = 19.2 inches high, 30 cm = 12 inches wide, 19 cm = 7.6 inches thick. It weighs 14.2kg = 31.3 pounds out of water.[10]
If the rebreathing loop fails, it can be switched into
Companies
- Apeks Marine Equipment Ltd.
- G2000SS, Inc.
- Pelagic Pressure Systems
- White's Manufacturing Ltd.
References
- ^ "Industrial index card of Aqua Lung/La Spirotechnique at Achats.defense.gouv.fr, the French Minister of Defence commercial branch website (in French)". Archived from the original on 2011-10-01. Retrieved 2011-08-18.
- ^ "Aqua Lung Sold to Private Equity Firm". X-Ray Mag.
- ^ "Aqua Lung sold - End of an era with Aire Liquide". Scuba Gadget.
- ^ Avec ou sans bulles ? (With or without bubbles?), an article (in French) by Eric Bahuet, published in the specialized website plongeesout.com.
- ^ Those two scuba sets made by Air Liquide are mentioned in the opening credits of the film as scaphandre autonome "air liquide" système cousteau ("air liquide's scuba set, cousteau system").
- ^ See Lambertsen's homage by the Passedaway.com website
- ^ Laurent-Xavier Grima, Aqua Lung 1947-2007, soixante ans au service de la plongée sous-marine ! (in French)
- ^ Larsson, Åke (15 July 2002). "Le Spirotechnique DC55". Teknosofen.com. Retrieved 31 July 2013.
- ^ a b "Military Rebreathers". drava-mb.si. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
- ^ a b c d "FROGS Full Range Oxygen Gas System" (PDF). Vista, CA: Aqua Lung. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
External links
- http://frogmanmuseum.free.fr/html/regulatorslaspirotechniqueen.htm Images of Spirotechnique aqualung demand valves