There have been many kinds. As I mentioned before, Leonardo da
Vinci had several concepts of how snorkels and other diving appliances should
work. Humans do not have the lung power to breathe from a depth of more than
18 - 20 inches. At 36" it becomes practically impossible to overcome the external
pressure and inhale. Various inventions to keep the water out have been tried. Ping-pong balls, which crumbled under pressure. From there they would not work.
Today a good snorkel has a bottom well with a purge valve for easy clearing. A
mouth piece that fits your mouth is also very important.
Hose Protectors; In 1973 Ralph Erickson accidentally "invented" the hose
protector. He figured that if he took white tape and wrapped it around the hoses,
he would be able to see anyone walking out of the pool area with his regulators. A
guy from a diving club asked him one day what that was for. Ralph, who didn't
think the fellow would take him seriously said, for safety, so that no holes would
appear in the hoses. Excellent idea, said the guy, who owned a plastic
manufacturing plant. Six months later, the Trident hose protectors as we know
them today were in the marketplace.
Weight Belts;
The need for better weight belts becama apparent as the cylinder volume and its buoyancy increased.
Some divers filled bicycle tires with lead shot. It made a great weight belt.
Then came the lead pucks. The size of a hockey puck with a bolt hole in the middle. The belt itself had bolts. and you olted the wights to the belt.
The weights that we thread the webbing through has been with us for quite some time. Somewhere in the middle -70's Dacor came out with the Nautilus BCD with its integrated weight system, but more about that contraption in the BCD section.
With the advent of the wet suits, the weight belts became important. Before
then, there was very little need for additional weights for a diver to stay neutrally
buoyant. The few pounds a diver may need, he bolted to the rig. The belt itself was
needed to serve as a hold down for the tee-shirt to carrying a knife. At the same
time it became obvious that some sort of a quick release mechanism would be
important. Some divers merely took a bicycle inner tube and filled it with lead shot,
and the soft weight belts that we know today were born.
