CRESSI – There is a model, perhaps a prototype of the FOLGORE spring speargun of 1958 with a remarkable peculiarity: a control to set trigger sensibility. In the handle left side a visible brass lever protrudes with which, by an internal deferment and two contrast springs, acts on a skid that pushes the rounded internal head of the trigger (Speagun > Cressi > Folgore).
SEA DIVING – In 1988, this company from Gallipoli in the south of Italy, presented a revolutionary diving suit in neoprene with incorporated BCs, named UNIGAV. It had a double layer in the breast and in the hips to form ai air bag, it was supplied by the tank and equipped with load and download valves, as in the dry suits. It did not succeed much, because it was tied when filled with air, and for its reduced positive jog.
REVOLUTIONARY REGULATOR - Explorer Maior, introduced by Pirelli in 1960, was the brother of the famous Explorer Standard. With air, it had to function as an open circuit standard regulator while with Nitrox or other mixes, it should transform in an original semi-closed circuit, by filtering the CO2 with a small amount of sodalime and recycling the breathing gas. Moreover, with oxygen, it could function exactly as an oxygen rebreather, that is as a closed circuit. Evidently, some design naiveties and some defects denied it any success but, maybe, the inspiring idea of this old project, probably ended only with some test units, should merit to be recaptured.
THE FIRST BOOK - Many years ago, in the Commander Cousteau’s cabin in the Calypso, there was a copy of The Complete Goggler, surely the first book ever published about spearfishing diving. It was written in 1938 by the American journalist Guy Gilpatric, telling his diving adventures in the Cap d’Antibes sea, where it moved in 1929. It dived with modified aviator goggles – the book title means “the perfect man with goggles” and a spear in his hand, terrifying the naïve groupers that inhabited the sea bottom of the French Riviera. A fun that became fashion few years later, when the first fins invented by De Corlieu introduced the age of modern diving. Gilpatric had a big social success and taught to others his art, having among his first students the Austrian Hans Hass. This story is reported in another book, that became precious: “The Man under the sea” of James Dugan, published in Italy by in 1957.
AQUA LUNG International is a division of the Air Liquide French group and, today, it is the world largest manufacturer of diving gear, present in different Countries in the world, with branches that own the most prestigious brands. Originally, Aqua Lung was the generic name given in the Anglo-Saxon countries to the Cousteau-Gagnan breathing apparatus "Scafandre Autonome", forged by Henri Dolisie of Montreal, Canada. It was than patented in the United State and, since, it is synonym of breathing apparatus.
JETSTREAM OF 40th – the 1.000 Jetstream regulators of 1958-1998 produced by the Swedish Poseidon in occasion of its 40th anniversary and distributed all over the world, flashy for its huge second stage, silver-colored as its first stage, are very difficult to find also in the flea markets. And, because of this, since sometime “fake” offers began, to be frank semi-fake offers. This means that people offer some Jetstream regulators composed by the second stage of this series assembled with a standard first stage because, in the market, there are much more second stages of this 40 anniversary then first stages, cranked out by Poseidon for those wishing a silver octopus set. Those commemoratives are, instead, specifically marked also in the first stage. Its functioning is unchanged, but the collector value is also if, until now, they are still part of modern items.