Talking about | BluTimeScubaHistory

THE ORIGIN OF THINGS

by Luigi Fabbri
Who invented the mask, the regulator, the dry suit? Where did the first underwater magazine come from? And the first diving school? Many answers can be found in the pages of this article, sometimes surprising or in contrast with those believed to be certainties.
April 2017

COLLECTIONS & COLLECTORS

by Luigi Fabbri
Some people collect all the beautiful things that belonged to the scuba diver of the past, others dedicate themselves to a few specific equipment. For a collector, however, the greatest pleasure is not only the conquest of a new piece, but the discovery of its origin, often fascinating history.
September 2017

PIRELLI TRICHECO (Walrus) SCUBA UNIT

by Maurizio Baldinucci - march 2023
One of the very first Scuba unit developed in Italy starting from original ideas and technical solutions that did not somehow follow the scheme of the Cousteau-Gagnan CG-45 breathing apparatus, was the "Tricheco" model (Walrus in English) and produced by Pirelli, a company much better known today as a tire manufacturer. This article presents the construction and performance characteristics in detail.

MY WEBSITE AND HIS COLLABORATORS

di Luigi Fabbri - february 2023
The article highlights the importance of collaborators for the continuous expansion of this site, which thanks above all to their contributions is able to always propose new images of the past. Thus continuing to gradually reveal the entire history of diving in the early decades, full of people, facts, things often left unjustly in the shadows or forgotten.

THE FIRST ITALIAN SPEARGUNS

di Luigi Fabbri - novembre 2022
Recreational diving was born with spear guns and their history well represents that long initial period characterized by the talent of several people who become famous and, sometimes, forgotten. All of them contributed equally to our sport progression, to its development, although spear guns turned down its role as protagonist.

SO, IN ITALY WE CALLED IT …… SINGLE-STAGE

by Luigi Fabbri - february 2022
In Italy, we are the only one in the world to have called “single stage” regulators with two large, corrugated hoses around the head. Why in the otherCountries in the world they are correctly defined “double hose regulators"? The reasons are not just technical. We discover them in this article,already published in n. 70/2021 of the Italian magazine HDS Notizie.

3. THE RED CORAL HUNTERS - Meetings and stories

by Luigi Fabbri - december 2021
In this article the author remembers his days with some Sardinian coral hunters in the 90s, with an image collection of the most delicate phases of their complex dives. Then goes to Puglia, during a recent journey which allowed him to source the stories of two protagonists of the coral history along those coasts.

2. CORAL - THE RED GOLD DIVERS

by Andrea Campedelli - november 2021
After centuries of fishing carried out with a tool lowered from the surface called "ingegno" (device), shortly after 1950 the search for the precious red coral of the Mediterranean Sea became the new frontier for the more adventurous divers. It is the beginning of a legendary period remembered as the coral fishermen epic.

1. RED CORAL - THE ANCIENT FISHING

by Andrea Campedelli
Red coral has a long history of millennia, highly sought after all over the world as an ornament and for its thaumaturgical qualities. In this first article the author illustrates its fishing conducted over the centuries with primitive tools. Systems progressed very little until relatively recent times, when coral harvesting will become an exclusivity for adventurous divers.

ANALOGICAL SOS DECOMPRESSION GAUGES

by Andrea Campedelli - july 2021
The SOS analogical decompression meters were instruments protagonists of a long historical diving period, loved, hated, however unsurpassed until the advent of digital electronic computers.
The author describes how they works, one by one, while in the final box Luigi Fabbri highlights the mistakes that many divers do, taking advantage of their ease of use.

DECO BRAIN HANS HASS, the first dive computer

di Andrea Campedelli - june 2021
The adventurous birth, the success, the end of the famous Deco Brain, the first dive computer in the world. The article describes the history of this great instrument with many curious and unpublished details, supplemented by an interview with its designer Jürgen Hermann who reveals some little-known aspects.

THE FIRST PANERAI, THE ITALIAN NAVY RAIDERS’ WATCH

Short story of an incredibly famous watch, born in gold in 1935, to be worn in the waistcoat small pocket of elegant gentlemen, which became an austere diving for the wrist of the raiders of the Royal Italian Navy.
by Andrea Campedelli - may 2021

The Italian Underwater Breathing Devices in the Years 40s and 50s

by Maurizio Baldinucci - febbraio 2021
What was the first air breathing apparatus that appeared in Italy? What were the SCBAs available before the advent of the famous French Mistral? In this article, as usual very well documented, the author traces the Italian history of the devices that came after the oxygen rebreathers. And surprises are not lacking, such as the device in the photo alongside.

THE DATA BASE OF THE TWO HOSE REGULATORS

by Maurizio Baldinucci - november 2020
This is without doubt the most complete database of two-hose regulators ever published. There are in fact listed regulators of 74 brands from all over the world, for a total of 221 models with some specifications and year of presentation. Numbers probably never suspected by any collectors.

THE 80s

by Luigi Fabbri - october 2020
The 80s of the last century marked the period of maximum expansion of diving, with an exponential growth in the number of practitioners, companies in the sector, diving teaching and services. Radically changing the environment and its customs and representing for this reason the period in which historical diving has definitively succumbed to modern diving.

THE ELUSIVE MARES AIR KING

di Maurizio Baldinucci
Mares Air King belongs to the restricted category of "mysterious" regulators, very difficult to find and even more to describe, given the scarcity of photos and technical data. Born in 1959, in his short life he was modified several times and finally abandoned in 1963.

A "DEMONE" OF REGULATOR

di Maurizio Baldinucci
Among the countless products the North American rich and highly competitive sports diving gear market offered during the ’60s of the last century it is worth remembering the strange regulator “Demone”, original in appearance and for the technical solutions adopted yet of very little commercial success.

THE BLUE HOLE IN THE MALDIVES - en

by Dodi Telli - march 2020
Off-topic readings - Let's start with this article to occasionally host "off-topic" writings with respect to the standards of our site but of particular interest to lovers of everything related to the sea, from historical or scientific chronicles of particular events to the origins of the old-time diving equipment.

THE HISTORY OF SPIRO-SUB E AER-SUB TRADEMARKS

by Maurizio Baldinucci - april 2020
Who Spiro-Sub and Aer-Sub were ? From the mid-50s until 1965 they have sold several diving equipment, however true companies with these names never existed have. They were trademarks only owned by Cressi, which used them to distribute and sell regulators and instruments not of own produced. This article traces their complete and well documented history.

VISIONARY MASKS

di Maurizio Baldinucci
Among the numerous innovative and original products launched on the market by Scubapro we need to remember the “Visionaire” mask (see Fig. 1 and Fig. 2), sold by the US company in the period between 1965 and 1970.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE OXYGEN REBREATHER

by Maurizio Baldinucci - July 2019
From the apparatus of Sir Robert Davis to the Aro of the men "Gamma", from the Dräger Tauchretter by Hans Hass to the Cressi "57 B". The compelling story of the oxygen breathing apparatus told through the episodes of war and the sporting adventures that have seen it protagonist.

BREATHING UNDERWATER THROUGH A "BEER CAN"

by Maurizio Baldinucci - February 2019
When the Cousteau-Gagnan regulator started to spread, his success led individual inventors and underwater manufacturers to explore alternative technical solutions. Skills and imagination have bloomed, often giving life to instruments with unusual shapes.

HISTORY OF THE SINGLE HOSE REGULATOR

by Maurizio Baldinucci - April 2019
Who invented the single-hose regulator? Actually it is the result of a long and complex evolution that occurred in the same years in various parts of the world. Maurizio Baldinucci displays with passion the adventurous history of this instrument to which we owe the universal expansion of diving.

CINEMA AND UNDERWATER BREATHING DEVICES

by Maurizio Baldinucci - March 2018
It was 1943 when J. Y. Cousteau shot the documentary "Épave" (Wrecks) in which the prototype of a regulator appeared. Since then divers with their breathing apparatus have been the protagonists of countless films, retraced by the author through documents and images now rare.

The Mistral’s amazing origins

di Maurizio Baldinucci - Novembre 2017
Maurizio Baldinucci ci fa scoprire le origini del Mistral e il suo sviluppo tecnologico durato quasi vent'anni attraverso un gran numero di modelli e di soluzioni insospettate. Una ricostruzione tecnico-storica senza pari per accuratezza e documentazione iconografica.

	THE ORIGIN OF THINGS by Luigi Fabbri Who invented the mask, the regulator, the dry suit? Where did the first underwater magazine come from? And the first diving school? Many answers can be found in the pages of this article, sometimes surprising or in contrast with those believed to be certainties. April 2017
	COLLECTIONS & COLLECTORS by Luigi Fabbri Some people collect all the beautiful things that belonged to the scuba diver of the past, others dedicate themselves to a few specific equipment. For a collector, however, the greatest pleasure is not only the conquest of a new piece, but the discovery of its origin, often fascinating history. September 2017
	PIRELLI TRICHECO (Walrus) SCUBA UNIT by Maurizio Baldinucci - march 2023 One of the very first Scuba unit developed in Italy starting from original ideas and technical solutions that did not somehow follow the scheme of the Cousteau-Gagnan CG-45 breathing apparatus, was the "Tricheco" model (Walrus in English) and produced by Pirelli, a company much better known today as a tire manufacturer. This article presents the construction and performance characteristics in detail.
	MY WEBSITE AND HIS COLLABORATORS di Luigi Fabbri - february 2023 The article highlights the importance of collaborators for the continuous expansion of this site, which thanks above all to their contributions is able to always propose new images of the past. Thus continuing to gradually reveal the entire history of diving in the early decades, full of people, facts, things often left unjustly in the shadows or forgotten.
	THE FIRST ITALIAN SPEARGUNS di Luigi Fabbri - novembre 2022 Recreational diving was born with spear guns and their history well represents that long initial period characterized by the talent of several people who become famous and, sometimes, forgotten. All of them contributed equally to our sport progression, to its development, although spear guns turned down its role as protagonist.
	SO, IN ITALY WE CALLED IT …… SINGLE-STAGE by Luigi Fabbri - february 2022 In Italy, we are the only one in the world to have called “single stage” regulators with two large, corrugated hoses around the head. Why in the otherCountries in the world they are correctly defined “double hose regulators"? The reasons are not just technical. We discover them in this article,already published in n. 70/2021 of the Italian magazine HDS Notizie.
	3. THE RED CORAL HUNTERS - Meetings and stories by Luigi Fabbri - december 2021 In this article the author remembers his days with some Sardinian coral hunters in the 90s, with an image collection of the most delicate phases of their complex dives. Then goes to Puglia, during a recent journey which allowed him to source the stories of two protagonists of the coral history along those coasts.
	2. CORAL - THE RED GOLD DIVERS by Andrea Campedelli - november 2021 After centuries of fishing carried out with a tool lowered from the surface called "ingegno" (device), shortly after 1950 the search for the precious red coral of the Mediterranean Sea became the new frontier for the more adventurous divers. It is the beginning of a legendary period remembered as the coral fishermen epic.
	1. RED CORAL - THE ANCIENT FISHING by Andrea Campedelli Red coral has a long history of millennia, highly sought after all over the world as an ornament and for its thaumaturgical qualities. In this first article the author illustrates its fishing conducted over the centuries with primitive tools. Systems progressed very little until relatively recent times, when coral harvesting will become an exclusivity for adventurous divers.
	ANALOGICAL SOS DECOMPRESSION GAUGES by Andrea Campedelli - july 2021 The SOS analogical decompression meters were instruments protagonists of a long historical diving period, loved, hated, however unsurpassed until the advent of digital electronic computers. The author describes how they works, one by one, while in the final box Luigi Fabbri highlights the mistakes that many divers do, taking advantage of their ease of use.
	DECO BRAIN HANS HASS, the first dive computer di Andrea Campedelli - june 2021 The adventurous birth, the success, the end of the famous Deco Brain, the first dive computer in the world. The article describes the history of this great instrument with many curious and unpublished details, supplemented by an interview with its designer Jürgen Hermann who reveals some little-known aspects.
	THE FIRST PANERAI, THE ITALIAN NAVY RAIDERS’ WATCH Short story of an incredibly famous watch, born in gold in 1935, to be worn in the waistcoat small pocket of elegant gentlemen, which became an austere diving for the wrist of the raiders of the Royal Italian Navy. by Andrea Campedelli - may 2021
	The Italian Underwater Breathing Devices in the Years 40s and 50s by Maurizio Baldinucci - febbraio 2021 What was the first air breathing apparatus that appeared in Italy? What were the SCBAs available before the advent of the famous French Mistral? In this article, as usual very well documented, the author traces the Italian history of the devices that came after the oxygen rebreathers. And surprises are not lacking, such as the device in the photo alongside.
	THE DATA BASE OF THE TWO HOSE REGULATORS by Maurizio Baldinucci - november 2020 This is without doubt the most complete database of two-hose regulators ever published. There are in fact listed regulators of 74 brands from all over the world, for a total of 221 models with some specifications and year of presentation. Numbers probably never suspected by any collectors.
	THE 80s by Luigi Fabbri - october 2020 The 80s of the last century marked the period of maximum expansion of diving, with an exponential growth in the number of practitioners, companies in the sector, diving teaching and services. Radically changing the environment and its customs and representing for this reason the period in which historical diving has definitively succumbed to modern diving.
	THE ELUSIVE MARES AIR KING di Maurizio Baldinucci Mares Air King belongs to the restricted category of "mysterious" regulators, very difficult to find and even more to describe, given the scarcity of photos and technical data. Born in 1959, in his short life he was modified several times and finally abandoned in 1963.
	A "DEMONE" OF REGULATOR di Maurizio Baldinucci Among the countless products the North American rich and highly competitive sports diving gear market offered during the ’60s of the last century it is worth remembering the strange regulator “Demone”, original in appearance and for the technical solutions adopted yet of very little commercial success.
	THE BLUE HOLE IN THE MALDIVES - en by Dodi Telli - march 2020 Off-topic readings - Let's start with this article to occasionally host "off-topic" writings with respect to the standards of our site but of particular interest to lovers of everything related to the sea, from historical or scientific chronicles of particular events to the origins of the old-time diving equipment.
	THE HISTORY OF SPIRO-SUB E AER-SUB TRADEMARKS by Maurizio Baldinucci - april 2020 Who Spiro-Sub and Aer-Sub were ? From the mid-50s until 1965 they have sold several diving equipment, however true companies with these names never existed have. They were trademarks only owned by Cressi, which used them to distribute and sell regulators and instruments not of own produced. This article traces their complete and well documented history.
	VISIONARY MASKS di Maurizio Baldinucci Among the numerous innovative and original products launched on the market by *Scubapro* we need to remember the *“Visionaire”* mask (see *Fig. 1* and *Fig. 2), sold by the US company in the period between 1965* and *1970*.
	DEVELOPMENT OF THE OXYGEN REBREATHER by Maurizio Baldinucci - July 2019 From the apparatus of Sir Robert Davis to the Aro of the men "Gamma", from the Dräger Tauchretter by Hans Hass to the Cressi "57 B". The compelling story of the oxygen breathing apparatus told through the episodes of war and the sporting adventures that have seen it protagonist.
	BREATHING UNDERWATER THROUGH A "BEER CAN" by Maurizio Baldinucci - February 2019 When the Cousteau-Gagnan regulator started to spread, his success led individual inventors and underwater manufacturers to explore alternative technical solutions. Skills and imagination have bloomed, often giving life to instruments with unusual shapes.
	HISTORY OF THE SINGLE HOSE REGULATOR by Maurizio Baldinucci - April 2019 Who invented the single-hose regulator? Actually it is the result of a long and complex evolution that occurred in the same years in various parts of the world. Maurizio Baldinucci displays with passion the adventurous history of this instrument to which we owe the universal expansion of diving.
	CINEMA AND UNDERWATER BREATHING DEVICES by Maurizio Baldinucci - March 2018 It was 1943 when J. Y. Cousteau shot the documentary "Épave" (Wrecks) in which the prototype of a regulator appeared. Since then divers with their breathing apparatus have been the protagonists of countless films, retraced by the author through documents and images now rare.
	The Mistral’s amazing origins di Maurizio Baldinucci - Novembre 2017 Maurizio Baldinucci ci fa scoprire le origini del Mistral e il suo sviluppo tecnologico durato quasi vent'anni attraverso un gran numero di modelli e di soluzioni insospettate. Una ricostruzione tecnico-storica senza pari per accuratezza e documentazione iconografica.