| Scuba is the acronym for Self Contained Underwater | | | | his invention for twenty minutes due to sever lack of |
| Breathing Apparatus. Jacques-Yves Cousteau and | | | | oxygen. |
| Emile Gagnan are considered to be the inventors of | | | | William James invented a self-contained air device in |
| the scuba diving kit we have today. | | | | 1825. It consisted of a cylindrical iron belt, holding |
| The key terms in SCUBA are 'Self Contained', since | | | | sufficient air for a seven- minute long dive, attached |
| the alternative forms of diving gear depend on a | | | | to a copper helmet. |
| hose, which leads to the surface of the water. The | | | | Benoit Rouquayrol and Auguste Denayrouse designed |
| hose is attached to a pump which forces down air | | | | a device in 1865 which consisted of a horizontal steel |
| through the hose at such a pressure, which will cancel | | | | tank of air attached to the diver's back and |
| out the pressure, exerted by the water on the | | | | connected to a mouth-piece. |
| diver's chest. One such equipment is the diving bell. | | | | Henry Fleuss built a pure oxygen 'rebreather' and it |
| The earliest versions of diving bells could be called | | | | was a closed-circuit device. |
| self-contained in one sense of the term because it | | | | Dr. Christian Lambertsen developed a 'Self-Contained |
| lacked a hose, and the total air supply available was | | | | Underwater Oxygen Breathing Apparatus' for the U.S. |
| whatever was already inside the bell. However, the | | | | military war effort, code-named 'SCUBA' in 1939. |
| limited air supply constrained the movement and | | | | Even though this apparatus worked well for shallow |
| length of time, which the diver could spend under | | | | water diving, the oxygen toxicity made it unsafe for |
| water. | | | | greater depths. |
| Before Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Emile Gagnan | | | | Finally, researchers such as Cousteau decided that |
| designed the prototype for the modern scuba diving | | | | filtered and purified compressed air was the best gas |
| gear, there were some important inventions, which | | | | mixture to use in self-contained breathing devices. |
| led up to it. Several people tried to develop a | | | | During World War II, around 1942-43, Jacques-Yves |
| self-contained apparatus for divers, such as: | | | | Cousteau and Emile Gagnan reworked a pressure |
| Aristotle is said to have described a diving bell in 360 | | | | regulator which Gagnan had initially developed to |
| BCE, and Alexander the Great apparently made | | | | enable automobiles to run on vegetable oils due to |
| several dives using a crude bell in 332BCE. | | | | acute shortage of petroleum during the war. The |
| Sieur Freminet developed the very first self-contained | | | | new regulator would send compressed air at the |
| air equipment in 1772 - a 'rebreathing' apparatus which | | | | correct pressure to counteract the pressure put on |
| would recycle the air inside the diving bell which had | | | | the diver's chest by the water. |
| been exhaled. However, Freminet died after being in | | | | |