Jacques Cousteau
Jacques Cousteau devoted his life to ocean exploration after World War II. He bought a Calypso minesweeper and took it on a round-the-world trip, including the Antarctic Circle. He did experiments and collected data. These were used to design the Calypso-Phot underwater camera and SP-350 deep-sea two-man submarine.
Cousteau began his research by developing a new breathing apparatus, called the aqua-lung. While this apparatus allowed Cousteau the ability to inhale air in a controlled fashion, it was limited to shallow dives. Cousteau recognized that he needed to find the deepest parts of the oceans and a better way regulate air flow. The demand regulator was the result of his experiments. Air can only flow on demand. This invention would enable divers to extend their air supply and help them avoid decompression syndrome.
Yves le Prieur
Yves le Prieur and scuba diving go back to the early 1900s. He invented the fullface mask, which had a loose frontplate and was used as a diaphragm to regulate demand. His next invention was the diving regulator.
1933 was the date that the first Scuba Diving Equipment was Patented. This combination of the Fernez-Le-Prieur system for air supply and the demand regulator developed by Rouquayrol, Denayrouze, and Rouquayrol created the first scuba diving apparatus. It changed the world of scuba diving by making underwater breathing apparatuses affordable and easily accessible. This was the birth of recreational diving.
Guy Gilpatric
Guy Gilpatric made many contributions to the history of scuba dive during his lifetime. He was the author of the first sport diving guide, and his Saturday Evening Post articles were amongst those that covered scuba dive. He was fascinated by the sea and the natural world and decided to travel the Mediterranean to write about it. The book is credited as inspiring Jacques Cousteau. He would go on later to create modern scubadiving.
In the early 20th-century, the invention of modern scuba diving equipment began. Guy Gilpatric, an American marine biologist, patented a system that allows divers to breathe in air without using surface air. Later, Yves Le Prier designed an underwater breathing system. Owen Churchill bought the system, and the scuba-rig gained rapid popularity. Guy Gilpatric later developed rubber goggles featuring glass lenses, face masks and snorkels as well as swim fins and a high pressure air tank.
Yves Gagnan
At the start of the century, divers relied on diving bells and helmets to get their air from the surface. Yves Gagnan (Parisian engineer) helped them to create a demand valve system. The new device was capable of providing compressed air on-demand and could adjust to the pressure of surrounding water. This discovery allowed people from all walks of life to explore the oceans.
Gagnan was born in Burgundy, France, in 1900. After graduating from college, Gagnan began work at Air Liquide. He studied high pressure pneumatic design. This helped to develop the scuba equipment we now use.