Deep-sea work using rigid diving suits. Deep-sea operations using rigid diving suits Means of providing deep-sea rescue operations

A total of 39 spacesuits with a working depth of 300-365 m and 5 spacesuits with a working depth of up to 605 m (model HS2000) are in operation in the world.

They are in service with the emergency services of the French Navy (from 1 to 300 m), the Italian Navy (from 3 to 300 m), the Japanese Navy (from 4 to 365 m), the US Navy (from 1 to 300 m, from 4 to 605 m), Russian Navy (from 8 to 365 m)

After the tragedy of the Kursk nuclear submarine, the Search and Rescue Department of the Russian Navy in 2002 acquired from the American-Canadian company OceanWorks Int. Corp. eight normobaric Newsuit HS1200 suits (the number means the depth of work in feet - 365 m)

At the forefront of the development of the depths are bathyscaphes and underwater robots. These are scouts, they are mainly intended for observation, although their manipulators allow taking samples and samples (remember how James Cameron filmed his famous Titanic with the help of Russian deep-sea submersibles Mir). However, more and more often there is a need to work at depths of hundreds of meters, and only a person can perform it. The main customers are oil companies, which need to build subsea drilling platforms, and the military, who need to have plans for rescue or lifting operations (the case of the Kursk is quite indicative).

Under the water

When working at great depths (from 60 m), two main methods of underwater work are used. The first is the saturation dive method. In this case, divers immerse themselves in soft spacesuits, but they do not breathe air (it is toxic at such depths), but special gas mixtures (helium + oxygen + nitrogen). Before diving, divers spend several days in a pressure chamber in order to adapt to the pressure at the required depth, where they also live in breaks, and lower them under water and lift them onto a ship in a diving bell. After the completion of the work, a long decompression is required (tens of days). The operation of complex barocomplexes (pressure chamber, diving bell, descender, breathing gas preparation system) is expensive and requires numerous technical and medical personnel. Therefore, such systems are difficult to use, for example, for rescue operations: they cannot be quickly deployed.

A more modern method of underwater work is diving in normobaric suits. The word "normobaric" means that inside such a spacesuit there is normal atmospheric pressure and the diver breathes normal air. Compression and decompression during such dives is not necessary, a pressure chamber is not required, the speed of descent and ascent is not limited by the decompression limits. The set of spacesuit, lifting device and deck equipment is lightweight and can be quickly airlifted to the job site. Deployment time is calculated in hours, which is critical for rescue operations, where speed means the line between life and death of people.

The armor is strong

In fact, a normobaric spacesuit is a large tin can, only the person is not outside, but inside, like a sprat in a tomato. The walls of this "canned food" are more than a centimeter thick and are cast from aluminum (for the HS1200 model), and for the deeper version of the HS2000 they are forged (and milled), like the armor of medieval knights - only thicker.

Since the shell takes on an enormous pressure at great depths (from 30 to 60 atmospheres), it is completely rigid. And a diver, in order not only to view the fish through a hemispherical window, but also to perform, for example, cutting, welding, flaw detection or rescue work, needs to be able to bend his arms and legs. For this, the limbs are made "articular" - they are divided into segments by sealed bearings of a special design, located relative to each other at strictly calculated angles: the arms and legs are bent due to the rotation of the segments. Such a scheme ensures the mobility of a rigid "shell" under enormous external pressure.

In order not to complicate the design with numerous finger joints, instead of gloves, manipulators with interchangeable grips, resembling forceps or pincers, are used. Various tools can be installed near the manipulator (for example, a wrench, drill or flaw detection devices).

Underwater helicopter

It is clear that with such a spacesuit design, walking is not the best way to get around (although experienced pilots use leg mobility for ease of operation). Therefore, Newtsuit is equipped with two motors, each of which drives two propellers. They are controlled by pedals - the left pedal controls the vertical movement, the right one - horizontally and rotation. “Newtsuit travels more like a helicopter than a pedestrian. When the Russian Navy specialists were trained, the divers had to wean themselves from the habit of moving in the usual way. It is not for nothing that these people are called pilots, ”laughs Boris Gaikovich, an engineer for the operation of Newtsuit suits at Divetechnoservice. As with a helicopter, the spacesuit screws rotate during the entire dive at a constant speed, and only their pitch (the angle of attack of the blades) changes. This method allows you to control the movement faster and more accurately (this is very important in the presence of underwater currents). But the "seat" of the pilot is not at all a helicopter - it rather resembles a bicycle saddle.

We can see everything from above

The Newsuit is actually a small submarine. But, despite its autonomy, it is tied to the supply ship with a strong "leash" - a cable-rope. And not at all in order not to get lost - power is supplied from the surface through a cable-rope to the engines, lighting and the gas cleaning system. It is practically impossible to cut the cable-rope: it is designed for a working load of 907 kg (in the HS1200 modification for the Russian Navy - 1200 kg) and for breaking at a load of more than 6 tons. The only one who can do this is the pilot himself. If the cable gets tangled, it can be cut using a special mechanism (after that, the pilot drops the engines, floats to the surface and waits for it to be picked up, having detected VHF, flashing or sonar beacon signals). The cable-rope serves not only for power supply, but also for two-way communication. The operator on the support vessel hears the pilot and sees the situation thanks to a color video camera (he can control it independently). For navigation (especially in muddy water) sonar is used, its screen is located in front of the operator, who "guides" the pilot. All data (video from the camera, conversations, sonar data and life support systems) are recorded for future use (for example, for Lloyd's Maritime Register). The operator (like the pilot) controls another vital aspect: the readings of the life support system (oxygen, carbon dioxide, pressure, temperature, depth, cylinder pressure). And, finally, like a traffic police inspector stopping an intruder with a wave of his wand, in case of a collision, the operator can intervene and from his control panel, by pressing one button, turn off the power to the engines. The pilot can also do this, but it is only possible to turn on the power again from the surface - this is the algorithm for ensuring work safety.

Elevator air conditioner

If in winter, in cold weather, you had to sit for an hour or two in a car with a stalled engine, you can roughly imagine how things are with the climate inside an all-metal spacesuit. The water at the depths where the work is carried out (especially in the Russian seas) is rather cool, so the pilots wear warm overalls and even take catalytic heating pads with them. The scrubber also generates heat when absorbed by carbon dioxide, which provides additional heating.

But, alas, there is no air conditioner in a spacesuit: if the water is warm, you have to invent ways to cool yourself. For example, American pilots working in the Gulf of Mexico on underwater oil platforms at shallow depths (30-40 m), after an hour of work, ask permission to "run" several tens of meters deeper, where the water has a much lower temperature. And having "cooled down", they rise again and get to work.

OPTIMIZATION OF TECHNOLOGIES OF DEEP-SEA WORKS WITH THE APPLICATION OF RIGID DIVING SUITS

Text:
B.A. Gaikovich, Ph.D., Deputy General Director
JSC "NPP PT" Oceanos "

Rigid diving suits (ZhVS, Atmospheric Diving Suits) have been in constant operation of the navies of various countries and commercial organizations since the 1980s. The naval forces of the United States, Italy, France, Japan, and Turkey have appreciated the advantages of HVS over traditional deep-sea diving complexes and complexes of working class remote-controlled vehicles during rescue operations and underwater technical work.

The main advantages of ZhVS systems:

• the possibility of transfer / delivery of the ZhVS complex by any type of transport, including aviation;
• the ability to work from a minimally equipped vessel (or other floating craft);
• rapid (several hours) deployment and withdrawal (mobilization / demobilization);
• the ability to provide almost 24-hour work (in the presence of replacement pilots). The absence of the need for decompression allows you to lift the spacesuit to the surface only to recharge the battery of the life support system, recharge the chemical CO2 absorber and change the pilot, which can be done in a few minutes with a trained team of technicians;
• the presence of a person directly at the work site, which makes it possible to assess the situation in real time, and, if necessary, resort to improvisation.

Evaluating the advantages of the HVS systems, the leadership of the Russian Navy, during the emergency recovery program for the rescue service after the tragedy of the nuclear submarine "Kursk" class (RTPA) formed the backbone of the rescue forces in the fleets of the Russian Federation.

ZhVS - rigid diving suit

The company ZAO NPP PT Okeanos is the only company in Europe that has high-quality technicians and certified pilots of the Hardsuit aircraft (including the new generation - Hardsuit Quantum), and for many years has been conducting field supervision on behalf of the manufacturer, carrying out maintenance and necessary repairs , modernization and full technical support of the deep-water systems of the water supply system in service.

The high level of specialists of ZAO NPP PT Okeanos has been repeatedly confirmed and noted, including by foreign leading experts of this profile.

Means of support for deep-sea rescue operations

Currently, the tasks of carrying out emergency rescue and underwater technical operations at depths over 100 m are assigned to the following systems:

1. Inhabited underwater vehicles (OSA);
2. Unmanned remote-controlled working class underwater vehicles (RTPA);
3. Deep-water diving complexes and deep-water divers (GVK);
4. Rigid diving suits (RVS).

Let's briefly describe the specifics, advantages and disadvantages of each system.

• Manned underwater vehicles (OPA)

The advantages of OPA include a large (for most devices) working depth, a sufficiently high autonomy, the direct presence of a person at the work site to assess the situation (and sometimes for a much-needed improvised solution to an unexpected problem). Rescue OPA (for example, Western projects PRMS or Remora, or the pr. 1855 "Prize" created in the USSR, etc. 1827 "Bester" and their modifications) have the ability (with successful docking) to transfer the rescued from the submarine in distress to the rescue apparatus "according to dry ", without the need to go into the water. Manipulative complexes of domestic devices also provide for the implementation of a number of works.

The disadvantages of rescue ASOs include the need to use a powerful support vessel (the timely mobilization of which is extremely difficult), the high cost of both the creation and operation of such devices, the need for constant training of personnel, training and advanced training of personnel (which is very difficult to ensure under normal conditions). rotation of the navy). The dimensions of the vehicles and extremely limited visibility make it impossible to use them in difficult conditions of low visibility, narrowness, on strong currents, etc. It is also necessary to have additional backup deep-sea rescue facilities to ensure the safety of the apparatus itself (everyone remembers the history of the AS-28 apparatus and a number of similar situations with domestic and foreign ASOs).

• Unmanned remote-controlled working class underwater vehicles (RTPA)

Today RTPA is the leading underwater system in the performance of rescue and underwater technical operations. Being a powerful (up to 250 hp) power platform with industrial manipulators, video cameras, positioning systems, lighting and the ability to mount attachments at the request of the customer, the working injection molding machines are capable of performing a wide range of works. For example, one of the most advanced devices, RTPA Schilling HD by FMC Technologies Schilling Robotics, has the following characteristics:

• Working depth: up to 4000 m
• Dimensions: 3 x 1.7 x 2 m
• Main drive power: 150 HP
• Auxiliary drive power (drive of attachments): 40-75 HP
• Weight in air: 3700 kg
• Manipulators (standard): 1 x 7-functional, 200 kgf; 1 x 5-functional, 250 kgf.

Being very large vehicles, RTPA require the use of specialized vessels (however, smaller than in the case of an OPA). On the other hand, most support vessels for drilling platforms have the ability to place RTPA (or already have RTPA on board), which gives an advantage in the speed of mobilization of vehicles in the event of an accident.

The disadvantages of the RTPA include large dimensions (which excludes work in cramped conditions), the need for a high level of practical training of personnel, and a limited overview. The advantages are the presence of powerful power systems that allow the use of hydraulic and other tools, powerful manipulators, lighting systems, etc.

• Deep-water diving complexes (GVK)

Being the most traditional way to carry out diving work, diving work remains the most risky and expensive. With the development of underwater technology, there are fewer and fewer tasks that can only be performed by a diver. An example of this is the development and operation of deep-water oil and gas fields (1500 m and more), where only robotics is used. Deep-sea diving operations are risky in and of themselves, even without considering the risks that the diver is exposed to in the course of their direct work. The impact of high pressures on the body, compression and decompression, living in cramped conditions for several weeks, the development of specific diving diseases and other harmful factors lead to the desire to do without the work of divers.

The advantages of using divers: the ability to work in cramped conditions and in poor visibility (since tactile sensations are available), the ability to directly analyze the situation on the job site and make timely decisions. The disadvantages include the highest costs for the systems under consideration for the construction of the GVK itself and the construction / re-equipment of the carrier vessel, the impossibility of quick mobilization, high operating costs, the impossibility of long-term continuous work and other factors associated with the fact that we are dealing with hard physical labor of people in an extremely dangerous environment.

• Rigid diving suits (RWS)

Initially, ZhVS were created as a means of combining the advantages of an OPA (no need for decompression, protection from environmental factors, mobility without the expenditure of physical forces, the presence of a person at the work site) with the advantages of a deep diver (use of any tool, high visibility, high mobility and dexterity, the ability work in difficult conditions). The resulting system to the highest degree meets the requirements for an emergency rescue system - it is highly mobile, does not require the use of special ships assigned to it, and has high economic performance.

Rigid diving suit

From the point of view of LHVS application, it makes sense to refer to the experience of the world's leading companies and their work. A special role in such works is played by Phoenix International (USA), which began commercial work with the use of liquid iron in 2003 all over the world. As a world-class MWD operator with deep-sea diving complexes, RTPA, crane vessels and barges, etc., Phoenix was selected by the US government on a tender basis to implement the popular American principle of collaboration between civilian specialists and military structures - GOPO (Government Owned, Privately Operated). The essence of the principle is that a civilian company (in this case, Phoenix) gets at its disposal complex technical systems (in our case, HVS systems belonging to the US Navy) and undertakes to maintain them in full working order, to carry out maintenance, repairs, modernization, training staff, etc. The company is given the right to use the equipment for commercial work, but at the same time, upon receipt of a notification from the Navy, it must provide in an extremely short time (for example, in the case of the AS-28 apparatus, this period was 12 hours) a fully ready-to-use and mobilized complex, accompanied by a technical and management personnel. Thus, the state is relieved of the burden of servicing and maintaining equipment and training personnel (which is very important for a fleet that has a natural rotation of specialists), while the Navy is confident that at the necessary time they will have systems completely ready for operation with personnel who have received the greatest possible training and experience in the course of numerous practical works.

As shown by the specific experience of using LHS, this principle functions very successfully. Having gained commercial success using government spacesuits, the company has now acquired (first on lease, and then bought) its own two sets of ZhVS (four spacesuits). Over the years, Phoenix has carried out over 90 commercial operations around the globe, from the Mediterranean and the Gulf of Mexico to Madagascar and the South African Seas, ranging from weeks to months and operating depths ranging from 30 to over 300 meters. With the accumulation of experience, it became possible to attract liquid water supply to more and more complex and difficult types of PTR, especially in the field of underwater construction and the arrangement of oil and gas fields.

Joint use of ZhVS and RTPA

As the experience of carrying out practical work with the use of ZhVS has shown, the best results are achieved with the combined use of ZhVS and TPA (RTPA). In this case, the role of the support platform remains for the RTPA - the device provides lighting, video documentation and an external view of the work site, delivers and receives tools, is a power drive for manual hydraulic tools, manipulates heavy objects, etc. The ZhVS pilot carries out general management of the work, provides "delicate" manipulations, penetrates into spatial structures and is able to work in more difficult conditions.

Schilling HD platform

The safety of the LHVS is ensured by the RTPA crew, and the lacking RTPA flexibility and maneuverability are compensated for by the high maneuverability and relatively small dimensions of the LHVS. For example, Phoenix has carried out a number of jobs in this particular configuration and reports high efficiency and high safety performance during the work.

Modernization of ZhVS

Such an intensive practical use of ZhVS Hardsuit led to the natural need to increase its functionality. Hardsuit manufacturer OceanWorks International (Canada-USA) has launched a new generation of hard spacesuits - Hardsuit Quantum. In the course of a deep modernization, the ZhVS received a new propulsion system - unlike the old constant-frequency motors with a complex variable pitch propeller mechanism, brushless motors of increased power with fixed pitch propellers are installed on the spacesuit. This change not only increased the power of the spacesuit almost twice, but also reduced the duration of maintenance and repair by an order of magnitude - it was the servicing of the servo drives of the variable pitch propellers that was the most time-consuming and technically difficult stage in the maintenance of the liquid air mixture.

conclusions

The hard diving suit Hardsuit, especially taking into account the latest upgrades, has successfully proven itself in practice both in the commercial market and in the field of emergency rescue.

According to the Phoenix company, they managed to achieve the best results in their work using ZhVS together with working class injection molding machines. In this case, the pilot of the ZhVS took over the management of the operation on site, performing delicate and complex works, used visual and tactile perception, the ability to improvise, leaving the TPA as a "workhorse" - a power and instrumental platform of high power. It is obvious that working together with the RTPA (power of which is 150–250 hp) requires a lot of experience, delicate technique and perfect coordination of actions, which is achieved exclusively in the course of thoughtful and intense training and a large amount of joint practical work. Satisfactory results should not be expected from pilots and surface support teams who are only able to perform training descents during exercises and similar rare events.

An economically effective solution to this problem can and should be the training of crews in multifunctional training complexes, which make it possible to work out complex interactions of underwater equipment in fully controlled conditions, with simulation of currents, limited visibility and simulation of the underwater situation at the site of the proposed work.

CJSC "NPP PT" OCEANOS "
194295, Russia, St. Petersburg,
st. Yesenin, 19/2
Tel. +7 812 292 37 16
www.oceanos.ru

Diving suit - from Leonardo da Vinci to the present day.
The whole history of diving, in photographs.

Diving suit of Leonardo da Vinci, recreated from his drawings in our time
The diving suit was invented by Leonardo for the Venetians, who constantly had to repel naval military attacks. Leonardo's diving suit was made of leather, the helmet was equipped with glass lenses, the diver's shoes were weighted with a metal weight. A person in such a suit could breathe with the help of a bell with air lowered under the water, from which breathing tubes were connected to the diver's helmet.
The scientist proposed the concept of a diving suit in order to repel the threat posed by the Turkish fleet. According to the idea, the divers were supposed to dive to the bottom and wait for the arrival of enemy ships. When enemy ships would appear above the water, the divers had to sabotage and send the ships to the bottom. It was not destined to prove the correctness of this concept. Venice was able to resist the Turkish fleet without the help of saboteurs.

First deep diving device by the British Astronomer Royal, Geophysicist, Mathematician, Meteorologist, Physicist and Demographer Edmund Halley, late 17th century
The English astronomer Edmond Halley (the same Halley who predicted the return of Halley's comet) built a diving bell, ventilated with barrels of compressed air sent from the surface. Oddly enough, the idea turned out to be successful, and Halley himself with four workers spent over 11 hours at a depth of about 9 fathoms. For the first time, ventilation of a diving bell with the help of a pump was achieved in 1788 by Smeaton, and from that moment on, the divers' stay under water for many hours ceased to be an extraordinary event.

"The bell sank to the bottom. Then the assistant put another, small bell on his head, and was able to walk a little along the bottom - as far as the tube allowed him, through which he breathed the air remaining in the large bell. After that, barrels with an additional supply of air, weighted The assistant found them and dragged them to the bell. "

Russia. "Divers don't climb into the water without wine"
The professional class of divers in Russia appeared at the beginning of the 17th century along with the development of fishing on the Volga and at the mouth of the Yaik (Ural). At the same time, by the way, the term "diver" itself appeared. The divers were engaged in maintaining the state and monastery uchugs (underwater pile barriers where fish were driven) in working order.
Elder Irinarkha from the Spaso-Prilutsk Monastery on the bend of the Vologda River in January 1606 noted: "I gave Elder Yakim Luzora nine altyns for diving and for pots." And in 1675, Patriarch Joachim complained to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich: "And their fishing business without wine is impossible for some things to do, because divers do not climb into the water without wine to strengthen their slopes and water washings and holes without wine the Chinitz's trade is a lot of trouble and a great mess and a lot of disorder. "
The divers were engaged in the extraction of river pearls, as well as the construction and maintenance of hydraulic structures in the Lower Volga fisheries. They dived without using any special equipment, "diving", and could not perform serious work under water.
In 1763, the first rules of the diving service were issued in St. Petersburg: "News of the order that must be observed when diving and pulling goods out of the water."

Diving suit of the French aristocrat Pierre Remy de Beauvais, 1715

One of the two hoses extended to the surface - breathing air was supplied through it; the other was used to divert exhaled air.

Diving apparatus by John Lethbridge, 1715

Sealed oak barrel
This barrel was intended to lift valuables from sunken ships.
In the same year, Englishman Andrew Becker developed a similar system, which was equipped with a system of tubes for inhalation and exhalation.

Karl Klingert's diving apparatus, 1797
In 1797, the German A. Klingert proposed the first "clothing for divers" in which it was really possible to work underwater for more than three minutes. It consisted of a waterproof fabric on the diver's shoulders attached to the edge of a metal cap that covered the diver's head. Inside two breathing leather tubes with a diverting valve for inhalation and exhalation, a spiral spring was inserted so that the pressure of water did not flatten the walls.
A pump for ventilation of the suit was not provided because it was assumed that the diver would be able to breathe in the water on his own. In 1798, Klingert's invention was tested on the Oder River near Wraclav. Already with a slight immersion, the diver had difficulty breathing, and at a depth of 6 feet it became impossible to breathe, due to the fact that the pressure of the water on the diver's chest exceeded the strength of the respiratory muscles.
Subsequently, Klingert improved his costume, giving it a completely monstrous look. To counteract the pressure of water on the diver's chest, Klingert turned the apparatus into a metal cuirass with legs attached to it. Since the tightness of this structure was questionable, a pump was attached to the cuirass to pump out the water that enters the apparatus.

"It consisted of a jacket, waterproof leather pants, and a helmet with a porthole. The helmet was connected to a turret that contained an air reservoir. The reservoir was not replenished, so the time spent underwater was limited."

Chauncey Hall costume, 1810

The first deep-sea spacesuit with heavy boots August Siebe (Germany), 1819
The inconvenience was that the diver had to maintain a vertical position, otherwise water could get under the bell. In 1937, a waterproof garment was added to the bell, allowing the diver to become more mobile.

Rukeroil-Deneiruz outfit, model 1865
... "Using the Rukeroil-Deneiruse device, invented by your compatriot and improved by me, you can without any harm to your health immerse yourself in an environment with completely different physiological conditions. This device is a reservoir of thick sheet iron, into which air is forced under pressure of fifty atmospheres The reservoir is fastened on the back with straps, like a soldier's knapsack. The upper part of the reservoir contains a kind of blacksmith bellows that regulate the air pressure, bringing it to normal ... ". Jules Verne, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea ...
In his novel, Jules Verne described the then real-life apparatus of Rukeroil-Deneiruse.

Diver with Rukeroil-Deneiruz apparatus ready for emergency descent
In an emergency, when an emergency descent of a diver was required, the Rukeroil-Deneiruz equipment could be used without a diving shirt and mask:

Such helmets have been used for a hundred years without significant changes.

Diving suit with 20 small windows by Alphonse and Theodore Carmagnol, Marseille, France, 1878

Henry Fluss apparatus, 1878
The rubberized mask was connected by sealed tubes with a breathing bag and a box with a substance that absorbs carbon dioxide from the exhaled air.

A diver descends to the bottom off the coast of Chile
where the British ship Cape Horn wrecked to lift a load of copper, 1900

One of the first pressure-maintaining diving suits, designed by M. de Pluvy, 1906

Chester McDuffie suit, weight 250 kg. 1911.
Famous retro photography.

Three generations of diving suits of the German company "Neufeld & Kunke", 1917-1940
First model (1917-1923)

Second (1923-1929)

Third generation suit (produced between 1929 and 1940)
Allowed to dive to a depth of 160 m and was equipped with a built-in telephone.

Mr. Perez and his new steel diving suit, London, 1925

The instructor checks the condition of the student lying in the decompression chamber
during classes at a diving school, Kent, England, 1930

Almost Mini-submarine for one person, 1933

A metal suit that allowed a diver to descend to a depth of more than 350 m, 1938

A spacesuit that allows a diver to work for a considerable time at a depth of 300 meters without a long decompression process, 1974

Modern normobaric spacesuit. Left.

Outwardly, the normobaric spacesuit, despite its name, rather resembles a miniature bathyscaphe. With a length of 2.5 m and a width of 1.5 m, a single speaker weighs 1.5 tons. An observation dome is located in the upper part of the device, and metal manipulator arms are attached to the sides of the body. Due to the use of four electric motors, single-seat suits can reach speeds of up to three knots under water, and the diving system allows you to descend to a depth of 600 m.

There is also a two-seat version - these are two single-seat spacesuits connected to each other. One operator is responsible for the movement of the device itself, and the second controls the operation of the manipulator arms. This version of the spacesuit weighs just over 3 tons.
Everything.
The basis of the material is a publication from the site "Water World", 2015. Supplemented by the author.

People have always wanted to go deep. Find out what's at the bottom of the sea. But there was not enough air in the lungs to hold out under water for a long time. But the thought of a man worked, inventing and trying various diving suits. There are many naturalists and treasure seekers in the world. Most of them are overwhelmed by a thirst for knowledge and / or enrichment. And under water, new unexplored mysteries of nature, territory, animals and, of course, uncounted treasures of sunken ships of all eras ...

1. It is well known: Russia is the birthplace of diving. Da Vinci was late and took advantage of the developments of the ancient Russians. Confirmation of miniatures from ancient Russian books.

2. For the first time the so-called elementary bells for being under water were described by Aristotle in the fourth century BC. They were used by swimmers for underwater observation and treasure hoisting.

3. In 1240, R. Bacon mentions "devices by means of which a person can safely move along the bottom of the sea or river for his life."

4. 16th century. Da Vinci. The most famous of the ancient engineers, artists, architects. In our time, diving equipment was created according to his drawings. It really works! History has not preserved evidence that Leonardo made at least one such suit in reality, but it is known that he was afraid to divulge the details of the structure of the spacesuit he invented so that the technology would not be used with malicious intent. Leather suit, face mask with goggles and inflatable bellows designed for diving and ascent. The diving suit was made of waterproof leather. It had a large chest pocket that was filled with air to increase volume, making it easier for the diver to rise to the surface. Two hollow breathing tubes made of reed and reinforced with steel rings led from the diver's mouth to the surface of the water. Even a codpiece was provided in order to relieve a small need under water. His manuscripts contain drawings and descriptions of diving vehicles that were used in India. Professor of Physics in Modenna J.B. Venturi, who made a report (1797) at the National Institute of Science and Art on the physical and mathematical drawings of Leonardo da Vinci, describes this helmet as follows: “This instrument was used in the Indian Sea for catching pearls. It is made of copper with hoops that protect against water pressure. One of the people is waiting on the shore, while the other, armed with this tool, is fishing for pearls and corals. He has glass glasses. His helmet has large spikes to protect him from big fish. " The Italian Lorini, in his work "Della Fortification", published in Venice in 1592, mentions that since the time of Leonardo da Vinci, his costumes have been used by Italian divers.

Da Vinci's inventions were far ahead of their time. The time of the invention of the spacesuit is not known for certain. It is believed that Da Vinci designed it for use by the army of the Venetian Republic against the Ottoman fleet. At the turn of the 16th century, the Mediterranean Sea was the scene of warfare for several countries. Venice was often attacked by Turkish ships. Which led to the almost complete destruction of the Venetian fleet and the capture of many prisoners. Da Vinci believed that it was too dangerous to describe in detail the creation of a diving suit - it could fall "into the wrong hands." He wrote: “My method allows me to stay at a depth for as long as a person can withstand without food. But I'm not going to describe it in detail, because the evil nature inherent in humans can use it for dark deeds in the depths - for example, to cause irreparable damage to ships, which can lead to their sinking together with the crew. "

5. In 1535, Guglielmo de Lorena created a cylindrical chamber about 1 m high and 60 cm in diameter with glass windows. The camera was suspended on ropes and placed on the diver's shoulders, covering only his head and chest.

6. In 1551, Nicolo Fontana (Italian mathematician) invented a diving suit, in which the diver had to stand with his head in a large glass ball.

7. In 1615, Franz Kessler's book “Various secret arts was published in Oppenheim, first: exploration of the area, through which one can reveal to another everything hidden by water and by land, another: water armor (Was-serharnisch), with the help of which everyone can spend several hours under water, walk at the bottom of the sea, read, write, eat, drink, sing and so on. " The book contains a description of an autonomous diving bell with portholes, an inflatable belt and fins: The base of the bell was a wooden frame with belts, which held the entire structure on a person.

8. Bell Borelli (1681). It has an air regeneration system in a coil cooled by the surrounding water. This idea will later be repeated in his own design of an autonomous breathing apparatus with an air reservoir, a system for its compression and a diving suit with leg fins.

9. In 1660 the English physicist Robert Boyle formulates his famous gas law in the book "New physical and mechanical experiments concerning the elasticity of air and their results." He is also the author of the world's first pressure chamber, in which he conducted experiments on animals.

10. Pierre Rémy de Beauvais, 1715, French aristocrat. Diving suit: one of the two hoses stretched to the surface - breathing air entered through it (it had to be pumped into the hose using bellows); the other was used to divert exhaled air. The iron corset was supposed to protect the diver from excessive hydraulic pressure, while the leather jacket would make the suit waterproof.

11. John Lethbridge, 1715. Diving machine. It is essentially a long, sealed oak barrel. Intended for lifting valuables from sunken ships. There is a description on the pages of the English magazine "Gentleman" with Magazine "in the 1830s:" My car is made of good northern oak; it is perfectly round, about two and a half feet in diameter at the top and eighteen inches at the bottom. It is about thirty gallons, and is held together both externally and internally by iron rims to resist the pressure of the water. two air vents are arranged at the top; of course, during the dive, they are plugged. The machine is held by a strong rope, next to which there is a "signal cord" designed to provide contact with helpers on the surface. while I put my hands in the holes, the lid is closed tightly from the outside by means of a screw ... You have five quintals (50.8 kilograms) of ballast, but you only need to drop fifteen pounds and it immediately goes up. While I'm inside, I lie on my stomach all the time and often spend more than six hours in this position. The air is renewed on the surface with the help of bellows, the tip of which is inserted into the holes provided for this case. At a depth where I usually stay for three to four minutes, I can move within a square with a side of twelve feet. Hundreds of times I sank to a depth of ten fathoms and even reached twelve fathoms, but at the cost of great difficulty ... "

John Lethbridge was a sober-minded capitalist. He was well aware that only by keeping the design features secret, it is possible to maintain a monopoly on the car and secure the sole right to underwater treasure hunting. Therefore, in the descriptions of the "diving barrel" many details were missing. How, for example, can the sealed cuffs be made into which the diver's hands are inserted? It has only been said - "two holes for the hands", but this is the most important part of the machine.

In the essay "Treasures of the Bay of Porto do Guilherme" there was a brief mention of John Lethbridge's "diving machine" - a "pocket submarine" of the 18th century, an indispensable device in its time for searching for precious cargo of sunken ships. John Lethbridge, died December 5, 1759, and is buried in the parish churchyard at Walborough, Devonshire. In church records, he is listed as the author of "the famous diving machine, thanks to which he obtained from the bottom of the sea in different parts of the world one hundred thousand pounds sterling for the benefit of English trade, was lost during shipwrecks ...".

Preserved sketches of the "machine" made by the first mate of the "Slot ter Hooge" Baartel Taerlink. In the Paris National Archives, information was found recorded by another eyewitness to the tests of the machine - an emissary of the French naval department. The history of the diving suit is written in the blood of enthusiasts: The words of the physicist Desagoulier, a contemporary of Lethbridge, are known: “The captain told me that once, sinking to a depth of thirteen fathoms, he suddenly felt that the blood had stopped in his veins, he experienced terrible torment, became seriously ill and was forced to stay in bed for six weeks. I also heard about another person who died three days after sinking fourteen fathoms ... ”In our time, the famous diver Robert Stanuy restored the drawings and made a copy of Lethbridge's car, the dive to 10 meters was successful.

12. The first technical complex for immersion to great depths of the English royal astronomer, geophysicist, mathematician, meteorologist, physicist and demographer Edmund Halley, late 17th century (Halley's comet). It was an invention of metal or wooden containers turned upside down. The air space inside the bell allowed breathing inside the bell for some time, getting out of it, performing the necessary actions and returning back. In 1716 he made a report on it at a meeting of the Royal Scientific Society. Its bell had a volume of 1.7 m3, was made of wood sheathed with tin or lead, and a glass window was provided in the upper part for illumination. The bell had a valve for inhaling air from a spare container. An interesting feature of Halley's invention was that the diver had a hose connected to a bell. In a report to the Royal Society, the inventor wrote: “I have found that with a significant distance from the diver from our apparatus, it will be very practical to continuously supply air to it through a thin flexible hose. The hose can also serve as a guide when returning to the bell. " The idea turned out to be successful and Halley himself with four workers spent over 11 hours at a depth of about 9 fathoms. Eyewitness description: “The bell sank to the bottom. Then the assistant put another, small bell on his head, and was able to walk a little along the bottom - as far as the tube allowed him, through which he breathed the air remaining in the large bell. After that, barrels with an additional supply of air, weighted with cargo, were dropped from above. The assistant found them and dragged them to the bell ”.

The system developed by E. Halley for replenishing the bell with air can be considered a prototype of spacesuits with air supply through hoses. A similar air supply scheme will be implemented in the XX century. - in underwater houses and submersible decompression chambers for delivering divers to great depths. Halley's method was used for a century, until John Smeaton (the builder of the third Eddystone lighthouse) in 1788 proposed the use of a pressure pump for this purpose. In 1789 the first dives of Smeaton's "underwater cage", equipped with such a pump, took place. For the first time, ventilation of a diving bell using a pump. From that moment on, the divers' stay under water for many hours ceased to be a fantastic event.

13.1771, by Sieur Freminet. It takes technical knowledge, creativity, courage, and a lot of luck to become an inventor. In 1772, Sieur Freminet tried to invent a rebreathing apparatus for immersion under water, which returned a person's breath to a person. It was the first closed air vehicle. Unfortunately, Freminet's invention was dangerous. According to one of the versions, the inventor (it is not known exactly) died while testing the device after being under water for 20 minutes. Due to lack of air.

14. Karl Klinger, 1797. German. The inventor tested his invention in a river flowing through his hometown of Breslavl (now Wroclaw, Poland). The upper part of the suit is protected by a cylindrical structure, making it possible to walk along the bottom of the river. “Composition: jacket, waterproof leather pants and helmet with porthole. The helmet was connected to a turret, which contained a reservoir with an air supply. The reservoir was not replenished, so the time spent underwater was limited. ” "Clothes for divers" - "suit for immersion in water", in which it was really possible to work under water for more than three minutes. Inside two breathing leather tubes with a diverting valve for inhalation and exhalation, a spiral spring was inserted so that the pressure of water did not flatten the walls. A pump for ventilation of the suit was not provided, it was assumed that the diver would be able to breathe in the water on his own. In 1798, Klingert's invention was tested on the Oder River near Wraclav. Already with a slight immersion, the diver had difficulty breathing, and at a depth of 6 feet it became impossible to breathe, due to the fact that the pressure of the water on the diver's chest exceeded the strength of the respiratory muscles. Klingert perfected his costume, giving it a monstrous look. To counteract the pressure of water on the diver's chest, Klingert turned the apparatus into a metal cuirass with legs attached to it. Since the tightness was questionable, therefore, a pump was attached to the cuirass to pump out the water that enters the apparatus.

15. In 1808, the German Frederick Driberg came up with a very original invention. The diving suit he proposed consisted of a waterproof bag worn on the back of the diver and a crown that adorned his head. The poor fellow was not supposed to have any other clothes. The bag housed double bellows, which were connected to the back of the crown using a complex system of linkage and linkages. In order to make the 'Mechs work and thus provide himself with the opportunity to breathe, the diver had to nod his head continuously during his journey in the depths of the sea.

None of these inventors have undoubtedly ever gone under water themselves. Usually inventors sent someone else to test their creations. At the same time, they never thought that the main problem was not in the supply of air, as such, but in balancing the pressure of the water. The human body is designed for ambient pressure equal to one atmosphere, which corresponds to the air pressure at sea level. When immersed in water to a depth of 10 meters, the pressure acting on a person increases by one atmosphere, and if the diver intends to stay alive, he must have a source of breathing mixture containing oxygen, compressed under a pressure equal to the pressure of the water surrounding the diver. Therefore, most of the first divers who disappeared into the ocean depths did not actually suffocate. Already at a relatively shallow depth (40 m), the pressure in total increases by 60 tons in comparison with the pressure that the human body experiences at sea level.

In 1802, the Englishman William Forder first tried to solve this problem. The diving suit he invented consisted of a copper box worn on the head and torso of the diver. The box was fitted with leather sleeves and pants that covered the rest of the body. As with many earlier designs, air was supplied to the diver through a hose from the bellows mounted on the surface, but the inventor, in an effort to balance the water pressure, provided for the supply of air to the entire suit. Unfortunately, Forder failed, his' Mechs could not provide enough pressure.

16. Chauncey Hall, 1810.

17. August Siebe, 1819. German gunsmith who emigrated to England. In 1837, Auguste Siebe acquired the rights to use their helmet from the Dean brothers and developed a diving suit on its basis. August Zibe's first deep-sea suit with heavy boots. According to modern classification, it was a "wet" type suit, since the diving shirt was leaky. The suit worked on the principle of a diving bell: from the vessel, air was supplied to the diver using a pump and came out from under the lower edge of the diving shirt, loosely pressed to the body. It lasted more than 100 years with the modification.

The inconvenience was that if the diver had to maintain an upright position, otherwise water could enter. In 1937, a waterproof garment allowed the diver to become more mobile. Paired a metal helmet with a waterproof rubberized fabric suit. Siebe's equipment was successfully tested during the lifting of the British battleship Royal George.

The improved suit became one-piece and covered the entire body, except for the hands, and lead boots and cargo provided sufficient stability on the ground. Zibe equipped the diving suit with a diverting valve, which was located on the chest and was operated by the diver himself. By the way, it was Zibe who first called the diving suit a "spacesuit" from a combination of the Greek words "boat" and "man". Charles Pasley used a sector thread to connect the bowler hat of the helmet to the shirt front. Thus was born the famous "twelve-bolt" company Siebe, Gorman and Co., with minor improvements used to this day. A patent for improved diving equipment was issued to Augustus Siebe in London in 1855. But the latest diving technology reached Russia in an unusual way. In 1857, the Russian government signed a contract with an underwater expert, Gowen, to clear the seabed of the Sevastopol Bay. It was required to raise or destroy the hulls of 28 ships sunk during the Crimean War. Together with Gowen, three divers arrived in Sevastopol. They blew up the ship's hulls with powder charges and raised them to the surface with the help of winches. In the years 1857-59. Englishman Heinke brought nine spacesuits to Russia, allegedly of his own invention. However, in fact, Heinke did not invent, but simply improved the design of Siebe's equipment. In Russia, foreigners' patent disputes worried little, and in 1861 Heinke's equipment was adopted by the Russian fleet, and its production was organized at the Admiralty Izhora factories. In the same 1861, divers were introduced into the staff of the crews of the warships of the Russian fleet, and the diving equipment became official property.

Imagine a spacesuit weighing more than 130 kg (one helmet pulled 15 kg!), Divers could stay in the water for 8 hours. Healthy people. Heroes! The statistics of those decades looks rather sad - only a few professional divers managed to make a career and retire - most of them died from decompression, penetration of water into the spacesuit and explosions. And yet, despite the difficulties, the divers were proud of their craft and in no way regretted their choice.

18. In 1823, the British brothers John and Charles Dean received a patent for a ventilated spacesuit for firefighters, which they proposed to use for diving in 1828. Breathing air was pumped through a hose from the shore or from a diving boat, excess air escaped from under the lower edge of the helmet. They are also the performers of diving operations on the sunken Mary Rose.

In the 1820s, already in England, several horses were trapped in a fire in a stable. John Dean made his way through the smoke using a knight's helmet, which was supplied with air through a fire hose, and saved all the horses. In 1823, he patented his first anti-smoke helmet, designed for use by firefighters in smoke-filled environments. This apparatus consisted of a brass helmet with a flexible collar. A long hose for air supply was attached to the back of the helmet using a pump. The short tubes allowed the exhaust air to be exhaled outside. This helmet was later adapted for diving work by Charles Dean.

In 1829, the Dean brothers sail to Whitstable to test their underwater vehicles and set up their production in the city.

In 1830, John and George Bell lifted the cannons from the Guernsey Lily. One of them is now installed at Quex Park in Birchington. On June 16, 1836, the sunken Mary Rose was discovered by a fishing net. John Dean and William Edwards retrieved timber pieces, guns, bows and other items from the ship.

In Russia, Dinov's equipment first appeared in 1838 in the Black Sea Fleet, and in 1848 it was involved in raising the "Stream" tender, which sank in the Novorossiysk Bay area at a depth of more than 20 m. The operation was commanded by an unknown (as yet unknown) officer P S. Nakhimov.

19. Rukeroil Deneiruz, model 1865, glorified by Jules Verne. The outfit of Lieutenant Deneiruz of the French Navy and mining engineer Rukeroil consisted of a rubber shirt and a copper front with portholes. For its characteristic appearance, the mask was named "Le Groin" - "pig's snout". The mask was attached to the shirt with a special clamp.

Air was supplied from the surface by a manual pump through an "aerophore" knapsack, which consisted of a cylinder-receiver and an automatic air supply device. The diver inhaled air through a hose with a mouthpiece and exhaled into the water through a petal valve on the same hose. The air supply in the knapsack allowed the diver to breathe when the hose was pinched or ruptured. True, not 9-10 hours according to Jules Verne, but only about 15 minutes. But this was often enough to lift the diver. In an emergency, when an emergency descent of a diver was required, the Rukeroil-Deneiruz equipment could be used without a diving shirt and mask. The disadvantages of Rukeroil-Deneiruz equipment are noticeable to the naked eye: A weighty metal mask hangs from the diver almost on his eyebrows and does not protect his head from bruises, small windows are far from the eyes and it is difficult to see through them, the connection of the mask with a shirt with a metal clamp is difficult to call reliable ... In addition, the divers noted great breathing resistance. Nevertheless, the equipment was awarded the highest awards at the Paris World Exhibition in 1867. Equipment of Rukeroil-Deneiruz arr. 1872 was adopted by the Russian military fleet. Its production was established at the Admiralty plants and in the Kronstadt experimental mechanical and diving workshop of the Kolbasyev brothers. After the completion of the equipment by Russian craftsmen, it became the prototype of the "three-bolt", which is still alive in the fleets and in the ports of Russia to this day. Photo of the late 1890s. Perhaps the first photograph of Russian divers. Diver in three-bolt gear mod. 1872, with Deneiruz's breathing pack on his back.

In Russia, the Rukeroil-Deneiruz equipment of the 1865 model appeared in the late 1860s. and was used by civilian divers who worked in the construction of the supports of the Liteiny Bridge in St. Petersburg. But fighting with clumsy masks turned out to be beyond the strength of even the Severe Russian Men. The fleet rejected the Rukeroil-Deneiruz equipment. To the credit of the French, it is worth noting that already in 1872, at an exhibition in St. Petersburg, they presented improved equipment with a normal metal helmet. The highlight of the equipment was the method of attaching the helmet's bowler hat to the shirt-front - with bolts. It is impossible to quickly remove the helmet to "refresh the head" like on Zibe's twelve-bolts (try to quickly unscrew three nuts), but the tightness of the suit increased.

20. Diving suit with 20 small windows of Alphonse and Theodore Carmagnol, Marseille, France, 1878 The spacesuit is able to safely immerse a person to 60 m. Today this depth is easily accessible to divers and even freedivers, and in those years it was the limit of perfection, and a miracle of science. The main design goal was the ability to work in a suit underwater at great depths, to move arms and legs. The diver could see underwater with the help of 20 sighting devices, which expanded the field of view. Thick glasses (14 mm thick) were supposed to reduce the risk of pressure cracks and were installed in short tapered pipes, the tightness was ensured by a mixture of mastic and red lead. The brothers took medieval armor, which they saw in some museums, as the basis for designing the costume. In their opinion, only such armor could protect the water column from high pressure. The helmet consists of a metal sphere and is reinforced with two attachments at the back. The back of the head reaches the middle of the helmet and is completely welded, there is also a tube for air intake. The helmet was attached to the body with two bolts. The body consists of two halves, which were also bolted in the chest area. An interesting point can be called the solution to free rotation of the joints, the ability to freely bend the elbows and knees. The tightness of the spacesuit in the joints was ensured by strips of pigskin.In the elbows and the shoulder joint there were up to four plates - segments that were fixed in a certain sequence, which made it possible to move the limbs in four directions. On the waist and on the hips, there was a system of discs that made it possible to make turns to the sides. It is not clear whether it was possible to bend over in such a suit. Perhaps the folds in the knees made it possible to stand on one of them, which made it possible to tilt. With the couple of pressure, the weight of the suit, limited visibility by the practice of working underwater and limited movements, it remains only to imagine what physical strength and dexterity a person had to have in order to work in such a suit. And before the invention of scuba gear there were 64 years left ... This exhibit can be seen in the National Maritime Museum of France in Paris

21. Henry Flux, 1878. The inventor has created a device for rescuing mining workers from flooded areas of mines and mine workings. The device was a rubberized mask covering the diver's face and connected by sealed tubes with an oxygen cylinder, a breathing bag and a box with a substance that absorbs carbon dioxide from the exhaled air (caustic soda). Fluss's invention was the first workable rebreather. In 1879, Henry Fluss makes the first documented dive with nitrox. A diver wearing this outfit descends to the bottom off the coast of Chile, where the Cape Horn wrecked to lift a load of copper, 1900

22. A diving suit is in vogue, a studio photo is taken with it. Romance of dangerous depths.

23. M. de Pluvi, 1906. One of the first pressure-maintaining diving suits. He claimed to have made many dives to a depth of 100 meters. It is not known whether this is true or not. The diving suit looks like a robot from the 1950s sci-fi movies.

24. Chester Macduffy, 1911. Chester Macduffy aluminum alloy suit weighing about 200 kg. Once again, the diving suit looks like a robot from a sci-fi movie.

25. Three generations of diving suits of the German company "Neufeld & Kunke", 1917-1940. Further improvement of the diving suit's joints is the merit of the German company "Neufeld & Kunke". In 1917, this company developed two examples of rigid space suits that used ball bearings. Despite the imperfection of this design that was soon discovered, the samples of the second generation developed by the German company were put into service, and in 1924 they were used to dive to a depth of 152 meters. The third option was even more perfect. The third generation suit (produced between 1929 and 1940) allowed diving to a depth of 160 m and was equipped with a built-in telephone. The developments of the Neufeld & Kunke company formed the basis of the Italian Roberto Galeazzi's tough spacesuit in the early 30s of the last century, and was also adopted by the navy of the newly formed Soviet state.

Other engineers developed more and more new designs that made it possible not only to conquer hitherto inconceivable depths of 200, 300 and more meters, but also to achieve ever greater maneuverability of a diver located at depth, as well as to increase the time spent under water.

26. Mr. Perez, London, 1925. Steel diving suit. American sea divers used such diving suits. This suit allowed divers to work at greater depths than before and could be used at great depths for rescue operations.

27. Divers were very popular. Everyone wanted to join their glory. Magazine pages with instructions on how to make your own snorkeling suit out of scrap materials like a cookie jar or hot water jar

28. Homemade helmet

29.1933, Mini-submarine for one person. A spacesuit that allows a diver to work for a considerable time at a depth of 300 meters without a long decompression process. We can say that this spacesuit was a submarine for one person. Thanks to this spacesuit, divers no longer had to experience the discomfort of cold water, inhale complex gas mixtures and had to stop being afraid of potential decompression sickness.

30.1938, A metal suit that allowed a diver to descend to a depth of more than 350 m.

31.1943, Cousteau, Ganyang, First automatic kit with pressure regulator, mask, compressed air cylinders. This is the foundation of all today's light diving devices. Jacques Yves Cousteau, together with Émile Gagnan, improved the already existing pressure regulator, which was equipped with a spacesuit of that time, and began to create a modern scuba gear. Moving under water has become much easier if you descend at the same time to a considerable depth. A diver equipped with a scuba diving, depending on the depth, can be under water from several minutes to an hour or more. Scuba diving deeper than 40 meters is fraught with risk, since the compressed nitrogen contained in its cylinders can cause inadequate reactions in the diver.

32.1974, Rigid space suit. The suit was used in the 70s of the last century in the oil industry. In 1979, a female diver, Sylvia Earl, set a world record in this spacesuit. She descended 381 meters and walked along the seabed for two and a half hours, a record that has not yet been broken.

33. Exist - tests in 2014 of a unique underwater spacesuit Exosuit, which can open new underwater horizons for mankind. Surprisingly, with all the existing progress, the world's oceans have been well explored only to a depth of about 100 m, and even then not over its entire vast area. Meanwhile, the study of the ocean is of great importance. For example, scientists believe that organisms and chemical compounds deep in the oceans can help solve many medical mysteries. Alas, so far there have not been any available and effective methods for studying the same bioluminescent creatures living at a depth of hundreds of meters. The situation can be changed by the unique underwater motorized spacesuit Exosuit. It is a 240-kilogram two-meter aluminum alloy suit that allows a person to work at depths of up to 305 meters. For comparison, the maximum immersion depth of most military submarines is 350-400 m. The spacesuit provides life support and mobility at depths, where the pressure is 30 times greater than at the surface. To enhance mobility and help weak human hands and feet, the Exosuit is equipped with 1.6 hp leg servos and 18 joints that provide unique hand mobility. The "sleeves" of the spacesuit can be equipped with various interchangeable attachments: a gripper, a cutter, a drill, etc.

A feature of the Exosuit is a completely autonomous life support, while most of the similar underwater spacesuits are supplied with oxygen and electricity from the ship. Exosuit has an oxygen regeneration system that removes carbon dioxide from the air and replenishes it with oxygen. The system has an autonomy of 50 hours and, unlike deep-sea wetsuits, does not require an accurate selection of a mixture of oxygen, nitrogen and helium. In Exosuit, the diver breathes normal atmospheric air under normal pressure, which eliminates unnecessary risks and a lengthy decompression procedure. The cost of Exosuit is $ 1.3 million - and this is inexpensive against the background of the cost of underwater robots, mini-submarines, and even more deep-sea bathyscaphes.

Engineers are developing more and more new designs that allow to conquer hitherto unthinkable depths of 200, 300 and more meters, but also to achieve ever greater maneuverability of a diver located at depth, as well as to increase the time spent under water. And yet there is no limit to perfection. Diving equipment has been improved over thousands of years, resulting in the most technically advanced range of rigid diving suits ever, known as the NewtSuit. This development was carried out by Canadian Phil Newten.

34. Russia is armed with rigid spacesuits. According to GOST R 52119-2003: Rigid diving suit is designed for underwater observation and diving operations by an operator under normal internal pressure. They began to be used for underwater technical work back in 1984. Rigid diving suits allow the pilot to dive to depths of 365 meters in just a few minutes and perform work at a given depth without lifting to the surface for a long time. The ascent to the surface is carried out within a few minutes without the need for a long decompression.

Currently, the Russian Navy is supplying four sets of HS-1200 rigid diving suits (from the Canadian company Oceanworks) with an operating depth of 365 meters.

Working immersion depth: 365 m. Spacesuit height: 2.06 m. Weight in air: 378 kg. Weight in water: 0-2 kg. Pilot height: 1.6-1.9 m. Material: cast aluminum. Communications: digital wire communications, hydroacoustic communications (27 kHz). Life support system: oxygen, double, closed breathing cycle, with carbon dioxide cleaning, with independent emergency ventilation, 6-8 hours in operating mode and 42-48 hours in emergency mode. Propulsion system: with a constant speed of rotation of the engines, with a variable angle of attack of the propeller blades. Newtsuit is made by piece. The manufacture of one spacesuit takes six months and costs a little more than a million dollars; from one to three months, the launching device is manufactured (another half a million dollars). The "set" should include two spacesuits - in one they work, the other is waiting upstairs in full readiness in case of a rescue descent. The spacesuit is tailored to a specific pilot much more carefully than a suit made in an expensive atelier. Adjustable length of the body, "sleeves" and "legs", ballasting. The spacesuit is cramped, but experienced pilots can easily take their hands out of their "sleeves" and manipulate the switches. Some pilots even take a book with them under the water and manage to read it during pauses in work.

For comparison, when conducting traditional deep-water diving descents, the safe ascent of a deep-diver from a depth of 365 meters to the surface (adaptation to normal atmospheric pressure) takes more than two weeks. According to experts, the use of rigid spacesuits for various types of underwater work is economically justified, since their operational cost is low compared to more expensive diving systems. The main advantage is that in many situations the work of a diver wearing a spacesuit is truly irreplaceable. Rescue work, on submarines that have suffered an accident, operations to ensure the functions of deep-sea oil rigs, etc.

Our planet is called the Earth. But we know that the earth is only 1/5 of our planet. Aquamarine dedicates our work to the creative minority of adventure lovers looking to discover the "Blue Zone" - the remaining 4/5 of our home in endless space!

Progress. Development. Aquamarine.

The history of the diving suit

People have long wanted to get under the water column and find out what is happening there at the bottom of the sea, but there was always one small obstacle - there was not enough air in the lungs to stay under water as long as possible.

To help people, a diving suit was invented. Let's see together what diving suits were, their evolutionary path. Today's review is about spacesuits, about those funny ancestors of modern wetsuits that we have seen many times on TV, in films and historical programs. One of the first spacesuits consisted of a baggy canvas wetsuit (if you can call it that), a helmet that was made of copper , brass or bronze, an air hose went to it to supply air from the surface, to top it off, the diver had heavy boots and a knife just in case. Some suits were also specially weighted with various weights, so that the diver would quickly descend to the required depth.

Diving suit of the French aristocrat Pierre Rémy de Beauvais, 1715 The iron corset was supposed to protect the diver from excessive hydraulic pressure, and the leather jacket would make the suit waterproof. Two hoses attached to the helmet extended to the surface. One hose for the intake of air (it had to be pumped into the hose with bellows), the second hose for the removal of exhaled air.

Karl Klingert's diving apparatus, 1797 The inventor himself tested his invention in the river. The upper part of the suit was protected by a cylindrical structure, making it possible to walk along the bottom of the river. The suit consisted of a leather jacket, trousers and a cylindrical helmet, but boots were not attached to the suit, I hope the tester did not cut his feet on the river stones. The helmet was connected to a turret that contained an air tank. The reservoir was not replenished, so the time spent underwater was limited.

The first deep-sea spacesuit with heavy boots August Siebe (Germany), 1819

The inconvenience was that if the diver had to maintain an upright position, otherwise water could get under the bell. In 1937, a waterproof garment was added to the bell, allowing the diver to become more mobile. These helmets have been in use for over a hundred years.

Diving suit of Alphonse and Theodore Carmagnol, Marseille, France, 1878 With twenty small windows. What is the essence of such a large number of such small screens, we could not understand.
Henry Fluss apparatus, 1878 A rubberized mask was connected by sealed tubes with a breathing bag and a box with a substance that absorbs carbon dioxide from exhaled air.

One of the first pressure-maintaining diving suits, designed by de Pluvy, 1906. He claimed to have made many dives to a depth of 100 meters. We don't know if this is true or not, but the diving suit looks funny. Looks like a robot from 1950s sci-fi movies.

Three generations of diving suits of the German company "Neufeld & Kunke", 1917-1940

The third-generation suit of the German company "Neufeld & Kunke" allowed diving to a depth of 160 meters and was equipped with a built-in telephone. Mr. Perez and his new steel diving suit, London, 1925

American naval divers wore these diving suits from 1918 right through to the mid-1980s. This suit allowed divers to work at slightly deeper depths than before and could mainly be used at great depths for rescue operations. A suit made of rubberized fabric protected the diver from cold and dirty water.

Under such a diving suit, divers wore warm woolen clothes to keep them warm.
A spacesuit that allows a diver to work for a considerable time at a depth of 300 meters without a long decompression process. We can say that this spacesuit was a submarine for one person. Thanks to this spacesuit, divers no longer had to experience the discomfort of cold water, inhale complex gas mixtures and had to stop being afraid of potential decompression sickness. the spacesuit was widely used in the 70s of the last century in the oil industry. And in 1979, Sylvia Earl set a world record in this spacesuit. She descended 381 meters and walked along the seabed for two and a half hours, a record that has not yet been broken.