A diving suit is a garment or device that protects a diver from the underwater environment, sometimes combined with a breathing gas supply and otherwise worn together with separate diving equipment. Diving suits fall into two broad classes: soft or ambient-pressure suits such as wetsuits, dry suits, semi-dry suits and dive skins, which the surrounding water pressure acts on directly, and hard or atmospheric-pressure suits, armored designs that keep the diver at surface air pressure regardless of depth. One well-documented strand of the soft-suit line is the dive skin, originally developed to protect scuba divers in Queensland, Australia from the sting of the box jellyfish, a design the swimsuit manufacturer Tony Farmer worked on commercially from 1978.
Facts
YearThe source states only the 1710s for the enclosed diving suit built by John Lethbridge, not a specific year; 1710 stands for the decade, not a precise date. SignificanceThe enclosed suit built by Lethbridge gave the diver enough freedom of movement to carry out useful underwater salvage, and he used it on wrecks including the Dutch ship Slot ter Hooge, recovering over three tons of silver, establishing the diving suit as a practical salvage tool rather than an experimental curiosity. 1 FAQs
What were the first diving suits used for?
They were used for salvage work, such as Lethbridge's recovery of silver from the Slot ter Hooge.
The first pressure-resisting diving suits were developed by two English inventors in the 1710s. John Lethbridge built a completely enclosed suit to aid in salvage work. One of his better-known recoveries was from the Dutch ship Slot ter Hooge, which had sunk off Madeira with over three tons of silver on board.
Connections
In Field
Source Diving Suit (Wikipedia)Wikipedia contributors
Sources
1. Diving Suit (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationHistory section, Lethbridge paragraph (invention decade)
Two English inventors developed the first pressure-resisting diving suits in the 1710s. John Lethbridge built a completely enclosed suit to aid in salvage work. It consisted of a pressure-proof air-filled barrel with a glass viewing hole and two watertight enclosed sleeves.
History section, Lethbridge paragraph (Slot ter Hooge salvage)
One of his better-known recoveries was on the Dutch Slot ter Hooge, which had sunk off Madeira with over three tons of silver on board.
In Field: Marine Engineering, Introduction
A diving suit is a garment or device designed to protect a diver from the underwater environment.
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