Diving equipment and supplies are meant for underwater divers to arm themselves in order to stay safe in the water. Such equipment and supplies are also used to make diving activities possible, easier, safer and enhance comfort. These may include equipment which is primarily intended for these or other purposes which is found suitable for diving usage. Equipment which is not used for underwater work or other activities which is not related to the activity of diving as well as equipment which has not been created or modified for the purpose of underwater use by divers is excluded.
Underwater breathing apparatus is the essential item of diving equipment and supplies used by divers. They include surface supplied diving equipment and scuba equipment. However, there also include other diving pieces which make diving safer while enhancing efficiency and comfort.
Surface Supplied Diving
Surface supplied diving involves divers using equipment supplied with breathing gas while using diver’s umbilical from the surface either from a diving support vessel or from the shore and sometimes indirectly using a diving bell. This differs from scuba diving where the diver’s equipment is self-contained completely and there is absolutely no link to the surface.
A self-contained underwater breathing apparatus, otherwise known as a scuba set, is any breathing set which is carried entirely by an underwater diver and provides the diver with a breathing gas at the ambient pressure. Scuba is strongly the most used underwater breathing apparatus used by recreational divers. Professional divers are also known to use scuba sets where it provides positive results, usually of mobility and range over surface supplied systems. Major Christian Lambertson, who served in the US Army Medical Corps from 1944 to 1946 as a physician coined the word “Scuba”.
Modern scuba sets are of two types. The first type is named “open-circuit”. This way, the diver breathes in from the equipment and all the exhaled gas goes to waste in the surrounding water. This type of equipment is known for its simplicity as well as its affordability and being reliable. A single-hose design is generally used today and was invented by Ted Eldred in Australia. It was called an “aqualung” for a period of time in Britain. This type demand scuba to exhaust exhaled air to the environment and asks for each breath to be sent to the diver on demand by a diving regulator. The regulator reduces the pressure from the storage cylinder and supplies it through the demand valve when the diver decreases pressure during inhalation in the demand valve.
Closed/Semi-Closed Circuit Sets
The second scuba set is known as a “closed circuit” or a “semi-closed circuit”. It has also been known as a “rebreather”. This method involves the diver breathing in from the set and breathing back into the set where the exhaled gas is processed to make it fit to breathe again. These types of sets have been available before the open-circuit sets and are still used today however not as commonly as the open-circuit sets. Both types of scuba sets ignite a way of supplying air or other breathing gas most commonly through a high-pressure diving cylinder along with a harness to strap it with a diver’s body. A demand regulator to control the supply of breathing gas is seen on most open-circuit scubas and some rebreathers. A constant-flow regulator is found only on some semi-closed rebreathers or sometimes a set of constant-flow regulators of differing outputs.
Personal Diving Equipment
Personal diving equipment and supplies are apparatuses carried or worn by the diver for personal protection or comfort. It is also used for facilitating the diving aspect of the activity. Some examples include breathing apparatus such as surface supplied equipment and scuba equipment. Vision and communicative apparatuses are also being sold such as full face masks and torches as well as flashlights. Examples of safety equipment involve knives and safety harness for divers.
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