Atmospheric diving suit

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Two divers, one wearing the "Tritonia" ADS and the other standard diving dress, preparing to explore the wreck of the RMS Lusitania, 1935.

An Atmospheric Diving Suit or ADS is a small one-man man-shaped articulated submersible of anthropomorphic form which resembles a suit of armour, with elaborate pressure joints to allow articulation while maintaining an internal pressure of one atmosphere. The ADS can be used for very deep dives of up to 2000 feet (600m) for many hours, and elminates the majority of physiological dangers associated with deep diving; the occupant need not decompress, there is no need for special gas mixtures, and there is no danger of decompression sickness or nitrogen narcosis (the 'bends').

The ADS has variously been referred to as an armored diving suit, armored diving dress, articulated diving suit, Iron Duke, Iron Mike, and 'deep-sea diving robot'. The term 'atmospheric diving suit' itself did not come into widespread use until the invention of the JIM suit in the early 1970s.

Atmospheric Diving Suits in current use include the Newtsuit/Hardsuit, and the WASP, both of which are self-contained and incorporate propulsion units. The Newtsuit/Hardsuit is constructed from cast aluminum (forged aluminum in version constructed for the US Navy for submarine rescue), while the WASP is of glass reinforced plastic (GRP) construction.

History

1715: John Lethbridge constructs his " diving engine". Essentially a wooden barrel about 6 feet in length (1.8m) with two holes for the diver's arms sealed with leather cuffs, and a 4 inch viewport of thick glass. It was reportedly used to dive as deep as 60 feet (18m), and was used to salvage substantial quantities of silver from the wreck of the East Indiaman Vansittart which sank in 1718 off the Cape Verdes.

1856: Lodner D. Phillips, designs the first wholly enclosed ADS. His design comprised a barrel-shaped upper torso with domed ends and included ball and socket joints in the articulated arms and legs. The arms had joints at shoulder and elbow, and the legs at knee and hip. The suit included a ballast tank, a viewing port, entrance through a manhole cover on top, a hand-cranked propeller, and rudimentary manipulators at the ends of the arms. Air was to be supplied from the surface via hose. There is no indication, however, that Lodner's suit was ever constructed.

1882: the Carmagnolle brothers of Marseilles, France, patent the first properly anthropomorphic design of ADS featuring rolling convolute joints consisting of partial sections of concentric spheres formed to create a close fit and kept watertight with a waterproof cloth. The suit had 22 of these joints: four in each leg, six per arm, and two in the body of the suit. The helmet possessed 25 individual 2 inch glass viewing ports spaced at the average distance of the human eyes.

1915: Harry L. Bowdoin of Bayonne, N.J., patents a new type of oil-filled rotary jointed ADS. The joints use a small duct to the interior of the joint to allow equalization of pressure. The suit was designed to have four joints in each arm and leg, and one joint in each thumb, for a total of eighteen. Four viewing ports and a chest-mounted lamp were intended to assist underwater vision. Unfortunately there is no evidence that Bowdoin's suit was ever built.

1915: the German firm Neufeldt and Kuhnke build two atmospheric diving suits based on their patented ball and socket joint, using ball bearings to transfer the pressure load, the bearings sealed by rubber skirts. The German Navy tested the second-generation suit to 530 feet (161m) in 1924, but limb movement was very difficult and the joints were judged not to be fail-safe, in that if they were to fail, there was a possibility that the suit's integrity could be impaired. The German Navy possessed several Neufeldt and Kuhnke suits, called "Panzertaucher" (armored diver) during World War II, which later found their way into allied hands after the war, and there are unconfirmed reports that the Russian Navy built copies. The suit achieved fame during the salvage of gold and silver bullion from the wreck of the S.S. Egypt, an 8,000 ton Peninsular and Oriental liner that sank in May of 1922. The suit was relegated to duties as an observation chamber at the wreck's depth, and was successfully used to direct mechanical grabs which opened up the bullion storage.

1922: Joseph Salim Peress patents the first spherical type joint which uses a fluid to equalize pressure, and in 1932 built an ADS which was referred to as the Tritonia, and is now commonly called "Jim I." It was successfully used on the wreck of the RMS Lusitania at a depth of 312 feet (95m). Peress's expertise was later harnessed to help develop the JIM Suit, named after Peress's chief diver Jim Jarrett.

1952: Alfred A. Mikalow constructs an ADS employing ball and socket joints, specifically for the purpose of locating and salvaging sunken treasure. The suit was reportedly capable of diving to depths of 1,000 feet (300m) and was used successfully to dive on the sunken vessel City of Rio de Janeiro in 328 feet (99m) of water near Fort Point, San Francisco.

1952: the JIM suit, possibly the most well-known ADS, is invented by the English firm DHB Construction. The first suit was completed in November 1971 and underwent trials aboard HMS Reclaim in early 1972. In 1976 the JIM suit set a record for the longest working dive below 490 feet (149m), lasting five hours and 59 minutes at a depth of 905 feet (275m). The first JIM suits were cast of magnesium because of its high strength-to-weight ratio and weighed around 1,100 pounds in air (including the diver), but the magnesium casting was eventually replaced with glass reinforced plastic (GRP) construction. The GRP suit was known as the JAM suit. A lighter more anthropomorphic suit was built of aluminum or GRP, and was known as the SAM suit. The aluminum model was rated to 1,000 feet (300m) and the GRP suit was rated to 2,000 feet (610m).

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