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Vodolaznoe Delo (1971) Russian Diving History

The diving school that opened at Kronstadt in 1882 played a large part in the development of diving in Russia. It trained divers for the navy, made and improved diving equipment, and published rules of diving.

Diving has become widespread in the years of Soviet power. In June 1919 a decree was published, signed by V. I. Lenin, which nationalized the diving enterprises and their property and put them under the control of the Main River Transportation Administration of the Supreme Council on the National Economy. In 1923 in the Black Sea area the Special Purpose Underwater Work Expedition (EPRON) was formed. It subsequently consolidated all diving and ship-raising work in the USSR. At the start of the Great Patriotic War, EPRON was included in the composition of the Navy of the USSR and reorganized into the Naval Emergency Rescue Service. During the war years its divers successfully performed combat assignments, raised and repaired ships, and carried out other tasks. In the postwar period, the reconstruction and development of the USSR water system called for the training of a large number of qualified diving specialists and further improvement in diving.

Current diving gear includes the apparatus, technical devices, and equipment used to perform the various diving jobs. The gear that ensures human survival under the water is called the diving apparatus, which is further subdivided by the means of supplying gas mixtures for breathing into autonomous (self-contained) diving apparatus and nonautonomous apparatus; by the breathing method into ventilated apparatus with open, semiclosed, and closed breathing arrangements; and by the composition of gas mixtures for breathing into air, oxygen, nitrogen-oxygen, helium-oxygen, and so on. The part of the diving apparatus that forms the gas- and water-resistant shell isolating the diver from the external environment is called the diving suit.

The most common type of diving apparatus in the USSR is the ventilated three-bolt apparatus, in which the diver breathes compressed air fed from the surface by a hose. The depth of submersion in it is limited to 60 m (at a greater depth so-called nitrogen narcosis may occur). Underwater jobs at shallow depths (up to 20 m) are usually done in the 12-bolt ventilated apparatus. For submerging to depths up to 100 m the air-oxygen apparatus is used (supplying an air-helium mixture), while for more than 100 m the helium-oxygen apparatus (supplying air-helium and helium-oxygen mixtures) is used, which permits submersion to depths of 300 m and more.

At the start of the 1930’s in the USSR and abroad, a diving apparatus came into use with a self-contained oxygen breathing device, and in the 1940’s the aqualung appeared: a diving apparatus with an air tank, used for both simple diving jobs and for underwater sport.

Diving equipment supports the diver in his descent, his work underwater, and his rise to the surface. This equipment includes diving compressors and pumps; devices to prepare and feed gas mixtures to the divers for breathing; lowering and lifting devices; means of signaling, communications, and warning; hydrolocators; diving tools (manual, pneumatic, and explosive); and decompression chambers. Ladders, chairs, and descending lines are used to lower the diver for work in shallow areas; during deep-water work such special lowering-raising devices are used as a diving bell with a platform, a chair, and a winch...

Language: Russian, but many drawings an diagrams
Year: 1971
Pages: 287
Format: PDF
Size: 18,3 Mb

Thanks to  CoTTager & Patrol Box :)