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Scuba History

Scuba history goes back centuries, to the ancient Greeks. The first recorded use of air assisted diving is recorded by Aristotle. He records the use of the first diving bells as cauldrons lowered into the water that did not fill with air, and allowed divers to breathe well underwater. While not scuba gear as we know it, this is the first instance of air being brought underwater with a diver to prolong his explorations.

Leonardo da Vinci made mention of air tanks in some of his writings. He however did not elaborate on their constructions for he foresaw bad human nature taking advantage of the technology to sink ships or commit murders. It is not until the 19th century however that diving helmets begin to appear. At first these suits are merely watertight suits which are fed air from the surface via a breathing tube.

As scuba history goes, the 19th century was the dawn of real scuba diving. In 1839 Canadian inventors patent an air tank to be carried on the back of a diver. As this design was steadily improved divers were able to stay underwater longer and dive deeper. With the deeper dives decompression sickness was discovered. Decompression sickness is caused by compressed nitrogen in the body suddenly expanding with the release of pressure.

After its discovery, decompression sickness shaped the development of scuba history. Once properly diagnosed, scientists proved that recompression could alleviate or eliminate decompression sickness entirely. Recompression is the slow transition from a high pressure environment to a standard atmospheric pressure.  During recompression the nitrogen bubbles in the body are released back into the lungs and exhaled, preventing damage to the patient.

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