Aqua-Lung facts for kids
The Aqua-Lung was a very important invention for exploring the underwater world. It was the first "scuba" system that became widely popular and was sold to many people. "SCUBA" stands for Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus. Today, people often call this equipment a twin-hose diving regulator.
The Aqua-Lung was created in France during the winter of 1942–1943. Two Frenchmen invented it: an engineer named Émile Gagnan and Jacques Cousteau, who was a Naval Lieutenant. This invention made it much easier for Cousteau and Gagnan to film and explore under the water.
The original Aqua-Lung regulator used two hoses. One hose brought air in for the diver to breathe. The other hose let the air out. Now, the air that a diver breathes out usually leaves through a valve inside the mouthpiece. When a diver breathes in, they get air from the tank through the hose. When they breathe out, air bubbles come out of the mouthpiece.
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How the Aqua-Lung Works
Before the Aqua-Lung, most scuba systems were "closed-circuit rebreathers." This means that no air was released into the water. Instead, the diver's exhaled breath went through a special filter. This filter removed carbon dioxide. Then, fresh oxygen was added, and the diver breathed this recycled air again.
The Aqua-Lung is different. It is a self-contained open-circuit demand system. This means the diver gets breathing gas from a high-pressure tank. The gas is only given to the diver when they need it. When the diver breathes in, a valve opens, and air flows from the tank. When the diver stops breathing in, the valve closes. The air they breathe out is released into the surrounding water as bubbles.
Who Invented the Aqua-Lung?
An earlier underwater breathing device was invented in France in 1860. It was called the régulateur and was made by Benoît Rouquayrol. He created it to help miners escape from flooded mines. In 1864, Rouquayrol met a naval officer named Auguste Denayrouze. Together, they changed the regulator so divers could use it. They called it the Rouquayrol-Denayrouze apparatus. The French Navy ordered the first ones in 1865.
Over many years, different companies and people owned the patent for this type of equipment. During World War II, there was a shortage of fuel. So, Émile Gagnan, a French engineer, made the equipment he owned smaller and changed it into a gas generator. Gagnan's boss, Henri Melchior, knew that his son-in-law, Jacques-Yves Cousteau, was looking for a better automatic regulator for diving.
Cousteau and Gagnan worked together to create a new regulator for diving. They received a patent for their invention in 1943. After the war, in 1946, they started a company called La Spirotechnique. They wanted to make and sell their invention to many people. They called their new device the CG45. The "C" was for Cousteau, the "G" for Gagnan, and "45" for 1945. Cousteau later named the CG45 the "Aqua-Lung" so it could be sold in English-speaking countries.
Competition and Other Inventions
The Aqua-Lung was not the very first self-contained underwater breathing device. But it was the first one that became very popular. In 1934, René Commeinhes changed a firefighter's breathing device to make it work for diving.
It is not fully clear who invented the first single-hose regulator. In October 1950, an advertisement in Popular Mechanics magazine showed a single-hose regulator for sale. Around the same time, an Australian named Ted Eldred designed his own single-hose regulator. He called it the Porpoise.
Trademark Information
The word "Aqualung" first appeared in print in 1953. It was in Jacques-Yves Cousteau's first book, The Silent World. The names Aqualung, Aqua-Lung, and Aqua Lung are special registered trademarks. They are used for scuba diving breathing equipment. In the United States, the company U.S. Divers (now Aqua Lung America) originally owned this trade name. Even though the name "U.S. Divers" sounded American, it was owned by a Frenchman and later sold to a French company.
In the United States, the television show Sea Hunt (1958) made the word "aqualung" very well-known. Like some other registered trademarks, "aqualung" became a "genericized trademark." This means people sometimes use the trademark name instead of the general name for an item. For example, people might say "Kleenex" instead of "tissue." Other examples are "Chapstick" for lip balm and "Band-aid" for an adhesive bandage.
In Britain, a company called Siebe Gorman owned the rights to the name and patent. They did not try to stop people from using the word. So, "aqualung" became a common word for this type of equipment in Britain.
The word "akvalang" also became a common word in the Russian language. From Russian, it went into the Lithuanian language as "akvalangas." In Lithuanian, "langas" means "window," so the word literally means "aqua-window."
In the United States, U.S. Divers was able to keep "Aqualung" as a trademark. The word "SCUBA," which stands for "Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus," was first used by the United States Navy. SCUBA became the general term for any self-contained diving equipment. Soon, "scuba" became a common word, written in lowercase letters.
Interesting Facts About the Aqua-Lung
- Many inventors before Cousteau and Gagnan tried to create equipment for breathing underwater.
- John Smeaton tried to use an air pump for underwater breathing in 1771.
- William James invented a breathing belt in 1825.
- Other people who worked on underwater breathing devices include John and Charles Deane, Augustus Siebe, Henry Fleuss, and Christian Lambertson.
- In earlier inventions, some divers faced problems because of too much oxygen pressure in the tanks. This was something Cousteau and Gagnan wanted to improve.
- The Aqua-Lung was first sold in France in 1946.
- The famous author Arthur C. Clarke wrote a book that featured the Australian Ted Eldred's single-hose regulator, the Porpoise.
- Cousteau and Gagnan's company, La Spirotechnique, saw Ted Eldred's single-hose regulator. They told him they would sell many cheap Aqualungs in Australia, which would put him out of business. So, Ted Eldred sold his company to them.
See Also
- Timeline of diving technology
- History of scuba diving
- Scuba set
- Diving regulator
