Jacques Cousteau
Jacques Cousteau devoted much of his time to ocean exploration following World War II. He bought a Calypso mining boat and traveled around the world in it, including to the Antarctic Circle. He performed experiments and collected data which he used to create the Calypso-Phot underwater camera and the SP-350 deep-sea, two-man submarine.
Cousteau began his research by developing a new breathing apparatus, called the aqua-lung. This apparatus allowed him to breathe air in a controlled manner, but was limited to shallow dives. Cousteau realized that there had to be a better way of controlling the flow of air to explore the depths of oceans. After much experimentation, Cousteau developed the demand regulator. This allowed air to only move on demand. This invention was designed to help divers increase their air supply, and avoid decompression illness.
Yves le Prieur
Yves le Prieur scuba diving dates back to the very beginning of the 1900s. 1946 saw the invention of a fullface face mask with a loose top plate. It was a kind of demand regulator diaphragm. His next invention was the diving regulator.
1933 was the date that the first Scuba Diving Equipment was Patented. This combination of the Fernez-Le-Prieur system for air supply and the demand regulator developed by Rouquayrol, Denayrouze, and Rouquayrol created the first scuba diving apparatus. This device revolutionized the diving industry by making underwater breathing equipment affordable and accessible. This was what led to recreational scuba.
Guy Gilpatric
Guy Gilpatric is a pioneer in scuba divership history. He wrote the first manual for sport diving, and his articles in The Saturday Evening Post were amongst the first to discuss scuba diving. His love of the sea and natural world led him to write about the Mediterranean. The book is credited as inspiring Jacques Cousteau. He would go on later to create modern scubadiving.
The early 20th century saw the development of the modern scuba diving system. Guy Gilpatric an American marine biologist invented a system that allowed divers access to air without the use or surface air. Later, Yves Le Prier designed an underwater breathing system. The scuba rig was quickly popularized by Owen Churchill after he sold it to him. Guy Gilpatric later developed rubber goggles featuring glass lenses, face masks and snorkels as well as swim fins and a high pressure air tank.
Yves Gagnan
Scuba divers used to depend on their helmets, diving bells, or air hoses from above at the beginning of this century. Yves Gagnan, a Parisian engineer, helped to design a demand valve. This new device provided compressed air on demand and was capable of adjusting to the pressure of the surrounding water. This invention made it possible to explore the oceans with people at all levels.
Gagnan was born in Burgundy, France, in 1900. After graduating from college he worked for Air Liquide, where he studied high pressure pneumatics design. This eventually led to the design of the scuba equipment today.