Two Australian inventors, John Buchanan and Alexander Gordon, of Melbourne patented in 1894, a deep-water diving dress of waterproof material, stiffened internally by spiral wires. A later patent, taken out by Gordon alone, embodied various improvements in the fastening of the flexible material to the standing portions of the dress, such as the helmet; and it also provided for the use of jointed radius-rods running along the sleeves and trousers to prevent them from collapsing under pressure, while leaving them free to flex. This was made in Siebe, Gorman & Co.’s old works in London in 1898. R.H. Davis was present at its trial off the Scottish coast.
Here you can read Buchanon-Gordon full patent text: here
Therebreathersite was founded by Jan Willem Bech in 1999. After a diving career of many years, he decided to start technical diving in 1999. He immediately noticed that at that time there was almost no website that contained the history of closed breathing systems. The start for the website led to a huge collection that offered about 1,300 pages of information until 2019. In 2019, a fresh start was made with the website now freely available online for everyone. Therebreathersite is a source of information for divers, researchers, technicians and students. I hope you enjoy browsing the content!