E.R. Clifford patented a divers’ dress comprises an inner and outer rigid corselet and an inner and outer rigid helmet, the space between forming an outer high pressure zone to support the external pressure, while the inner space form a relatively low pressure zone in which the diver breathes. The dress shown comprises an under suit of rubberized fabric or similar material enclosing the body and limbs up to the bottom of a metal corselet. The corset and the helmet are provided with inner walls, the top of the under suit being attached to the bottom of the inner corselet. The inner walls 4, 5 are connected together by bolts 8 and are attached to the outer corselet and helmet by bolts 9 and distance pieces 10. The ordinary flexible diving suit 12 is secured to the bottom of the outer corselet. The space between the helmets and corselets is supplied through a pipe 13 with air at high pressure, while air at lower pressure is supplied to the interior of the inner helmet by a pipe 14. Oxygen or oxygen diluted with helium may also be supplied from a container and regenerator.
No evidence has been found that Clifford actually made or produced the suit.
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!