Selfmixing Mixgas Bell rebreather
For deep diving, a diving bell was often used. The diving bell was connected to an inboard gas supply system. Divers leaving the bell used the SM1 or SMIII systems. For the diver who remained behind in the bell, a lighter system was developed that could be connected to the gas supply system. A compact and lightweight system was mounted on the wall of the bell and an extra-long hose was used to supply the diver with breathing gas. The wall unit and gas control unit came in two parts, the system was called SMIII-5. The photos below were made available to me by Ake Larsson for which I would like to give him special thanks.
This rare rebreather was designed back in the early 1960s and was used for deep-sea operations offshore and for military purposes. As documentation is narrowly available a call to anyone who has information to add to this document to send it to me. I can then add it and keep it for the readers of my website!
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!