As early as 1897, Henry Gorter patented the first ball and socket joint, which was later used in many atmospheric diving suits. Around 1922 a liquid seal was added to this joint which made the first successful atmospheric diving suits designed by Joseph Salim Peress. The original coupling, a so-called ball coupling, was primarily designed for hydraulic applications and for fire fighting. Gorter designed a coupling with an intermediate shell that allowed a larger rotation angle.
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!