Atmospheric diving suits have been used since the 18th century to search for sunken treasure. The suits were initially made for deep diving. Later, it was understood that it also offered benefits in reducing the physiological strain on divers. Especially in the early years of the 20th century until the Second World War, a large number of suits were manufactured.

Many designs have been tried out in the last 300 years. The vast majority have never made it beyond the drawing board. In the early years, designers struggled with the solution to make the arm and leg joints watertight. For a long time, leather was used as a seal over metal interlocking parts. That these suits did not allow for very deep diving soon became clear during the first tests.

To get an idea of the gigantic forces that water can have on a surface, an example is shown below of a diver in an atmospheric suit at a depth of only 50 metres. Imagine a box that represents the atmospheric suit in which the diver is. If this box has a dimension of 2 meter x 0,5 meter x 0,5 meter, the surface of this box is (4 x 2 x 0,5m) + (2 x 0,5m x 0,5m) = 4,5 m2. At a depth of 50 metres there is a pressure of 6 bar. This corresponds with a pressure of 6 kg/cm2. Because 4.5 m2 is a surface of 4.5 x 4.5 metres, there is a pressure of 1.215.000 kg or 1215 tonnes on the surface! You can therefore imagine that the atmospheric diving suits required a robust construction. The round shape was therefore chosen early on. Over the years, it was discovered that oil was a perfect sealant for constructing movable joints. Only years later, the idea of equalising the pressure inside and outside the oil bath became the key to working deep diving suits that reached depths of 700 metres and more. 

It wasn’t until 1921, the year Joseph Salim Peress invented the first joint that worked at depth.