The first breathing apparatus build by Dräger used against poisonous gasses was build in 1901 together with the Giersberg company. For this unit an injector designed by Bernard Dräger was used. This injector made breathing easier. The injector was not undisputed, because people claimed that due to the underpressure poisonous gasses could enter the breathing loop. In 1905 de Giersberg company merged with the Gelsenkircher Machine Company AG Westfalia. The new company became a large competitor of the Drägerwerken. Dräger on the other hand start developing there own breathingapparatus, like the model 1903/1904 and the popular modell 1904/1909. These old units are the precursors of the modern Dräger tauchretters.
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!