US Navy workhorse
Emerson was a major influence in the development of US Navy UBA’s (underwater breathing apparatus) during the 1950-60’s, they collaborated with Dr Lambertsen to mass produce his Lambertsen Amphibious Respiratory Unit (LARU), the LARU (not to be confused with Draeger’s LAR V). This developed into other units, such as the Emerson-Lambertsen, the Flatus II and the workhorse of the USN, the Mk 6.
Recently I received some nice pictures of the Emerson MK6 Semi closed rebreather. This very early design from the 70’s is little known in Europe but was used for many years in de US army. The Emerson rebreather was also called “the Green Death”. De rebreather is a constant flow mixed gas SCR. It uses a constant mass regulator and a needle valve to set the flow. The manual says it is rated for 180 ft (55 mtr) with a premix of 32 % of oxygen resulting in a pO2 of 2,08 bar! The MK 6 was later to be replaced by the MK15.
First published may 20, 2004;
I want to thank all persons who sent the above pictures to make this publication possible!
A special thank you for Stefan Besier and Steam Machines Inc. !!
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!