Fleuss and Davis 1878 -1933

Database English Oxygen rebreathers

After 1878, Henry Fleuss and Robert Davis

Henry Albert Fleuss and Robert H. Davis

In the period between 1878 and 1933, Henry Albert Fleuss and Robert H. Davis worked together at Siebe Gorman & Co. Development began with the well-known Fleuss device, which Fleuss first tried to market himself. After this failed, he joined Siebe Gorman and developed several diving devices until his death in 1933. This page shows an overview of some of the systems made and patented by Siebe and Gorman & CO.

One of Fleuss and Davis’ first designs was the Fleuss-Davis rescue system. The system featured a flexible head mask with integrated goggles. The head mask was connected to a waterproof vest to effectively create a diving bell. You could liken the principle to a dry suit where the breathing gas was injected into it ascended to the head, breathed in there and fed through hoses to the scrubber.

Still later, the same device now worn on the chest was further developed into an escape kit which again later formed the basis for the DSEA, the Davis Submarine Escape Apparatus.

Therebreathersite Fleuss Davis 007 The 1.5-hour device from 1920 is shown here without a lid. In 1936, Siebe and Gorman & Co experimented with the position of the contralung. BIy the aircraft pictured here, the lung was worn on the hip.

Therebreathersite Fleuss Davis 006 — In 1936, Siebe and Gorman & Co experimented with the position of the contralung. BIy the aircraft pictured here, the lung was worn on the hip.

http://www.diegoweb.com/diving/cards/page5.html — Shallow Water Dress 2. During the early years of the 20th century various attempts were made to develop a very lightweight diving apparatus which obviated the need for any kind of bulky helmet or suit. Drawing on previous designs for mine rescue apparatus, Siebe Gorman produced a waterproof jacket with a flexible hood. Supplied with oxygen from an integral cylinder, the apparatus also had a small chemical filter strapped to the back. Nevertheless, the buoyancy of the jacket and hood proved such that it was necessary to add weight in the form of lead blocks hung from the belt, whilst to prevent the diver flipping upside down, even more lead blocks were strapped to the ankles. Thus the apparatus was anything but lightweight and not very practical, but these early attempts at producing self-contained equipment paved the way for future, more successful, devices.

Therebreathersite Fleuss Davis 005 — Another early model used for mining applications

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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!

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