One of the first produced oxygen rebreathers from Austria 1895
The first internationally significant self-rescue devices came from Austria. The reason for the development of the Austrian self-rescue devices was a dynamite and coal dust explosion in Karvin in Austrian Silesia in March 1895. The accident claimed 250 lives. Based on his personal impressions of the accident, the Austrian Cameral director Ritter v. Walcher- Uysdal together with mining director W. Stieber and Prof. Dr. Gustav Gaertner (1855-1937) from Vienna began the development of the self-rescuer “Pneumatophor Walcher-Gaertner” (DRP No. 88 703), which was manufactured by the company Waldeck, Wagner & Benda, Vienna, from 1895
From : Die Entwicklung der Dräger- Grubenrettungstechnologie und des Atemschutzes (1902-1918) im internationalen Vergleich; Kathrin Wüllenweber
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!