Peress.27 Tritonia Atmospheric diving suit

two divers, 1 wearing tritonia ads , other standard diving dress, preparing explore wreck of rms lusitania, 1935.

although various atmospheric suits had been developed during victorian era, none of these suits had been able overcome basic design problem of constructing joint remain flexible , watertight @ depth without seizing under pressure.

pioneering british diving engineer, joseph salim peress, invented first usable atmospheric diving suit, tritonia, in 1932 , later involved in construction of famous jim suit. having natural talent engineering design, challenged himself construct ads keep divers dry , @ atmospheric pressure, @ great depth. in 1918, peress began working wg tarrant @ byfleet, united kingdom, given space , tools develop ideas constructing ads. first attempt immensely complex prototype machined solid stainless steel.

in 1923, peress asked design suit salvage work on wreck of ss egypt had sunk in english channel. declined, on grounds prototype suit heavy diver handle easily, encouraged request begin work on new suit using lighter materials. 1929 believed had solved weight problem, using cast magnesium instead of steel, , had managed improve design of suit s joints using trapped cushion of oil keep surfaces moving smoothly. oil, virtually non-compressible , readily displaceable, allow limb joints move freely @ depths of 200 fathoms (1,200 ft; 370 m), pressure 520 psi (35 atm). peress claimed tritonia suit function @ 1,200 ft (370 m) although never proven.

in 1930, peress revealed tritonia suit. may had completed trials , publicly demonstrated in tank @ byfleet. in september peress assistant jim jarret dived in suit depth of 123 m (404 ft) in loch ness. suit performed perfectly, joints proving resistant pressure , moving freely @ depth. suit offered royal navy turned down, stating navy divers never needed descend below 90 m (300 ft). in october 1935 jarret made successful deep dive more 90 m (300 ft) on wreck of rms lusitania off south ireland, followed shallower dive 60 metres (200 ft) in english channel in 1937 after which, due lack of interest, tritonia suit retired.

the development in atmospheric pressure suits stagnated in 1940s through 1960s, efforts concentrated on solving problems of deep diving dealing physiological problems of ambient pressure diving instead of avoiding them isolating diver pressure. although advances in ambient pressure diving (in particular, scuba gear) significant, limitations brought renewed interest development of ads in late 1960s.