418 Dive Log Australasia JUNE 2026.pdf

I n the last issue of DIVE LOG, we saluted the technical skills of Melbourne engineers Lionel Martin and Jim Ager, who’s mid-1950s designs for the single-hose diving regulator became Australia’s famous SEA BEE apparatus. It was an era when most folks had a workshop at home and there was no TV to while away the hours. A time also when there was a plethora of home handyman project magazines available, such as Practical Mechanics, Popular Mechanics, Mechanix Illustrated & Popular Science , etc. These magazines provided detailed plans and step-by-step instructions for some amazing do-it-yourself projects for the home workshop enthusiast. Detailed plans for anything from a small sailing boat, to home furniture, to electronic devises and YES, even diving apparatus. There is no way today that instructions would be published in a monthly magazine for building any kind of underwater life-support system in the home workshop. Just imagine the litigation opportunities, I mean, what could possibly go wrong? Of course, these home handyman project magazines were not exclusively published in Australia, they were very popular around the world in the 1950s. Most of the above-named magazines came from the UK and USA. So, there will be little surprise when I say that around the world technicians and home workshop enthusiasts were very busy burning the midnight oil, MOTOR SCOOTER & CAR HORN REGULATORS by Des Williams

out in their garden sheds during the 1950s-60s. Recently, a friend of mine in Europe sent me an image of the second-stage demand valve of a home made diving regulator which had been built behind the “iron curtain” in what today, is the Czech Republic. Young diving enthusiasts there had pretty much no chance of purchasing commercially made diving apparatus, so they became very innovative in their designs, often re-purposing available materials. One item which very quickly became a popular re purposed component of this apparatus was the 6-volt or 12-volt motor vehicle, or scooter horn. Or at least the perforated chrome front face-plate, which made an excellent face-plate for the second-stage demand unit. The images attached here will give you an indication

Pioneer dive equipment maker, Lionel Martin built his own regulator, tank manifold and camera housing

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DIVE LOG Australasia #418 June ‘26

www.divelog.net.au