Sir Robert Henry Davis (1870 – 1965) was an English inventor and director of the Siebe Gorman company.[1] His main invention was the Davis Submerged Escape Apparatus, an oxygen rebreather that Davis patented for the first time in 1910,[2] inspired by the rebreathers that Henry Fleuss patented as of 1876. Davis breathing set was destined to allow British submarine crews to escape when their ship started to sink.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/05/Davis_Submerged_Escape_Apparatus.jpg/220px-Davis_Submerged_Escape_Apparatus.jpg)
While still directing Siebe Gorman Davis was the first British to buy a licence from the Cousteau-Gagnan Aqua-Lung[3] (from the French company La Spirotechnique), starting commercialization of scuba sets in Britain as of 1948. Siebe Gorman aqualungs ended being known under the name of tadpole sets.[4]
Davis Road in Chessington (where Siebe Gorman's factory was for a while) was named after him.
Publications
editHe wrote the books:
- Diving Scientifically and Practically Considered. Being a Diving Manual and Handbook of Submarine Appliances, first edition 1909, published by Siebe, Gorman & Co., Ltd. in London.
- A Diving Manual and Handbook of Submarine Appliances, second edition 1919, published by Siebe, Gorman & Co., Ltd. in London.
- Breathing in Irrespirable Atmospheres, and in some cases, also underwater, first published 1948 by St. Catherine Press, Ltd in London. It has 376 pages, c.250 photographs, and diagrams.
- Davis, RH (1955). Deep Diving and Submarine Operations, a Manual for Deep Sea Divers and Compressed Air Workers (6th ed.). Tolworth, Surbiton, Surrey: Siebe Gorman & Company Ltd. p. 693. 4th edition, published 1935.
References
edit- ^ Robert Davis in the Ashtead.com website
- ^ Sir Robert Davis invention as mentioned in a timeline published by the Hawaiiscubadiving.com website
- ^ Rediscovering The Adventure Of Diving From Years Gone By, an article by Andrew Pugsley.
- ^ The Siebe Gorman tadpole set is here described by a French collector.
External links
edit- "Breathing in Irrespirable Atmospheres"
- "The Latest Means of Deep Sea Exploration", May 1932, Popular Mechanics Drawings of The Davis Deep-Sea Observation & Directional Chamber, a little-known Davis invention]
- "Historical Diver No.6 Winter 1995 - pages 16-22"