Introduction
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Charles (1796) and John (1800)
Deane came from a large but poor family. Both had experience at sea, John as a
sailor and Charles as a caulker. In 1824, Charles filed a patent
for:
"An apparatus to be worn by persons entering
rooms or other places filled with smoke or other vapour, for the purpose of
extingguishing fire or extricating persons or property therein".
In other words: Charles invented a smoke helmet. During
his time at sea and working at shipyards he must have seen many fires on board
ships. He must have been well aware of the problem of dence smoke, preventing
escape and rescue.
His boss, Edward Bernard, who owned the
shipyard, payed him an amount of 417 pounds for an "indenture of
assignment" for the patent. Technically, as from that time, Charles had no
further rights over his invention. Nobody was interested in the smoke
helmet.
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The first diving helmet
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The smoke helmet would later
serve as a basis for the open diving helmet. In those days diving
bells were used for salvage and rescue operations. Needless to say that
those could not in all cases be used with the appropriate accuracy. Charles and
John were both involved in bell operations and felt that there should be a more
successfull way to apply bell technology. They realised that the smoke helmet
could operate in just the same way as the diving bell. Their bell would be so
small that it would only cover the divers' head and shoulders. After several
tests in the canal with a canvas smoke helmet, they felt it could work. They
contacted Augustus Siebe, who was an
engineer and had a machine shop in London. He produced a helmet to their
specifications.
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With this helmet the Deane brothers made numerous
testdives. They discovered the positive buiyancy, due to the lack of weight of
the hat and added weights. They discovered that the air exhaust was a vital part
of the helmet. They drilled holes in the breastplate to encourage the exhaust
but then found the bubbles obstructed the divers' view. The holes were then
filled up again with lead plugs.
When leanig forward, the water would rise so high
inside the helmet that the divers' mouth and nose would be underwater. They
attached a short jacket to the helmet and air exhausted at the divers' waist.
This was a lot safer. The first diving helmet was born! And inventor Charles
Deane made a lot of successful salvage dives in his hat. He dived on many famous
wrecks like the Royal George and the Mary Rose.
Here is a museum reproduction of that
first diving helmet. Notice the lights in their typical horizontal position.
Charles copied this from his smoke helmet.
In 1837, a young and brilliant engineer, George
Edwards, enters the diving business. He bought a Deane outfit at Augustus
Siebe's store and performed diving jobs in it for over one year. After this,
beeing the engineer that he was, he suggested safety improvements........
This was the beginning of the end of the Deane
helmet.......
Story
continued at the Siebe mainpage
