Kirby Morgan Dive Systems
| Kirby Morgan Dive Systems Inc. | |
|---|---|
| legal form | Corporation |
| founding | 1966 |
| Seat |
Santa Barbara United States
|
| Branch | Diving equipment |
| Website | www.kirbymorgan.com |
Kirby Morgan Dive Systems Inc. is a US company based in Santa Barbara , California that manufactures diving equipment, primarily diving helmets and full face masks .
The company was founded in 1966 by Bob Kirby and Bev Morgan. Morgan, a professional diver , had produced full face masks in small numbers as early as 1949. Kirby was also active in this field from the early 1950s. He gave his share of the business to Morgan in 1967.
In 1965 they constructed their first two diving helmet models, still based on the conventional copper pattern. While the first model, the KMAH-1 ( Kirby Morgan Commercial Air Helmet ) supplied the diver with compressed air and in this respect differed little from other models already on the market, the second model was the KMHeH-2 ( Kirby Morgan Commercial Helium Helmet ) equipped with rebreather technology and was also suitable for saturation dives .
The Kirby Morgan helmets produced today (current model: SuperLite-17B ) are made of glass fiber reinforced plastic. They lie against the diver's head thanks to internal cushions and only have one window to the front. The diver wears a rubber collar that is surrounded by a locking ring. The helmet clicks into place and is fixed with a toggle fastener. This ensures that the diver can turn his head and is considerably more agile. The development of such helmets began immediately after the company was founded and has been brought to its preliminary end point through many intermediate stages.
The greater mobility made it possible for the diver not only to walk, but also to swim like a recreational diver , without having to forego the greater safety of heavy diving equipment, which is more suitable for underwater work. In addition, other disadvantages of the traditional diving helmet were eliminated: Here the breathing air flowed, often quite loudly, usually at the back into the helmet and mixed with the exhaled air of the diver. As a result, the air in the helmet always had a slightly higher proportion of carbon dioxide , which made working underwater even more strenuous than it already was. In a Kirby Morgan helmet, the diver breathes the air from an internal mask made of silicone that encloses the mouth and nose. In front of it sits a regulator . As a result, the exhaled air flows off again directly so that the accumulation of carbon dioxide does not occur. In addition, the diver can easily perform pressure equalization using an appropriate device .
For work in polluted water, the helmet can also be connected directly to a dry suit, which restricts mobility but completely protects the diver from contact with the water.
The full face masks (current model: Kirby Morgan Band Mask 28 ) have a similar design, but either lie on the edge of the diver's face or are pulled over the head as a hood, whereby the front part is again made of fiberglass-reinforced plastic and also has an inner mask for Mouth and nose with regulators in front of them. The latter models remove the line between diving helmets and full face masks.
Kirby Morgan has achieved a leading position in the professional diving equipment market; the principle developed by the company is now the standard in professional diving.