Maurice Fernez

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Fernez leads his diving apparatus 1912 in Paris in the Seine before

Maurice Fernez (born August 30, 1885 , † January 31, 1952 in Alfortville ) was a French engineer, inventor and manufacturer. He was a pioneer in the field of underwater breathing and gas masks at the beginning of the 20th century . Fernez's innovations helped develop scuba diving significantly.

Life

When he was a child, Fernez was thrown into the water while playing, resulting in barotrauma and a foot injury that left him limp all his life. This accident led him to develop a device that would allow a person to breathe underwater for a few minutes. It was supposed to be a device that, in contrast to the helmet diving devices customary at the time, was easy, simple and quick to use.

Inventions and experiments

In 1905 Fernez began his experiments. His first invention was a rubber balloon, from which air could be breathed in and out, and which was connected to the diver's mouth by a tube . But it quickly turned out that the uncompressed gas supply is far too low.

The next invention consisted of a surface-fed diving system . It consisted of a flexible hose, a simple regulator and a duckbill-like mouthpiece. Although breathing was only possible to a depth of a few meters due to the increasing water pressure with depth , Fernez applied for a patent on this invention on May 14, 1912 . In the same year he supplemented this system with an air pump from Michelin , which was then used for tires . This made it possible to increase the pressure of the breathing gas to such an extent that it can also be inhaled in greater depths of water. This system was called Fernez Model 1 and tested several times in the Seine near Alfortville in the summer of 1912 . After a 58- minute dive to a depth of 6 meters, the cold forced him to surface. On August 20, 1912, the Fernez Model 1 system demonstrated the function of government officials by diving between the Seine bridges from Sully and Marie in Paris .

On October 27, 1912, the French life-saving society organized tests in a swimming pool, where a volunteer named Sigismond Bouyer dived for 35 minutes using Fernez's system. The Fernez model 2, which was further developed with a more powerful pump and a longer hose, was used . After the dive, Bouyer stated that he felt comfortable underwater and that he was breathing normally.

In 1923 Fernez won a gold medal at the Exposition Pasteur (a trade fair in Paris). His diving equipment was presented to the public at the Exposition de Physique et de Télégraphie Sans Fil in Paris in December .

Fernez also registered patents for a nose clip , swimming goggles and the mouthpiece he had invented.

Collaboration with Yves Le Prieur

In 1925 Fernez presented his diving system with Yves Le Prieur during the Industrial and Technical Exhibition . Le Prieur suggested working with Fernez to develop a concept for an autonomous breathing device. The hose should be replaced with a compressed air cylinder . In 1926, Le Prieur and Fernez presented the new jointly developed compressed air diving device . The device worked with a continuous flow of air and the pressure could be adjusted by hand thanks to a pressure reducer developed by Le Prieur . The diver carried the compressed air cylinder on his back. This was the first operational scuba equipment that allowed a diver to dive regardless of the surface. Today this device is often referred to as the Appareil Fernez-Le Prieur (= Fernez-Le Prieur apparatus).

On 6 August 1926 demonstrated Fernez and Le Prieur their new diving equipment in the Piscine des Tourelles - swimming pool in Paris, the French Navy . In 1933, Le Prieur combined three Fernez patents (swimming goggles, nose clip and mouthpiece) and invented the first full face mask . Fernez is named as a co-inventor in this patent. This mask is known today as Appareil Le Prieur (= Le Prieur Apparat).

Company formation

In 1912 Fernez founded a company for the mass production of diving equipment. The largest customer was the French Navy. Over the years the company's activities shifted more and more to protective equipment and gas masks. After Fernez's death, the company was continued by his children Alice and André until 1997. It then became part of the Bacou Group , which in turn was taken over by Sperian Protection and has been part of the American Honeywell International group since 2010 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Maurice Fernez: DALLO SCAFANDRO DA PALOMBARO AL SOMMOZZATORE CON NARGHILÈ E CON AUTORESPIRATORE di Philippe Rousseau - libera traduzione dal francese ed integrazioni di Faustolo Rambelli. The Historical Diving Society Italy, HDS News No. 32, December 2004. (French)
  2. ↑ French patent: FR 443802 "Appareil respiratoire pour séjourner sous l'eau ou dans des milieux irrespirables" (breathing apparatus for being underwater or in an unacceptable environment), applied for on May 14, 1912, issued on July 22, 1912, published on October 3, 1912. (French)
  3. ^ A b c Yves-Paul Gaston: Premier de Plongée , Le Prieur Paris, France-Empire, 1956. (French)
  4. ↑ Joel Perrenoud and Thomas Achhorner: History of scuba diving. Diviac, accessed March 16, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Fernez, Maurice
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French engineer, inventor and businessman
DATE OF BIRTH August 30, 1885
DATE OF DEATH January 31, 1952
Place of death Alfortville