Debborah Lecocq and Samuel G. Lecocq

In the early 50’s when diving began in the United States, then as now, one of key components of the system was the high pressure tank. The fancy tanks of today - high pressure aluminum, titanium, stainless steel - did not exist. The first tanks used for diving in the U.S. came from France, along with the first regulators. But the quality of the French tanks was far from meeting the strict I.C.C. requirements, specifications controlling the safety standards for products transported across state lines (now governed by the Department of Transportation and indicated by D.O.T. markings on modern tanks). The French tanks could not legally be filled in the U.S.

Rene Bussoz was the owner of Rene Sports, a classy sporting goods store in Westwood, California. He had made an agreement with Aire Liquide of France to be the exclusive distributor for their new underwater diving units known as Aqualungs. With a clientele that included Hollywood stars, professional athletes and GI’s just home from World War II he realized he had a great market for the product. Rene Bussoz registered the trademark “Aqualung” in the U.S. Several years later, when he sold his diving company to the French he assigned the trademark to the Spirotechnique division of Air Liquide.

Sam Lecocq had recently started working at Rene Sports when the first regulators started arriving from France. Twenty-four years old, he had been hired as Rene’s assistant and was soon appointed to direct the diving division. Sam went to work finding local sources for tanks, valves, hoses and material for harnesses for the new diving units. He was also in charge of finding distributors and dealers for Aqualung equipment which eventually led to setting them up with air compressors and training the dive shops to operate and service the units.

The Aqualungs were shipped from France in bulk in wooden crates with the hoses in separate boxes. Each unit had to be assembled and then tested before it could be sold or shipped to a dealer. Rene and Sam had a workshop built directly behind the retail store, just a small room about 15 by 20 feet with a few wooden work tables and vices. This was the humble beginning of what would one day become U.S. Divers Corporation, formed by Rene Bussoz.

High pressure air was required to test the Aqualungs so a Rix oil-lubricated high pressure compressor was installed on the second floor directly above the workshop. Rene Sports was located in what is still one of the most exclusive neighborhoods of Southern California, between a bank and a trendy men’s hair salon that catered to the Hollywood elite, as did Rene Sports. The noise and exhaust from the air compressor did not make the new diving division a popular neighbor.

As Rene Sports began selling Aqualung systems, new divers would return after each dive to have their tank re-filled at the store sometimes driving long distances. In order for the new product to become a success, Rene knew that he would need to offer a diving cylinder that could be filled anywhere. Sam had found a source for tanks in Milwaukie, Wisconsin at the Pressed Steel Tank Company and Rene convinced them to manufacture some high pressure steel cylinders for diving. These tanks held approximately 70 cubic feet of air at 2150 PSI, but Pressed Steel could not produce enough tanks to meet the demand.

Fortunately, on the Army surplus market there was a compressed air tank that had been manufactured by the hundreds of thousands during World War II by the Walter Kidde Company for use in a variety of applications. Some had been used to carry compressed air on the amphibious landing vehicles as an auxiliary air supply for the engine when the intakes were submerged. Some were used for oxygen units and some for flame throwers. Sam was very familiar with them because he had seen hundreds on the beaches of Normandy after the war where they had been abandoned following the D-Day invasion. Thousands also ended up on the surplus market in the United States at the end of the war and contributed substantially to the growth of diving in the U.S.

Rene Bussoz bought hundreds of these tanks to be used as diving cylinders for the scuba systems he sold, first with the Aqualungs imported from France and later with the American-made Aqualungs. The Kidde tank held about 38 cubic feet of air at 1800 PSI and had a 1 inch diameter pipe thread valve opening. At that time the only high pressure tank valves available in the U.S. for diving were medical valves made by Superior Valve Company and a few others. They all had half-inch diameter pipe thread so the Kidde tanks had to be fitted with a reducer to accept the smaller diameter valve thread.

The workshop at Rene Sports was equipped with tools which were pretty basic, but sufficient for the assembly work they were doing at the time. A few young men were needed for the assembly department. Sam was taking engineering classes at nearby UCLA where he recruited some of the staff, including his friend, Bill Milham, who began part-time work at Rene Sports. All soon became avid divers and one of them was Dick Anderson. At seventeen years of age he was probably the youngest of the group and certainly the most exuberant.

After a little introductory training, the assembly technicians learned on the job, first by putting hoses on regulators. Then another assembler with more experience would test the regulators. An air hose extended from compressor upstairs, down through the ceiling to the work bench where it was secured to a valve. The Aqualung was mounted on this valve and the tech took a few breaths to make sure the regulator was working.
When it came to installing the medical valve in the Kidde tank, first the original valve (part of the oxygen unit, flame thrower system, etc.,) had to be removed. Three tools were used for this procedure: a giant crescent wrench, a giant chain pipe wrench and the workbench vice. The standard way to perform the operation was to secure the tank in the vice on the workbench and use the giant crescent wrench to remove the valve.

One day a technician elected to use a second method that seemed easier. He had positioned the tank upside down with the valve in the bench vice and was unscrewing the valve by turning the tank using the chain wrench. Before removing any valves, training and normal procedure called for the technician to first open the valve to make sure there was no compressed gas inside the tank. But that morning at Rene’s workshop someone was in a hurry.

With the tank valve secured in the bench vice the technician proceeded to unscrew the tank from the valve. A little air started hissing out from the threads, but nobody noticed it. Suddenly the tank separated from the valve with a powerful burst of air that ripped the last few threads out of the valve. The tank shot straight up and went through the ceiling with an enormous crash.

As the stunned men in the workshop looked up a shout of “Sacrebleu” rang out. Not a Frenchman, it was Dick Anderson. He had learned the expression from Rene Bussoz who often used this mild form of swearing in French that dates back to World War I when the new recruits wore blue. It means literally, damned blues. Ironically, it was a very apt comment since it was a new recruit who had committed the offense.

Upstairs the tank burst through the floor right between the desks of Rene Bussoz and Sam’s wife, who was Rene’s personal secretary. It was a great learning experience, illustrating how compressed gas can create an extremely powerful missile. We were all much more careful after that. Through tremendous good fortune no one was hurt and the damage was limited. Otherwise, that event might have spelled the end of Rene Sports and the history of diving in the U.S. would be a different story.

For more personal accounts of the Cousteaus and other fascinating personalities involved in the evolution of diving, look for the upcoming release of the biography of Samuel G. Lecocq entitled:

Scuba; Evolution, Intrigue and Controversy;
A first hand account of the development of Scuba.
By Samuel G. Lecocq and Debborah Lecocq

First editions of the biography of Samuel Lecocq will be made available at Portage Quarry in Ohio on August 11, 12 and 13th, 2006 where Samuel Lecocq will be pleased to autograph copies.

© 2008 Samuel G. Lecocq and Debborah Lecocq
All Rights Reserved.