A standard diving dress consists of a metallic (copper, brass or bronze) diving helmet, an airline or hose from a surface supplied diving air pump, a canvas diving suit and boots. Diving suits of this type were sometimes called "diving dresses". An important part of the equipment is the addition of lead weights, generally on the chest and boots, to counteract the buoyancy of the helmet and diving suit.

This type of diving equipment is also known as hard-hat equipment. It was commonly used for underwater civil engineering, commercial diving and naval diving

History

The watershed development in hard hat diving was the "closed" dress, in 1837 by Augustus Siebe, where the helmet was sealed to the suit making the suit watertight, the helmet could not flood no matter how the diver moved, resulting in a safer and more efficient underwater work.

The overall design changed little over the years until superceded in the 1960s when SCUBA, modern helmet designs using fibreglass and (saturation diving became more common.

External links

The Historical Diving Society

Historical Diving Society diving at Stoney Cove, England

Hardhat diver entering water at Stoney Cove, England

U.S. Navy diving dress being lowered into the water