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Air-Punk: Underwater Cyborg Diving Suit (1797)

JF Ptak Science Books   Post 1853

Diving bell horizontal656

Well, not really. It is however an early diving suit (and perhaps the earliest apparatus worn on the person and submerged) the creative and comparatively lightweight effort of Karl Heinrich Klingert, who produced it at the very end of the 18th century, in 1797 or thereabouts.  The suit was made of a metal helmet and wide metal girdle, with the vest and pants made of a waterproof leather, and with leather (?) leg straps.  The air would be pumped down to the diver from a turret above (see below, just) and would arrive in the diver’s helmet via weighted air tubes. 

Here’s a side and occupied view:

Diving bell horizontal654

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