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The Kirby Morgan Commercial Air Helmet. This helmet was manufactured in 1965. (Kirby and Morgan were working together as a partnership prior to the Kirby Morgan Corporation formation.) The breastplate was made by Yokohama Diving Apparatus. The helmet was spun from two sheets of copper by Hummel Products in Santa Barbara, California. The forming and assembly was done by Kirby Morgan. The helmet had several improvements over previous designs. The viewing ports were made of one-inch plexiglass, threaded to screw into the helmet and sealed with O-rings. This eliminated the need for grills over the former glass ports, and thus improved visibility. Incoming air was more effectively silenced, improving communication and preventing a loss of hearing to the diver.
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The Kirby Morgan Commercial Helium Helmet. This helmet was manufactured in 1965. The design was the same as the air hat with the addition of a permanently mounted canister and venturi recirculator system. A standard Sodasorb® CO2 absorbent chemical cartridge was utilized in the canister. This helmet was the first practical commercial helium helmet with a venturi. Mr. H. Dan Wilson was the first designer and user of a commercial helium helmet which used a demand system, not a venturi. His helmet preceded this hat by two years. The U.S. Navy was the pioneer of gas diving, starting in the '30s. The KMAH-1 and the KMHeH-2 were manufactured by Yokohama Diving Apparatus from 1966 to 1990.
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Kirby Morgan began development of a line of light, fiberglass based masks and helmets that culminated in the state of the art helmets and masks produced by Kirby Morgan Dive Systems, Inc. today. These helmets and masks have a long and varied history, which is briefly touched on below. This endless research and testing continues today, ensuring that the Kirby Morgan products produced today are the highest quality equipment to be had anywhere in the world
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The Morgan Clam Shell. Designed to be dry over the entire head with a neck seal, it was not successful, and was not used beyond tank testing. The primary problem was leaking in the joint between the front and rear of the hat.
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Kirby Morgan Clam Shell Helmet. The Kirby Morgan Clam Shell Helmet was designed and made in 1966 under contract with the U.S. Navy Experimental Diving Unit. The helmet was designed for use with semi-closed circuit breathing systems. The rear of the helmet was free-flooding. Only one prototype was made and tested.
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Kirby Morgan Clam Shell Helmet.The next progression in clam shells, this helmet used a demand regulator as a back up breathing system. The main breathing system was a back mounted semi-closed recirculator. This photograph shows Kirby suited up for a test, using a chest mounted breathing bag on a venturi recirculator. This helmet was free flooding in the rear and was made of fiberglass. Only one was made in 1967.
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Kirby Morgan Clam Shell Helmets.This was the final version of the early Kirby Morgan Clam Shell Helmets. The hinge point was at the front. It was made of fiberglass and was free-flooding in the rear. Twelve of these helmets were made in 1968 for the U.S. Navy, & eight for Commercial use. Several dry head versions of this helmet were tested, but were not successful. The wet head version had limited success.
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Kirby Morgan Semi-Light Helmet. At the same time the clam shell series was being made, the Semi-Light fiber glass helmet was designed and manufactured. A face seal separated the face area of this helmet from the back. The first was made in 1966. In all, 36 Semi-Lights were made and sold. The helmet was discontinued due to lack of time and funding. This helmet was the direct forerunner to the Kirby Morgan SuperLite-17.
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Kirby Morgan Semi-Light. One modified version of the Semi-Light was made and tested. The balance was not right so the helmet was not manufactured.
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Unnamed Helmet. This unnamed helmet was designed to be used with a rubber mask section inserted into the forward part of the helmet. One was made and tested.
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Morgan 10 Recirculator Helmet. This hat was designed in 1971 to be used with the General Electric Mark 10 closed circuit breathing system. The side mounted tubes were connected to hoses that ran breathing gas to and from the back mounted recirculator. A unique hood that was easily removable and adjustable was used on this unit.
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Morgan 11 Recirculator Helmet. This helmet was similar to the MH-10 with the addition of a demand regulator which was used as a backup breathing system. It differs very little from the BandMask design in appearance. The gas flow tubes are provided for use with the Westinghouse supplied U.S. Navy Mark 11 breathing system. The diver's head was dry in this hat.
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Morgan 12 Experimental. This dry helmet was designed to attach to a BandMask. A rubber hood liner inside the hard helmet provided a dry environment for the diver's head. Two versions were made. This design led to the KMH-16.
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The Bucket Hat. This helmet was made as a joke, but several important findings were made as a result of water testing this unit. The helmet dives quite well and is surprisingly comfortable.
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Morgan 14 Experimental Helmet. This helmet had a rubber insert in the front which isolated the diver's face from the rest of the helmet to improve the operation of the demand regulator. Water tests were not favorable, so work on this hat was stopped.
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The Kirby 15 Experimental Hat. One was made and sold to the U.S. Navy. It was made of fiberglass and fitted with a simple steady flow breathing system. This hat was used as a platform on which to test a new neck dam and yoke system. The rubber neck dam (seal) is attached to a metal band that is clamped with a cam lever around the circular neck area of the helmet. The yoke system provides a closure at the bottom of the helmet that is smaller than a diver's head and securely fastens the hat to the head.
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The Kirby Experimental Demand 15. This helmet had several features that were new. A silenced servo demand regulator was positioned on the side of the hat. One was made and tested. The overall size of the helmet required counter balancing weight that made it heavier than we liked.
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The Kirby Morgan Helmet 16. This helmet was an add-on hat for the KMB-10 BandMask. A rubber hood inside the fiberglass helmet provided a dry head environment for the diver. The neck seal clamped in place with a cam-action band similar to the SuperLite-17.
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The history of the Kirby Morgan SuperLite®-17 would not be complete without covering the masks that led to much of it's design.Concurrent with the development of the helmets a series of commercial divers' masks were designed by Kirby Morgan. Although we had designed and manufactured masks throughout the years since 1949, the first serious efforts to manufacture and sell masks started in 1964.
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Morgan Mask, Experimental 1. This mask was our first fiberglass free-flow mask. Air was supplied through a non-return valve at whatever flow the compressor could put out. Four of these were made and used by commercial abalone divers.
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The Morgan Mask, Experimental 2. Incorporated a Sportsways demand regulator. Two of these masks were made using the MX-1 mask as a starting point. There was no side block.
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Morgan Mask 3. This was the first of our masks that had a side block and a demand regulator. The use and positioning of the side block and regulator set the standards for future masks and helmets. A non-adjustable SCUBA-Pro® demand regulator was used. Twenty of these masks were sold to Ocean Systems in 1964.
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Kirby Morgan Air Mask 4. In 1965 we made a simple steady flow mask for commercial divers. Nine of these masks were made.
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Kirby Morgan Mask 5. Later in 1965 we manufactured a fiberglass mask that was equipped with a steady flow valve and demand regulator. It had a rigid earphone on one side and used a SCUBAPRO® demand regulator.
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Kirby Morgan Mask 6. Two earphones, located in a hood and protected by metal cups improved hearing in this mask. All masks up to this one had glued in face cushion/seals. A U.S. Divers® demand regulator was used on this mask which was made in 1966.
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Kirby Morgan BandMask 7. The glued in face seals were troublesome, so we made the hood/face seal removable with a simple two screw band (the Kirby Morgan BandMask) The earphones were placed in pockets in the hood which made replacement easier. We started making our own regulators that were adjustable by the diver when in use. This mask was made in 1967.
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Kirby Morgan BandMask 8. This was the first of our masks to sell on a large scale. It had several improvements over the 7, primarily the provision for attaching a bail out bottle for emergency breathing gas supply. This mask was manufactured in 1967 through 1969.
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Kirby Morgan BandMask. Licensed for manufacture by U.S. Divers in 1969. The side valve was changed in 1970. The replacement side valve had restricted orifices and this mask should not be used in excess of 125 ft.
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Kirby Morgan BandMask 9. With an improved side valve, a change in the adjustable regulator handle and an injection molded plastic main frame. It was made by U.S. Divers from 1973 to 1975.
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Kirby Morgan BandMask 10. U.S. Divers made this mask from 1975 until 1988 when production ended. It was also named the U.S. Navy Mk. 1 Mask. In 1988 Morgan bought the Commercial Diving Division of U.S. Divers. This included the rights and tooling to the KMB-10. At the time of the buy-out the KMB-10 design was in need of improvement to the level of the current Kirby Morgan designs. This was done and the improved mask was named the KMB-28.
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Kirby Morgan BandMask 18. This fiberglass mask incorporated many improvements over the KMB-10. Manufacturing began in 1976 by Diving Systems International. It was named the HeliOx-18 at first. Several customers believed it was only for use with mixed gas so the name was changed to DSI-18 until 1988. With the buy-out of the Commercial Diving Division of U.S. Divers the name "Kirby Morgan" was regained by Morgan and the KMB -18 continues to be manufactured today.
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Kirby Morgan BandMask 28. This mask is nearly identical to the KMB-18, with the primary difference being the main frame which is injected molded. We reworked the KMB-10 mold, changed molding procedures and are using a new, stronger material. This together with utilizing the other improvements we were using on the KMB-18 has updated this mask to the current state of the art.
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