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Date: Wed, 24 Jan 1996 15:50:29 -0500
To: Roderick Farb <rfarb@em*.un*.ed*>
From: dlv@ga*.ne* (Dan Volker)
Subject: Re: Rebreathers; response to moron Rod Farb
Cc: techdiver@terra.net
Rod,
I spent VERY LITTLE time in the booth, since most of the time I was out 
speaking with other manufacturers and destinations at their booths. If I had 
been there when you stopped by, I would have been at the big computer 
monitor on the front of the counter---I was not really there with the 
express intent to help market the Odyssey, I was involved  with Internet 
business.  If I had been there, and was not showing a mgg or destination my 
magazine, I would have offered to help answer any questions you might have. 
Probably you talked to one of the Dive USA instructors who were there to 
help out a little, and they themselves did not have any working knowledge of 
the unit. If you saw an older gentlemen (50's) sitting in the area behind 
the counter, that would have been Jack Keller, the engineer who designed the 
unit---he would have been the guy for you to talk to. 

The units are in production. They have already sold and delivered their 
first unit. The units at DEMA were not complete because the  company 
assembling the units was behind on delivery. 
As to safety, you have two ways to go with rebreathers---1.)closed circuit, 
meaning reliance on electronic circuitry to warn you of a gas addition 
failure;i.e., hypoxia and blackout (electronic reliance the likes of which 
we discuss in the unreliability of Nemesis computers, etc) or, 2.) 
Semi-closed, where the diver who experienced the addition failure would be 
alerted by finding the volume of the counterlung shrinking dramatically with 
each breath, and within 4 to five breaths would be forced to switch to the 
mandatory open circuit bailout (like a pony bottle/reg). 

The other primary failure concern with either closed circuit or semi-closed 
(as in the RBC) would be a  failure of the CO2 scrubbing system---in the 
event of this falure, the diver is taught to become the sensor himself by 
familiarity with the symtoms of hypercapnia; A good diver swimming at a 
comfortable pace, who suddenly finds he is breathing far to rapidly, 
hyperventilating, would understand that this is a failure of the scrubbing 
system. The diver as a CO2 sensor is far more reliable than the electronics 
(breathing in humans is keyed on CO2 levels). 
Additionally, the RBC has no problems regarding electronically maintained 
PO2 levels, which could potentially cause hypoxia or hyperoxia, because the 
RBC is running the mix you place in it---if a diver is not qualified to 
choose the ideal mix for a desired depth range, he is not qualified to dive 
with ANY rebreather!

Since the RBC will run trimix or nitrox, it is an ideal unit for tech diving 
and deep cave exploration (in any scenario where a redundant gas supply can 
be maintained--stage bottles can be dropped). No rebreather is safe for 
major decompression diving without a redundant gas supply.

Not only did the chief engineers of several of the majors get very excited 
over the Odyssey, there were several offers by these major mfgs for the 
engineer of the Odyssey to design equipment for them which previously they 
were unable to produce---they have already decided Jack can produce what 
they want, based on the Odyssey success and his solutions to there present 
problems.

You must have talked to someone without an engineering background, or with 
an engineer before he read the RBC information.
Dan
 
>Dan, to prove the message below was from you and that you were at the 
>Odessey booth at DEMA, describe the unit in the booth.  Specifically, 
>tell me what the unit had on board. I, along with three other 
>manufacturers came to the booth and saw the unit and picked 
>up literature. I spoke to a woman there and questioned several things 
>about the unit and even told her I didn't believe the unit was in 
>production. I'll give you an intelligent reply if you will prove to me 
>that the message was from you and that you in fact saw the unit at DEMA. 
>There was a guy in the booth but he made no attempt to enter the 
>discussion even when it was clear we all thought the unit was a joke. The 
>reason I think your message is a joke is because the Odessey unit was 
>disparaged by three major players in the rebreather marketplace. None of 
>the three had one positive thing to say about it. Rod 
>
>On Tue, 23 Jan 1996, Dan Volker wrote:
>
>> Rod, 
>> You want to try and explain what you are talking about? Even the other 
>> rebreather companies consider the Odyssey to be the among the safest and 
>> best available. 
>> 
>> And where the fuck do you get off with making a comment like this?
>> You sure as hell had nothing like this to say at DEMA, so why the tough talk 
>> now from the safety of your computer? 
>> 
>> I'd be amazed if you can come up with either an intellectual discussion  of 
>> rebreather advantages/disadvantages, to compare the various rebreathers at 
>> DEMA (clearly you can't or you would not make STUPID ASSININE comments like 
>> you just have), or if you would would walk up to me and say shit like this 
>> in person.
>> 
>> Probably this was your shot at sounding like you know something....well, you 
>> sound like a moron this time.
>> 
>> I have no problem with someone disagreeing with me, but do it the way you 
>> would in person....if you talked like that to me in person, you'd be close 
>> to a hospital visit.
>> Dan 
>> 
>> >Don't make me laugh. The Odessey was the biggest piece of shit on the 
>> >floor- bar none. Rod
>> >
>> >On Tue, 23 Jan 1996, Dan Volker wrote:
>> >
>> >> If you went to Tek or DEMA, and checked out each of the rebreather 
systems, 
>> >> you would have no doubt that only one has emerged as a "SAFE" unit...this 
>> >> was the RBC Odyssey. This will be born out by the fallout in the next 6 
>> >> months. For the moment, check out the Odyssey pages at
>> >>  http://www.gate.net/~dlv/odyssey
>> >> with Netscape, Microsoft Internet Explorer, or with the "new" compuserve 
>> >> browser. If you have AOL or Prodigy, complain to them!
>> >> Dan Volker
>> >> SOUTH FLORIDA DIVE JOURNAL
>> >> "The Internet magazine for Underwater Photography and mpeg Video"
>> >> http://www.florida.net/scuba/dive
>> >> 407-683-3592
>> >> 
>> >> --
>> >> Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@terra.net'.
>> >> Send subscription/archive requests to `techdiver-request@terra.net'.
>> >> 
>> >
>> >
>> Dan Volker
>> SOUTH FLORIDA DIVE JOURNAL
>> "The Internet magazine for Underwater Photography and mpeg Video"
>> http://www.florida.net/scuba/dive
>> 407-683-3592
>> 
>> --
>> Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@terra.net'.
>> Send subscription/archive requests to `techdiver-request@terra.net'.
>> 
>
>
Dan Volker
SOUTH FLORIDA DIVE JOURNAL
"The Internet magazine for Underwater Photography and mpeg Video"
http://www.florida.net/scuba/dive
407-683-3592

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