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> Different subject, and more important: Gene Broom was apparently hurt
> when a tank valve ruptured.  Don't know anything more, but will post
> when I hear it.

I was down in the Branford area this weekend, and this incident was
on the minds of everybody that I talked to down there. The story I
heard (from people at several dive shops that I visited) was that
Gene was filling a tank (reportedly a Beuchat 120) when the valve
separated from the neck and flew out. I heard he sustained injuries
to his shoulder and ear, and was hospitalized for a couple of days.

In the aftermath of the incident, Lloyd Bailey has displayed a sign
in his store advising that his shop will no longer be overfilling
tanks beyond 3300 psi. I don't know what pressure Gene was filling
the defective tank to, but there doesn't seem to be any evidence that
overpressurization played any direct part in the accident.

According to one of the staff at Ginnie Springs, the tank in question
had been mistakenly fitted with a valve from a Genesis tank, and the
valve had been cross-threaded when it was screwed into the neck. That
bit of information was not corroborated by anyone else that I talked
to, however.

Anyway, here's wishing a speedy recovery to Gene - if anybody else
has any further details on the accident, please let us know.

-JimG

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