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Date: Sun, 11 Jun 1995 12:37:58 +0000
To: techdiver@terra.net
From: mdufour@CA*.OR* (Marc Dufour)
Subject: Argon reg de-compatibilizer

Okay, I'm mostly a lurker here, certainly *NOT* a tech diver and much less a 
machinist nor SCUBA repair/maintenance technician, but by following 
discussions around here, it comes to me that given the "current state of the 
art", it could be conceivable that someone could breathe argon by mistake  
(no need to describe what is the necessary mistake).

A simple solution would be to use a different adapter (oxygen tanks already 
have a different kind of yoke) than air. But, of course, not everyone can 
easily modify, say, the diameter of argon tank/reg mating parts, so I think 
I have an idea.

Instead of wasting 1000 words of babbling, I attached a small (it's smaller 
than most of my dive reports on rec-scuba) GIF file that will let you see 
what I mean. Okay, I know that tou shalt not post binaries on thy list, but 
as I do it on the weekend, it will not disturb the traffic on this list too 
much. For those who dislike, I apologize, and to those who don't, I thank 
you for your appreciation and look forward to your comments (no, I did not 
give extensive thoughts about it. I got the idea while biking to the 
diveshop yesterday, and I "thought" tested it while biking back).

Now on with the explanation:

I suppose that no one will have trouble making out the tank valve (V) from 
the regulator input (R). Now, between the two, say we insert thin "adapter" 
disks, here the yellowish inserts (Av and Ar).

The two disks are fastened to the reg and the argon tank valve stem by 
whatever means (here, blue screws; I suppose that some kind of clip would be 
better) so not to lose the O-ring. It should be noted that this means of 
fixation is not bearing any gas pressure, it is only there to prevent loss 
of the adapter disks and/or o-rings (the light blue flattened dots).

What those disks do is to widen the connection diameter, so one cannot 
accidentally hook an air reg to the argon tank. I am not aware of the easily 
available O-ring diameters, so finding the proper "new" diameter should be 
dictated by the size of easily available O-rings. And the "new" diameter 
does not necessarly have to be wider than the current SCUBA diameter.

Of course, the total thickness should be kept as low as possible, to ensure 
that the regulator yoke still fits around the tank valve.

Okay, I understand that this setup reduces the reliability of the hookup, as 
it triples the number of O-rings between tank and reg, and it adds two extra 
parts that could become bent or damaged, especially on the tank. But this is 
not as crucial as a breathing tank, and if it fails, not being able to add 
argon to the suit does not prevent you from ascending safely. To boot, if it 
fails, you just yank off the adapter rings and you still can use it as it 
was originally intended to.

**** Here is the attached GIF file ****
begin 644 ADARGON.GIF
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`
end
******  End of attached GIF file ******

---========================================================---
         Handy pocket Whitehouse internet directory   
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---========================================================---
    Marc Dufour, alias mdufour@ca*.or* depuis 1994
    [\] ACUC 6 31874             http://WWW.CAM.ORG/~mdufour

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