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Hello - Just to add some more history, I will quote from the US Navy Dive Manual, Volume II, Mixed-Gas Diving. "In 1876, Henry Fluess began developing an oxygen rebreathing device which freed the diver of dependence on surface support. The Fleuss device used a watertight rubber face mask and breathing bag connected by breathing tubes to a copper tank of oxygen charged to 450 psi. The diver would enhale pure oxygen and his exhaled breath would pass into the breathing bag and from there would be drawn through rope yarn which had been soaked in a solution of caustic potash. This solution absorbed the carbon dioxide and allowed the unused portion of oxygen to be recirculated through the face mask. In the early models of this apparatus, the diver controlled the makeup feed with a hand valve. Fluess successfully tested his apparatus in 1879, first in a tank of water where he remained for an hour, and again by walking along a creek bed at a depth of 18 feet. During his dive, Fleuss, who had insatiable curiosity, wondered what would happen if he turned off his oxygen feed. He was soon unconscious and suffered gas embolism as he was pulled to the surface by his tenders. A few weeks after his recovery, Fleuss made arrangements with Augustus Siebe's diving equipment company to put his recirculating design into commercial production. Somewhat refined, and with the addition of a demand regulator to replace the hand valving of oxygen, the Fleuss SCUBA became the direct ancestor of a wide ranging family of respirators, submarine escape devices, and combat swimmer underwater breathing apparatus." -Joan-
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