Rebreather Trivia

[LRRP02]

When was the first rebreather introduced and by whom?
Lets see who can answer this one

[Raddiver]

The following is from the rebreather entry at .  Check it out if you havent seen it before.  I have found that the vast majority of the info posted is factually correct.

"Around 1620 in England, Cornelius Drebbel made an early oar-powered submarine. Records show that, to re-oxygenate the air inside it, he likely generated oxygen by heating saltpeter (sodium or potassium nitrate) in a metal pan to make it emit oxygen. That would turn the saltpeter into sodium or potassium oxide or hydroxide, which would tend to absorb carbon dioxide from the air around. That may explain how Cornelius Drebbel's men were not affected by carbon dioxide build-up as much as would be expected. If so, he accidentally made a crude rebreather nearly three centuries before Fluess and Davis.

The first certainly known closed circuit breathing device using stored oxygen and absorption of carbon dioxide by an absorbent (here caustic soda) was invented by Henry Fluess in 1879 to rescue mineworkers who were trapped by water.

The Davis Escape Set was the first rebreather which was practical for use and produced in quantity. It was designed about 1900 in Britain for escape from sunken submarines. Various industrial oxygen rebreathers (e.g. the Siebe Gorman Salvus and the Siebe Gorman Proto were descended from it. The Proto (distinguish from "Proton") was much used by firefighters."