The Lambertsen Amphibious Respiratory Unit (LARU) is an early model of closed circuit oxygen
rebreather
A rebreather is a breathing apparatus that absorbs the carbon dioxide of a user's exhaled breath to permit the rebreathing (recycling) of the substantially unused oxygen content, and unused inert content when present, of each breath. Oxygen i ...
used by military
frogmen
A frogman is someone who is trained in scuba diving or swimming underwater in a tactical capacity that includes military, and in some European countries, police work. Such personnel are also known by the more formal names of combat diver, comb ...
.
Christian J. Lambertsen designed a series of them in the US in 1940 (patent filing date: 16 Dec 1940) and in 1944 (issue date: 2 May 1944).
Etymology
The LARU is what the initials SCUBA (Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus) originally meant; Lambertsen changed his invention's name to SCUBA in 1952;
See Lambertsen's homage by the ''Passedaway.com'' website
/ref> but later "SCUBA", gradually changing to "scuba", came to mean (first in the USA) any self-contained underwater breathing apparatus. (Modern diving regulator
A diving regulator is a pressure regulator that controls the pressure of breathing gas for diving. The most commonly recognised application is to reduce pressurized breathing gas to ambient pressure and deliver it to the diver, but there are als ...
technology was invented by Émile Gagnan
Émile Gagnan (1900 – 1984) was a French engineer and, in 1943, co-inventor with French Navy diver Jacques-Yves Cousteau of the Aqua-Lung, the diving regulator (a.k.a. demand-valve) used for the first Scuba equipment. The demand-valve, or regu ...
and Jacques-Yves Cousteau
Jacques-Yves Cousteau, (, also , ; 11 June 191025 June 1997) was a French naval officer, oceanographer, filmmaker and author. He co-invented the first successful Aqua-Lung, open-circuit SCUBA ( self-contained underwater breathing apparatus). T ...
in 1943 and was not related to rebreathers; nowadays the word SCUBA is largely used to mean Gagnan's and Cousteau's invention and its derivatives.)
History
Lambertsen designed the LARU while a medical student and demonstrated the LARU to the Office of Strategic Services
The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was the intelligence agency of the United States during World War II. The OSS was formed as an agency of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) to coordinate espionage activities behind enemy lines for all branc ...
(OSS) (after already being rejected by the U.S. Navy) in a pool at the Shoreham Hotel
The Omni Shoreham Hotel is a historic resort and convention hotel in Northwest Washington, D.C., built in 1930 and owned by Omni Hotels. It is located one block west of the intersection of Connecticut Avenue and Calvert Street. The hotel is known ...
in Washington D.C. in 1942
Design
* Two large lengthways backpack mounted cylinders under a hard metal cover: the right cylinder is high pressure oxygen
Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements ...
and the left is the cylindrical absorbent canister.
* Fullface mask
A full-face diving mask is a type of diving mask that seals the whole of the diver's face from the water and contains a mouthpiece, demand valve or constant flow gas supply that provides the diver with breathing gas. The full face mask ha ...
with two small viewports like an old-type gasmask
A gas mask is a mask used to protect the wearer from inhaling airborne pollutants and toxic gases. The mask forms a sealed cover over the nose and mouth, but may also cover the eyes and other vulnerable soft tissues of the face. Most gas mas ...
* Two counterlung
A rebreather is a breathing apparatus that absorbs the carbon dioxide of a user's exhaled breath to permit the rebreathing (recycling) of the substantially unused oxygen content, and unused inert content when present, of each breath. Oxygen is ...
s, one on each shoulder.
* A breathing conduit of 4 lengths of large-bore corrugated breathing tubes in a loop: from the mask to one of the breathing bags to the canister to the other breathing bag to the mask.
* Its harness is a strong cloth jacket that enclosed the diver's chest.
* Mid front, a long zipped pocket: the diagrams do not show whether it was for kit or for diving weights.
Many diving rebreathers are descended from it. However, there were earlier underwater uses of rebreathers:
* Davis Escape Set for use in emergency by submariners from 1927 onwards
* Siebe Gorman Salvus
The Siebe Gorman Salvus is a light oxygen rebreather for industrial use (including by firemen and in coalmine rescue) or in shallow diving. Its duration on a filling is 30 to 40 minutes. It was very common in Britain during World War II and f ...
invented in the 1900s and first used in mines and by firemen
* The rebreathers used by the Italian Decima Flottiglia MAS
The ''Decima Flottiglia MAS'' (''Decima Flottiglia Motoscafi Armati Siluranti'', also known as ''La Decima'' or Xª MAS) (Italian for "10th Assault Vehicle Flotilla") was an Italian flotilla, with commando frogman unit, of the ''Regia Marina'' ...
frogmen in World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
* Rebreathers used by British frogmen and divers in World War II and led to the 1950s Siebe Gorman CDBA
The Clearance Divers Breathing Apparatus (CDBA) is a type of rebreather made by Siebe Gorman in England.
The British Royal Navy used it for many years. It was for underwater work rather than for combat diving. The main oxygen cylinders are on ...
used by the British
See also
*
References
External links
A long biography about him, and about the rebreather that he designed
Image of Lambertsen rebreather's fullface mask, 1944, with eyeholes
Front view of frogman swimming with Lambertsen rebreather, 1944
Lambertsen rebreather
with mouthpiece on neck strap, and eyes-and-nose mask, 1944
Underwater Demolition Team Operations U.S. Navy video demonstrating the Lambertsen rebreather
National Archives #76869
{{Underwater diving, divequ
Rebreathers
Office of Strategic Services