The history of the first Draeger sportdiving rebreather Delphin - I

photographs and text by Jan Willem Bech

1951

In the spring of 1951 Jochen Bergann who founded Barakuda went to the Dräger factory in  Lübeck to have his first conversations with Dr. Dräger about the production of a sportsdiving apparatus. Because Drägerwerk has been an important producer of Gasmasks in the second worldwar Dr. Dräger had doubts about the production of another piece of equipment that has been used in the war. Finally there was an agreement between  Drägerwerk and the divingsport sector in Germany that lead to a 15 year during cooperation between the Draeger company and "Barakuda".

1953.

A second unit the " Tümmler"followed. In Italy the interest in rebreathers growed. Italian two hour units were designed. In Germany people started thinking about the dangers of the use of rebreathers by sportdivers. In 1953 Dräger developed a single hose regultor with a 5 liter cylinder. This apparatus was called the Delphin II and was produced during many years.  The Delphin II was in use of sportsdivers but also the Deutsche Lebens-Rettungs-  Gesellschaft  and water rescue teams.

I am very pleased to show you on therebreathersite.nl a true Delphin one. Unfortunately hoses had to be replaced and the original cylindervalve is missing, but is gives a good impression of this old lady!