The Hansen ‘2 bolt’ divers helmet as made by Siebe, Gorman & Co., Ltd.
This chapter should really be placed in the english chapter of this website but since this particular helmet was only used in Denmark and often identified ( by mistake ) as a danish helmet, I decided to publish this chapter in ‘Danmark’. The inventor of the 2 bolt helmet, Peter Hansen Hessing licensed the british company Siebe, Gorman & Co., Ltd. to manufacture his helmets. Initially they were not manufactured in important numbers but after ww2 the ‘Nordisk Gummi Fabriken’ of Kopenhagen decided to extend their merchandise. Since years they had been manufacturing the divers suits and air hoses, now they were offering complete equipments for sale. The helmets they obtained from 2 sources: the danish helmet manufacturer Helge Larsen and the british company Siebe, Gorman & Co. Ltd. The original Siebe Gorman helmets can be identified by their air ducts and side window grills: the side window grills are identical to the grills used on other Siebe Gorman helmets from that era, the air ducts have ‘fish tail ends’. Danish made helmets have air ducts with straight ends.
Unfortunately a series of helmets was reproduced in the nineteen eighties for a dutch antiques dealer by yet another danish helmet builder: Christiansen of Kopenhagen. These helmets can be identified by the Siebe Gorman style side window grills but inside the air ducts have no fish tail ends ( see also the chapter Christiansen and the ‘Fake helmet alert’ on this website )
‘DiveScrap’Index
the scrapbook of diving history
Do you have images you want to share then please send them to: david@divinghelmet.nl Thank you.