The ‘Jim Suit’ was largely inspired by the German ‘Panzertaucher’ Atmospheric Diving Suit ( ADS ) as built by ‘Neufeldt und Kuhnke’ in the first halve of the 20th century ( see the Neufeldt und Kuhnke chapter on this website ) The first ‘Jim Suit’ was built in 1969 by Mike Humphrey and Mike Borrow, partners in the English firm Underwater Marine Equipment Limited (UMEL), who were assisted by Joseph Salim Peress. Peress had built his first atmospheric diving suit in 1924, he also had the Neufeldt und Kuhnke ‘Panzertaucher’ as his main inspiration. The ‘Jim Suit’ was named after Jim Jarrett who had been Peress' chief diver.
Underwater Marine Equipment Limited ( UMEL ) ‘Jim Suit’
‘DiveScrap’Index
the scrapbook of diving history
The interesting photograph here above was shared by Karl Moore from England. Karl discovered his father Tony in the back ground at the fifth photograph in the index here below, behind Jim 3. Karl explained that his father was involved in raising a Wellington bomber from a lough in Scotland when this photo was taken. He worked with DHB Construction in the 70’s and after they were taken over by Oceaneering. Later his father became ADS director at Oceaneering. The bw photo here above is from Karls own archive. Thanks to Karl for sharing.
