Exotic Gas Masks: How an Italian Scuba Company Made a Breakthrough in Respirators
Ocean Reef Group, Mestel Safety's parent company, actually specializes in all kinds of equipment for undersea exploration.
It all started with rubber — Giorgio, Ruggero, and Gianni Gamberini worked at a tire repair shop in Genoa, Italy.
During their experimentation with rubber compounds at the time, they were approached by pioneer of scuba diving and legend of the Italian Navy, Luigi Ferraro. He wanted to make rubber masks and fins for scuba diving based off his experience. From the successful designs that resulted, a sprawling Italian scuba industry was born.
Commander Luigi Ferraro pictured in his diving gear. He was part of the "Gamma" sapper group, who performed some of the first major underwater stealth operations in WWII with the aid of very-early SCBA equipment. He would go on to sink 3 enemy ships by himself during a long sabotage operation, becoming one of the few people to have received Italy's highest Naval honor (the Gold Medal) and live to tell the tale. The gif shows examples of some of the equipment he really used, including a damaged Panerai dive watch, and the aforementioned scuba fins. Quite the backstory.
But like all good materials sciences, one of its breakthroughs resulted from a mistake. An "Incorrect" mix of rubber ended up also being the first buoyant rubber compound, incredibly important in the making of flippers.
The Gamberini brothers would also pioneer some of the first rubber watch straps, which were a massive upgrade in comfort & security in comparison to leather straps that would degrade in the salty depths.
This is about as good as scuba gear got in the 50s and 60s. On this gentleman's left hand, you can see his dive watch with a stainless-steel wrist strap. While still incredibly popular today even amongst avid scuba divers, they weren't ideal for military use due to their reflectivity.
Their company Ocean Reef would go on to pioneer the design of the first ever full-face mask for snorkeling use.
It featured an almost entirely transparent facepiece with an incredible field of view, which would "float" in front of the rubber that sealed to your face, reducing felt weight.
Sounds like these would be great features on a gas mask, eh? They had the same feeling too...
"Mestel Safety", their medical & safety division, would use everything they learned with their pedigree in undersea engineering, and the very gas mask we're presenting today would be born.
From the depths of the Mediterranean to a position of respect in military & civil applications, Ocean Reef has come a long way, and they definitely earned their spot amongst the best...