User:Pbsouthwood/Kirby Morgan

Kirby Morgan is the brand name of a line of underwater diving equipment manufactured by the Kirby Morgan Corporation based in California. It is also the common term for Kirby Morgan Dive Systems Inc.

History
Kirby Morgan Corporation formed in 1966. Bob Kirby sold his share in Kirby Morgan to Bev Morgan in 1967. Later it changed its name to Deep Water Development in 1969 and Diving Systems International in 1977. Currently Kirby Morgan Dive Systems, Inc., is based in Santa Maria, California.

The first Bob Kirby mask from the early 1950s was developed from designs by Henry Hanson, a US Navy shipyard welder who had made several of his own full-face diving masks in stainless steel, as the commercially available models (Widolf) did not fit him well. The mask was for abalone diving, and the simple oval, high volume shell was in stainless steel, The rubber seal was quite narrow and fitted round the face. The faceplate was full height circular.

MMX-1 The Morgan Mask, Experimental 1, built by Bev Morgan in 1964 was a rigid framed full face free-flow mask in fibreglass, with a similar face seal to the Kirby mask.The faceplate was full height broad oval. Four were built.

The Morgan Mask, Experimental 2. was a demand supplied full-face mask bases om the MMX-1 using a Sportsways regulator second stage, and a reduced height faceplate with a straight lower edge to provide space for the DV. Two were made in 1961.

The Morgan Mask 3 was similar in structure to the MX-@, but had a side valve block (free-flow? bailout?) at the right temple and used a Scuba-pro demand regulator. The faceplate has a concave lower edge for improved field of vision downwards. Twenty of these masks were made in 1964.

In 1965 Kirby and Morgan formed a partnership to produce the Kirby Morgan Commercial Air Helmet, using a copper shell spun by Hummel Products, Santa Barbera, and a breatsplate from Yokohama Diving Apparatus. The helmet used edge-threaded plexiglass lights (Footnote: Viewports on older style diving helmets were referred to as lights, a traditional term.) sealed on O-rings for better field of vision, and the noise levels were reduced.

Also in 1965, Kirby and Morgan developed the Kirby Morgan Commercial Helium Helmet, based on the design of their commercial air helmet, with a cylindrical scrubber canister permanently mounted on the back of the helmet. the canister was loaded with a pre-packed carbon dioxide absorbent cartridge from the inside of the helmet, and used a venturi injector system to drive gas recirculation through the cartridge, similar in concept to the US Navy Mk V Mod 1 Heliox helmet. This helmet and the Kirby Morgan commercial air helmet were later produced by Yokohama Diving Apparatus from 1966 to 1990.

Product line
https://www.kirbymorgan.com/products

Diving helmets

 * KM 17A/B/C. The 17 is claimed to be the most widely used commercial diving helmet in the world.

Band masks

 * KMB-18 A/B and KMB-28B

Full-face masks

 * M48 Mod 1

Reguators
https://www.kirbymorgan.com/products/regulators
 * Scuba regulators
 * Helmet and mask regulators
 * Full-face mask regulators