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Nemrod
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Re: need help with a tekna

Mon Apr 22, 2013 7:53 pm

There is a certain bit of urban legend surrounding the demise of Tekna. So it goes that the Tekna kept killing people and people kept suing Tekna for having been killed.

The regulator design has a failure mode in which supposedly it will not flow air. Since the tilt lever is upstream and the main valve is activated by a pressure drop, if there is no pressure drop, there is no flow. I have never been able to cause this to happen. I suspect that the regulators other oddity, well not other, just one of many, is the odd flutter at shallow depths that could be quite severe, kind of like Jeep Wrangler Death Wobble. Or, it could have been the propensity for the thing to go nuts and shoot out of the divers mouth and fly about like a chrome plated squid :shock: .

Anyways, the owner(s) of the company supposedly took all the spare parts, molds and drawings and destroyed them and dumped the remainder in a trash dumpster.

And, that was all shebang.

Nem

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Bryan
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Re: need help with a tekna

Mon Apr 22, 2013 8:45 pm

I think Pro Sub in Italy bought all the Tekna inventory of parts.
Doing it right should include some common sense, not just blindly following specs and instructions. .Gary D, AWAP on SB

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joeym35a2
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Re: need help with a tekna

Tue Apr 23, 2013 1:49 am

I have heard that story about being sued too the flying around like a squid thing sounds familure I must of read it from one of your posts on another forum I've looked for information online on them for awhile doesn't seem to be much info on them.

If I cant get it to work at least as a shallow diver rig I will see about recreating this squid flight with it!

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Nemrod
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Re: need help with a tekna

Tue Apr 23, 2013 11:06 pm

joeym35a2 wrote:I have heard that story about being sued too the flying around like a squid thing sounds familure I must of read it from one of your posts on another forum I've looked for information online on them for awhile doesn't seem to be much info on them.

If I cant get it to work at least as a shallow diver rig I will see about recreating this squid flight with it!
You think I am kidding, but I am not. If you let it get out of your mouth just right it will empty your tank as if you had just cut the hose clean off as it whips around just for sport.

Yes, I have heard legend of the Italian connection. Urban legend also has it that vdh has some parts. :wink:

I used to have a bunch but I have given them away bit by bit like I said over several decades.

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sitkadiver
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Re: need help with a tekna

Fri Apr 26, 2013 4:09 pm

I was checking to see if the Tekna dive equipment company was the same as the company making led's and led flashlights. I don't think they are....

However, I came across this Wikipedia article on the founder of Tekna. I didn't realize Farallon and Tekna were so closely related. Either way, this Osterhaut gentleman has certainly left his mark in engineering and design.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Osterhout
I do not believe in taking unnecessary risks, but a life without risk is not worth living. - Charles Lindbergh

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Nemrod
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Re: need help with a tekna

Fri Apr 26, 2013 9:21 pm

sitkadiver wrote:I was checking to see if the Tekna dive equipment company was the same as the company making led's and led flashlights. I don't think they are....

However, I came across this Wikipedia article on the founder of Tekna. I didn't realize Farallon and Tekna were so closely related. Either way, this Osterhaut gentleman has certainly left his mark in engineering and design.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Osterhout
Both Farrallon and Tekna were cutting edge companies with innovative and unique products, some of which were a little to innovative and unique.

Nem

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antique diver
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Re: need help with a tekna

Sat Apr 27, 2013 12:01 am

Nemrod wrote:
Both Farrallon and Tekna were cutting edge companies with innovative and unique products, some of which were a little to innovative and unique.

Nem

Let's just tell it like it really was. In spite of some truly innovative ideas, both Farallon and Tekna had a number of products that were plagued by poor quality and succumbed to failure soon after purchase. The failure rate on masks, gauges and so-called "computers" is what I remember most. Exactly 100% of the six computers we sold before one our group trips failed before completing a week of diving. I was glad I had my trusty SOS "Bend-O-Matic" along as a backup. That was in 1974 or 75. We never got working replacements from Tekna... I don't think there were any.
The older I get the better I was.

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Nemrod
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Re: need help with a tekna

Sat Apr 27, 2013 3:33 am

In 1974 I think my mom and dad still had a tube TV and Tekna and Farrallon were trying to bring the IC to scuba diving. No they were not particularly successful. :lol:

Nem

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antique diver
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Re: need help with a tekna

Sat Apr 27, 2013 2:15 pm

antique diver wrote: Let's just tell it like it really was. In spite of some truly innovative ideas, both Farallon and Tekna had a number of products that were plagued by poor quality and succumbed to failure soon after purchase. The failure rate on masks, gauges and so-called "computers" is what I remember most. Exactly 100% of the six computers we sold before one our group trips failed before completing a week of diving. I was glad I had my trusty SOS "Bend-O-Matic" along as a backup. That was in 1974 or 75. We never got working replacements from Tekna... I don't think there were any.
Oops, now that I think about it I may have been mistaken about the dive "computers"... I think they were actually Farallon.

Speaking of Farallon, (and it seems like I should say something nice about one of Ralph's creations :)), I am pretty sure that I remember one of their fin models used spring heel straps in the mid-70's, and they worked pretty well. Spring straps have finally caught on in the past few years, but Farallon was way ahead of the pack on that.

I should also note that the Tekna DPV, while having one notable gremlin of its own, was the basic building block for the successful Oceanic Mako DPV of a few years later.
The older I get the better I was.

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