User avatar
Britmarine
VDH Moderator
Posts: 269
Joined: Sat Mar 28, 2009 4:52 pm
First Name: David
Location: Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

Standards for dry suits

Sun Jan 04, 2015 7:21 am

A Happy New Year to everyone. I promised in December that I would continue this series of reviews of diving equipment standards with a thread about suits. Up to now I've found a US Military Specification and a European Standard. The earliest example I've been able to find so far is US Military Specification MIL-D-19458A of 14 August 1964, which supersedes MIL-D-19458 of 27 June 1956, whose full text I have not yet managed to locate.
MIL-D-19458(SHIPS)_1.jpg
1a. US Department of Defense (14 August 1964) Military Specification MIL-D-19458A. Diver's Dress, Swim Suit. Free download from
http://docimages.assistdocs.com/waterma ... 1115BD.pdf
Cancellation.jpg
1b. US Department of Defense (22 May 1987) Military Specification MIL-D-19458A. Diver's Dress, Swim Suit. Cancelation Notice. Free download from
http://docimages.assistdocs.com/waterma ... CD0F71.pdf

As the full 13 pages of this specification can be freely downloaded from the web, I thought I'd keep my present review to a minimum and let others make up their own minds about the content and, I hope, report their own thoughts on the matter. Suffice to say that the documents cover the requirements for a swim suit made from rubber-coated fabric in five sizes. The suit comprises a jumper and pants with molded rings to effect a waterproof waist seal between the upper and lower garments.

Interestingly, the specification requires the installation of an exhaust valve and even provides a diagram with the necessary dimensioning:
MIL-D-19458(SHIPS)_11b.jpg
I hope the above is of some interest.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

Return to “Bibliophile Forum”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 23 guests