The Lambertsen Amphibious Respiratory Unit (LARU) is an early model of closed circuit oxygen
rebreather used by military
frogmen.
Christian J. Lambertsen designed a series of them in the US in 1940 (patent filing date: 16 Dec 1940) and in 1944 (issue date: 2 May 1944).[1]
Etymology
The LARU is what the initials SCUBA (Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus) originally meant; Lambertsen changed his invention's name to SCUBA in 1952;[2] but later "SCUBA", gradually changing to "scuba", came to mean (first in the USA) any self-contained underwater breathing apparatus. (Modern
diving regulator technology was invented by
Émile Gagnan and
Jacques-Yves Cousteau in 1943 and was not related to rebreathers; nowadays the word SCUBA is largely used to mean Gagnan's and Cousteau's invention and its derivatives.)
History
Lambertsen designed the LARU while a medical student and demonstrated the LARU to the
Office of Strategic Services (OSS) (after already being rejected by the U.S. Navy) in a pool at the
Shoreham Hotel in Washington D.C. in 1942[3][4] The OSS "Operational Swimmer Group" was formed and Lambertsen's responsibilities included training and developing methods of combining self-contained diving and swimmer delivery including the LARU.[5][6]
Design
Two large lengthways backpack mounted cylinders under a hard metal cover: the right cylinder is high pressure
oxygen and the left is the cylindrical
absorbent canister.
A breathing conduit of 4 lengths of large-bore corrugated
breathing tubes in a loop: from the mask to one of the breathing bags to the canister to the other breathing bag to the mask.
Its harness is a strong cloth jacket that enclosed the diver's chest.
Mid front, a long zipped pocket: the diagrams do not show whether it was for kit or for
diving weights.
Many diving rebreathers are descended from it. However, there were earlier underwater uses of rebreathers:
Davis Escape Set for use in emergency by submariners from 1927 onwards
Siebe Gorman Salvus invented in the 1900s and first used in mines and by firemen
The Lambertsen Amphibious Respiratory Unit (LARU) is an early model of closed circuit oxygen
rebreather used by military
frogmen.
Christian J. Lambertsen designed a series of them in the US in 1940 (patent filing date: 16 Dec 1940) and in 1944 (issue date: 2 May 1944).[1]
Etymology
The LARU is what the initials SCUBA (Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus) originally meant; Lambertsen changed his invention's name to SCUBA in 1952;[2] but later "SCUBA", gradually changing to "scuba", came to mean (first in the USA) any self-contained underwater breathing apparatus. (Modern
diving regulator technology was invented by
Émile Gagnan and
Jacques-Yves Cousteau in 1943 and was not related to rebreathers; nowadays the word SCUBA is largely used to mean Gagnan's and Cousteau's invention and its derivatives.)
History
Lambertsen designed the LARU while a medical student and demonstrated the LARU to the
Office of Strategic Services (OSS) (after already being rejected by the U.S. Navy) in a pool at the
Shoreham Hotel in Washington D.C. in 1942[3][4] The OSS "Operational Swimmer Group" was formed and Lambertsen's responsibilities included training and developing methods of combining self-contained diving and swimmer delivery including the LARU.[5][6]
Design
Two large lengthways backpack mounted cylinders under a hard metal cover: the right cylinder is high pressure
oxygen and the left is the cylindrical
absorbent canister.
A breathing conduit of 4 lengths of large-bore corrugated
breathing tubes in a loop: from the mask to one of the breathing bags to the canister to the other breathing bag to the mask.
Its harness is a strong cloth jacket that enclosed the diver's chest.
Mid front, a long zipped pocket: the diagrams do not show whether it was for kit or for
diving weights.
Many diving rebreathers are descended from it. However, there were earlier underwater uses of rebreathers:
Davis Escape Set for use in emergency by submariners from 1927 onwards
Siebe Gorman Salvus invented in the 1900s and first used in mines and by firemen