American company manufacturing recreational diving equipment
Aqua Lung AmericaCompany type | Subsidiary |
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Genre | Diving equipment |
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Founded | 1952 (as U.S. Divers Company) |
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Founder | René Bussoz, Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Émile Gagnan |
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Headquarters | Carlsbad, California , United States |
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Key people | Don Rockwell (President and CEO) |
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Owner | Montagu Private Equity |
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Parent | Aqua Lung International |
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Website | us.aqualung.com |
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Aqua Lung America (formerly U.S. Divers Company) is an American company based in Carlsbad, California which makes scuba equipment. The company is a division of Aqua Lung International, which was, for most of its existence, a division of Air Liquide. Aqua Lung International was sold by Air Liquide to Montagu Private Equity by the end of 2016.[1][2] After U.S. Divers Company was renamed Aqua Lung America, the name U.S. Divers was retained as a trademark for Aqua Lung's line of snorkelling equipment.
History
The "Aqua-Lung" regulator was created by Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Émile Gagnan in 1943.[3] In 1946, the company known as La Spirotechnique (now Aqua Lung International) was established by both men together with Jean Delorme, CEO of Air Liquide, as a division of Air Liquide to sell the Aqua-Lung regulators.
In the United States, the Aqua-Lung regulator was first sold in the late 1940s by René Sporting Goods, a sporting goods store in Los Angeles, California owned by René Bussoz. He soon obtained a contract with La Spirotechnique to import Aqua-Lung equipment into the United States for sale on the Pacific coast (Spaco, Inc. had the contract for the Atlantic coast).
In 1952, Bussoz changed the name of his company to "U.S. Divers Company" and registered the Aqua-Lung trademark in the United States. In 1957, Bussoz sold the company and the trade names to La Spirotechnique.[4]
Around 2003, U.S. Divers Company was renamed Aqua Lung America after La Spirotechnique changed its name to Aqua Lung International. The U.S. Divers name is maintained as a trademark for Aqua Lung's line of snorkelling equipment.
References
- ^ "Aqua Lung Sold to Private Equity Firm". X-Ray Mag.
- ^ "Aqua Lung sold - End of an era with Aire Liquide". Scuba Gadget.
- ^ Jacques-Yves Cousteau & Frédéric Dumas, Le Monde du silence, Éditions de Paris, Paris, 1953, Dépôt légal 1er Trimestre 1954 - Édition N° 228 - Impression N° 741 (in French)
- ^ "Legends of Diving: René Bussoz, Founder of U.S. Diving". International Legends of Diving.
External links
- Aqua Lung's website
- Military section of Aqua Lung's website
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Basic equipment | |
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Breathing gas | |
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Buoyancy and trim equipment | |
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Decompression equipment | |
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Diving suit | |
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Helmets and masks | |
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Instrumentation | |
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Mobility equipment | |
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Safety equipment | |
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Underwater breathing apparatus | |
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Diving equipment manufacturers | |
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Access equipment | |
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Breathing gas handling | |
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Decompression equipment | |
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Platforms | |
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Remotely operated underwater vehicles | |
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Safety equipment | |
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General | |
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Activities | |
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Competitions | |
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Equipment | |
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Freedivers | |
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Hazards | |
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Historical | |
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Organisations | |
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Occupations | |
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Underwater work | Salvage diving | - SS Egypt
- Kronan
- La Belle
- SS Laurentic
- RMS Lusitania
- Mars
- Mary Rose
- USS Monitor
- HMS Royal George
- Vasa
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Diving contractors | |
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Tools and equipment | |
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Underwater weapons | |
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Specialties | |
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Diver organisations | |
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Diving tourism industry | |
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Diving events and festivals | |
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Diving hazards | |
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Diving procedures | |
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Risk management | |
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Diving disorders | Pressure related | Oxygen | |
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Inert gases | |
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Carbon dioxide | |
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Breathing gas contaminants | |
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Immersion related | |
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Treatment | |
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Personnel | |
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Screening | |
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Research | Researchers in diving physiology and medicine | |
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Diving medical research organisations | |
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Archeological sites | |
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Underwater art and artists | |
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Engineers and inventors | |
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Historical equipment | |
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Military and covert operations | - Raid on Alexandria (1941)
- Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior
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Scientific projects | |
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Awards and events | |
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Incidents | Dive boat incidents | |
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Diver rescues | |
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Early diving | |
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Freediving fatalities | |
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Offshore diving incidents | - Byford Dolphin diving bell accident
- Drill Master diving accident
- Star Canopus diving accident
- Stena Seaspread diving accident
- Venture One diving accident
- Waage Drill II diving accident
- Wildrake diving accident
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Professional diving fatalities | |
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Scuba diving fatalities | |
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Publications |
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Manuals | - NOAA Diving Manual
- U.S. Navy Diving Manual
- Basic Cave Diving: A Blueprint for Survival
- Underwater Handbook
- Bennett and Elliott's physiology and medicine of diving
- Encyclopedia of Recreational Diving
- The new science of skin and scuba diving
- Professional Diver's Handbook
- Basic Scuba
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Standards and Codes of Practice | |
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General non-fiction | |
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Research | |
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Dive guides | |
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Training and registration |
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Diver training | |
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Recreational scuba certification levels | Core diving skills | |
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Leadership skills | |
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Specialist skills | |
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Diver training certification and registration organisations | Commercial diver certification authorities | |
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Commercial diving schools | |
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Free-diving certification agencies | |
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Recreational scuba certification agencies | |
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Scientific diver certification authorities | |
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Technical diver certification agencies | |
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Military diver training centres | |
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Military diver training courses | |
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Surface snorkeling | |
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Snorkeling/breath-hold | |
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Breath-hold | |
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Open Circuit Scuba | |
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Rebreather | |
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Sports governing organisations and federations | |
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Competitions | |
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Pioneers of diving | |
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Underwater scientists archaeologists and environmentalists | |
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Scuba record holders | |
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Underwater filmmakers and presenters | |
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Underwater photographers | |
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Underwater explorers | |
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Aquanauts | |
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Writers and journalists | |
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Rescuers | |
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Frogmen | |
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Commercial salvors | |
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Diving physics | |
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Diving physiology | |
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Diving environment | |
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Other |
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Deep-submergence vehicle | - Aluminaut
- DSV Alvin
- American submarine NR-1
- Bathyscaphe
- Archimède
- FNRS-2
- FNRS-3
- Harmony class bathyscaphe
- Sea Pole-class bathyscaphe
- Trieste II
- Deepsea Challenger
- Ictineu 3
- JAGO
- Jiaolong
- Konsul-class submersible
- Limiting Factor
- Russian submarine Losharik
- Mir
- Nautile
- Pisces-class deep submergence vehicle
- DSV Sea Cliff
- DSV Shinkai
- DSV Shinkai 2000
- DSV Shinkai 6500
- DSV Turtle
- DSV-5 Nemo
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Submarine rescue | Deep-submergence rescue vehicle | |
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Submarine escape | |
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Special interest groups | |
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Neutral buoyancy facilities for Astronaut training | |
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Other | |
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