If you have ever been diving in the freezing cold waters of the North Atlantic or the Pacific then you will know that a wetsuit is a lifesaver in these conditions. Wetsuits are not meant to keep your body dry, in fact you get as wet as ever in a wetsuit, but wetsuits are designed to keep you warm in waters that would otherwise very much kill you, or at least have a good attempt at it.It only seems natural then that we should learn more about the history of wetsuits. After all, when you think about it wetsuits have probably saved your life on more than one occasion if you have been diving in freezing cold waters. So let’s take a closer look at wetsuits and where they come from. Redirected here is the history of a wetsuit and other more information.
1951Yes the invention of the wetsuit was in 1951 which means that prior to 1951 divers were either diving without the aid of a wetsuit or they were not diving at all in fear for their lives. This is not strictly true though because prior to 1951 there were quite a few patent applications made to the US Patent Department which sound suspiciously like a design for a wetsuit. In 1947, for example, a man named Harvey Williams of Connecticut filed a patent for a “one-piece, step-in and slip-over-the-head” diving suit design, a wetsuit, which would keep the water out and radiate heat around the body. Prior to this the earliest wetsuit design was patented in 1927 by Thomas Edgar Aud who’s designs were actually more of a lifesaving surf board suit than a wetsuit but who none the less had the idea as early as 1927.
Hugh BradnerThe credit for the modern wetsuit though goes to Hugh Bradner who, as we have already established, created the wetsuit in 1951. Where Bradner’s wetsuit designs differed to the other wetsuit designs of the past, and where Bradner really deserves to take the credit, was figuring out that neoprene was a fantastic insulator and a great material to use for a wetsuit. To be fair to some of the others neoprene was only created in 1930 so Aud, for example, would not have known about its capabilities but Bradner was still the one who took it and applied to a wetsuit.Also the designs of other wetsuits differed from Bradner’s as the others tried to keep the water from getting into the wetsuit and covering the body, whereas Bradner realised that letting the water in was the best way forward and not letting the heat escape was the key factor.
It is also important to remember that Bradner did not invent neoprene nor did he invent an insulated suit that could save your life whilst you were in the water. What he did was create a wetsuit that kept you warm whilst diving and took the technology of neoprene and added to the wetsuit to make the wetsuit even better.