Thu Sep 07, 2017 9:38 am
Just FYI, for those not in the know, the regulator is, of course, a Healthways "Gold Label", hoses are from Bryan, new innards from Rob at the Scuba Museum and the DSV is, of course, a Russian one. A couple of years back a poor someone (not me) had bought a Healthways Gold label with just such a Scubapro sticker on it covering the original gold label. Granted it had Healthways hoses and mouthpiece. My thought on this "fantasy" reg was that Healthways (being the original parent company of Scubapro) had already sold the rights to Gustav Dalla Valle and Dick Bonin for their initial first production regulator (nothing more than a Scubapro stickered version of the Healthways "Scubair series), that it wouldn't be a great leap of the imagination for the "Scubapro guys" to also buy production rights to the Healthways gold label DH and re-market it with some product improvements (as Scubapro was and is want to do). Thus EPDM "Flex" hoses and a knock-off copy of the Russian's DSV, an excellent design by the way, (not that anyone in the west would have given a damn due to the political situation at the time) The DSV was perfect for the fantasy reg in that it has that wonky/clunky first generation look from the 50's and early 60's. It also works very, very well. Since I had a couple of Scubapro stickers lying around DOING NOTHING, the idea took root and then came to fruition.
We tend to think of companies at that time as being truly independent entities, but for the record, even to this day, the following companies are still corporately affiliated with Johnson Outdoors ( a real monster [in a good way] that has its fingers in everything outdoors). Johnson Outdoors is in itself a subsidiary of Johnson Family Enterprises ( formerly, you guessed it, Johnson Wax Associates and S.C. Johnson himself) and is in itself a subsidiary of S. C. Johnson & Son ( the head of the totem pole). The list from Wikipedia reads like a "Who's Who" of equipment manufacturers. The following is a list of companies and company property and licensing that is currently controlled by JWA (Johnson World Associates).
Silva (the Compass guys, acquired by JO in 1973)
Healthways (all rights pre and post-1963)
Scubapro (acquired in 1997) along with
UWATEC (1997 merged with Scubapro a and acquired by Johnson Outdoors)
SUBGEAR ( acquired the German company Seemann Sub in 2007 and was renamed SUBGEAR)
JETBOIL (acquired by JO in 2012, Jetboil makes really neat gas stoves for hiking, mountain climbing etc.)
The above is a small list of companies that JWA controls and this is the tip of the iceberg when you include their chemical and financial companies. Just FYI! And to think it all started with floor wax and boot polish by Samuel Curtis Johnson Sr. in Racine, Wisconsin in 1886. Five generations later and it is still run by the family. Wow!
"Where'd ya get that ol' thang, don't cha' know them thare things ill kill ya!"
Live From the Red Sea,
Russ