DA Navy ID Help.

[dacordiver23]

Good morning VDH. I became the proud owner of a DA-Navy Approved late yesterday, thank you kworkman for letting me buy the reg from you, but am found to be lacking the in the information department. I'm trying to narrow down the year and the rarity of the unit but am having some issues. According to the Regulator Id section the quickest way to ID the reg is the label, either blue or yellow, however the label is pretty degraded but there appears to be fleck of yellow in certain sections(Fig.1), just not enough to be definitive. I have yet to open it up yet, that's todays chore if work permits. Are there any mechanical/physical attributes that might help me narrow down the year?


(Fig.1)


(Fig.2)

[captain]

Try this.

http://www.calclassic.org/Regulator/aqualung.html

[dacordiver23]

Thanks Captain. Based on this information, produced post-56, I feel comfortable with proceeding with the restoration with the yellow label. Thanks again.

[kworkman]

There it is! Glad you like it.

[ovalis]

That's a 1958 Navy Approved, you can tell by the orientation of the 2nd stage towards the intake horn. The label is more of an orange than yellow, but actually somewhere in between. The 1957 blue label Navy Approved had the 2nd stage rotated 180 degrees like all the previous Broxton regs.

[dacordiver23]

"That's a 1958 Navy Approved, you can tell by the orientation of the 2nd stage towards the intake horn. The label is more of an orange than yellow, but actually somewhere in between." - Ovalis

Much appreciated. I noticed the coloration isn't a true yellow as well. I'd place it more of an oxidized yellow mustard. Its going to be a fun rebuild. I did manage to crack it open and was happy to find that the worst thing that I have to deal with is going to be a little salt water residue which a good soak in the ol'sonic cleaner should take care of it. I figure I'll start posting pictures of the rebuild. Given that I already have a Phoenix-HPR-DA-Aquamaster with a Aquarius safe-second this is going to be a straight restore to original state internals and label. Thanks again for all the info.

[captain]

I have a 1958 DA Navy that has the unmachined hookah port as found on the non magnetic Aqua Master. It didn't have a label so I don't know what color it might have been.I don't recall any DA's with a yellow label, all the yellow ones I recall were on Mistrals.

[eskimo3883]

Phil's article has a photo of a blue tag with serial number 52880 so from that perspective its reasonable your 52836 could be a blue tag. However, the article goes on to explain a crazy time for USD. Phil's article has a photo of both Blue and yellow/salmon/orange tags. The blue labels say US Diver Corp where the yellow labels say US Divers Co. I think that makes yours a yellowish label.

Broxton regs with riveted label:
Black Label; says US Divers Co.
Red Label; says US Divers Co.
Green Label; says US Divers Co.
Blue Label; says US Divers Corp.
Yellow over-pressure; says US Divers Corp.

West Pico
Riveted "navy type" black label; says US Divers Corp.
Tabbed red label Stream; says US Divers Corp.
Tabbed "navy approved" blue label; says US Divers Corp.
Tabbed "navy approved" yellowish label; says US Divers Co.


From Phil’s most excellent article originally in HDS and re-typed here without permission:
"1957 US Divers Aqua-Lung
This regulator was produced during the crazy year of 1957, when US Divers was purchased from René Bussoz by Spirotechnique. The tag color ranges from a salmon-colored pink/yellow to a yellow/orange and even a distinct yellow. One theory (from a 1958 USD factory regulator repairman) was a batch of paint that faded rapidly from a salmon orange to yellow when exposed to ultraviolet rays of the sun. This is also the first major break to a reasonably consistent serial number run to the North American two stage two hose regulators. Known (to HDS Canada) serial numbers run from 50,000 to 52,000 (compare to blue tag/ tabbed as 52,878). Orange/yellow, Pico blvd, tabbed tag DA “

[dacordiver23]

Given all the information that I have been provided, and what little information I could find offline, I am comfortable moving forward with restoring the regulator with the yellowish orange label. This appears to be the most likely label color to match the location and year of production. Once I get back to the Sand Box I'll start posting pictures of the reg and label and at different stages of the rebuild. Thanks again everyone.

[adairrj]

In my collection I have some Navy Approved:

Blue Label (with US Divers Corp.)
#50.052
#52.267
#56.908
#58.977
#60.102
#60.454

Orange/Yellow Label (with US Divers Co.)
#50.395
#51.371
#51.400
#52.921
#53.177

For pictures, please see http://cg-45.com/index.php?option=com_c ... 76&lang=pt

Your regulator is a Navy Approved Orange/Yellow Label - US Divers Co.