Info Request on SPACO DH Reg

[seakrakken]

Hi everyone!
I've posted this on VSS Forum also so please forgive the repitition.
Sadly an LDS is closing it's doors here in Texas ( Tucker's Dive Shop in Grand Praire). I was chatting with the owner (Bill Tucker) and I mentioned to him my interest in Vintage Scuba and asked if he had any DH Regs. He does and is looking for info on one he has in his collection and I would appreciate any help the Community can give. He has according to the markings on the name plate:

AQUA-LUNG
COUSTEAU GAGNAN PROCESS
(Patented)
SPACO INC BURLINGTON, VT USA
COM NO. 101750 SER NO. 1346
It looks very similar to a DA Navy Approved but, the horns are very small in diameter. The horns must be about 3/4" at most!

[Bryan]

His retirement will be a bit more comfortable when he sells it !!! It would be like finding a copy of the Declaration of Independance under an old oil painting.
Phil Nuytten wrote a several page article in Historical Divers a couple of issues back about the SPACO and the Air Liquide sp and some of other 1st Aqua-Lungs that were ever imported to the US. He is also one of the very few private collectors that have them in their collection. He posts on here a lot but is a very busy person. I will E-mail him and ask him to get in contact with you.

If there is any way the owner would let you photograph the regulator I would love to have the photos for reference material here on the site.....

[JES]

Her's a quote from Linda over on VSS:

There is a post on this forum by YankDownUnder, about a year ago, in which he states:

There is an article which appears on www.calclassic.org tells about 'aqua lung' labels:


"1949: The Aqua-Lung was first distributed on the east coast by Spaco Inc. of Burlington, Vermont. The ID plate is rectangular in shape, 1-1/4 by 2 inches, and surface mounted with four rivets. It is not countersunk into the bottom box as later models are. The example I have has raised letters and hand stamped numbers. The plate is non-magnetic, so I assume it's made of brass or copper, with what appears to be a satin platinum type finish. Any evidence of a background color is not evident."

About a year and a half ago, Phil Nuytten posted this, in response to a collection being sold on eBay:

IMHO, the Spaco has a realistic value of something like - low: $2,000/ high:$4,000...

Here is Mark Howell's article:
http://www.calclassic.org/Regulator/aqualung.html

And a great picture:
http://www.calclassic.org/Regulator/1949.html

[Phil]

Hi,Seakrakken:
Sure,always interested in purchasing another SPACO. Be interesting to know how original this one is . . .the highest price I've seen was $3800, but that was for a virtually NIB unit. It had the grey wooden L'aire Liquide box with pressure guage, one pound lead weights (8) cotton belt and buckle, and laminated decom table screwed onto underside of lid. Very, very nice shape - obviously unused. It also had good provenance in the form of a bill of sale and shipping doc from New York to Boston.
The lowest price I've recently seen was $500 and that was for a beater without the hoses or mouthpiece, clamps, replaced duckbill, diaphragm, hp screens, no yoke screw, and all chrome and paint off the tag - covered with dings and scratches - but a SPACO, non-the-less! I bought it for parts.
There are, basically, three models of SPACO, over the 1949 to 1951 period. The biggest visible difference is in the hoses/mouthpiece and some changes to the name tag. Internally, the '49 is more like a CG45 and the '51 is more like a '52 DA.
I'd like to know what the internals look like - a good start is to ask your friend to unscrew the exhaust horn and tell you what color the duckbill is and peer in to see the color of the diaphragm.
If he wants my contact - it is [email protected]

Never met a SPACO I didn't like!

Regards
Phil

[seakrakken]

Thanks for the quick get back everyone. I'm sure Bill Tucker will appreciate the info. I'll give him the contact info too. I'm sure he'll be looking to get a good offer on it. He says he also has a new in the original presentation box Gold Plated RAM he was given.

[Bryan]

So is there any chance that he will let you photograph them so we can all enjoy seeing them? The SPACO is not a regulator that most of us will get to see up close so photos would be mosts appreciated by everyone.

[21]

Seakrakken,

I would stronly suggest that you check and double check for any and all documentation relating to the Spaco, especially the instruction manual. The manual will be idenified as Spaco but the address will be in New York City..


So far as can be determined at this time only one Spaco instruction manual is known to exist. It happens to be a mint copy which is stored in a saftey deposit box for safe keeping.


Good luck,
21

[Bryan]

If you want to do your homework and brush up on the history of the early Aqua-Lungs from development to the Royal start with

Volume 11, Issue 4 Number 37
Volume 13, Issue 1 Number 42, Winter 2005
Of Historical Diver. I'm sure you can get back copies at HDS.com

The 1st regulator used at Bandol, Pre-CG45, Aire Liquide, SPACO, Broxton Ave. All are covered in DETAIL. Drawings of equipment by Gagnan, lots of photos of Phil and others private collection of super rare regulators.....

[Phil]

Just an aside to Sam's post on SPACO manuals:
The SPACO manual is the 1948 L'aire Liquide (Montreal) manual translated into English for Canadian Liquid Air Ltd. (Vancouver). The L'Aire Liquide manual is/was a slightly updated version of the original CG45 manual written by E. Gagnan in Paris in 1946/47, with the assistance of P. Talliez. It was a condensed version of the more detail Navy manual suppled with the 1946/47 CG45's. The SPACO manual was actually printed in Montreal ( look at the printer's 'bug' on the last page.)
As far as there being only one SPACO manual in existence . . .well, I have several and know of at least a couple more. Still, pretty rare and very collectible!
SPACO's are rare because so many were 'converted' to 1" hose in 1952 and after. The guys that used them a lot and knew what was going on, could convert for the price of a DA top and bottom box and hoses. Much less than half the price of a new 1" hose DA - and virtually the same regulator. A lot of the CLA's and 3/4" hose CG45's suffered the same fate - but understandable; the 3/4" hoses were deadly in deep water! I believe that a significant percentage of the SPACO's that survived in completely original condition were those that were bought, tried a couple of times and then stuck in a box in the garage or attic.
Guess we'll never know, though!

[Phil]

SPACO comments continued:
(Took a break cuz they had a couple of our subs on the Knowledge Network and I didn't see this piece when it first aired.)
We were talking about original vs modified - I have a couple of DA's with either CLA or SPACO bodies - the CLA's and the SPACO's and the L'Aire's are exactly the same internals, yokes, HP nozzles, horseshoes, etc., so you have to look for very subtle differences to know when and where the body was made, once the body has been transplanted into a later top and bottom box. So keep your eyes open for DA's with sand-cast and obviously hand-filed 2nd stage duct boss visible on the outside of the body block. If it was originally a SPACO/CLA/ or L'Aire, the top surface of the duct protrusion will be parallel to the case and body and notched to clear the yoke. The DA's, even the early sand-cast ones have the duct protrusion at an angle, with the low end closest the yoke.
The French CG45 bodies are quite different than the early Canadian - made bodies - even though most of the additional parts are the same.
(from Spiro).
Sorry, I do tend to go in nauseating detail over these puppies!
Regards

[seakrakken]

Gentlemen and Ladies,
In the interest of preserving history I will ask Mr. Tucker if he will allow me to photograph at least these two regs in as much detail as he will allow. I feel positive he will be accomadating in the matter as he is also a collector as well as decent folk.

[1969ivan1]

Good pics would be really neat! Thanks for the effort.

[JES]

Phil & Sam,

Thank you both for your information on these regulators. It's really enjoyable to read about such a rare regulator.