I'm not getting into the discussion as I know very little on the subject; however, reg manufacture dates are something I'm trying to learn more about. It's nice to be able to state as accurately as possible what year a particular reg is. Maybe you have published the info on your research before, maybe not, and maybe you are just not ready to as you are still collecting data. Anyway, I for one would like to encourage you to share what you know to date - e.g. in chart or outline form, reg model, serial number range for any given year, etc... If you have already done so that's great I'd appreciate it if you would point me in the right direction. If not, and I'm butting in where I have no business intruding, please take no offense. Always trying to learn. Mark
Nothing has been published since there are way too many holes in the information to give a complete summary of manufacturing dates for all the regulators that USD manufactured. If I had all the information, I would happily put something out, but to put something out that has more holes in it than something you can hang your hat on is not my style at all. I don't like to do things half ass. For the most part, you should be able to identify the year of manufacture of a particular regulator (with some exceptions) within a 3-4 year window simply by going through the catalogs. If you really want to know the birth date of your regulator, that is pretty tough. Some serial #'s might be able to get close within a couple of months, but for the most part, you're looking at 1-2 window frame. The reason I started collecting serial #'s was not to be able to date the regulators at all (the dates I happened to acquire by luck), but to know exactly what equipment (hose color/style, mouthpiece, yoke, etc) should be on a particular serial # regulator. For example, I would never put a yellow hose assembly on a AM Pico address that the serial # is for a 1961 hose assembly even though the regulators are identical with the exception of the serial #. Just like I would never put a USD valve stamped with a 1957 date on a 1955 hydro date tank. They are different. Most people could care less about those details, but to me it's very important. I collect a lot of other things besides vintage scuba, and those details are important. I would never put a worm screw hose clamp on a radiator in my Bronco that came with a tower clamp. Anyhow, anybody that has any questions on their particular serial #, feel free to ask me and I'll do my best to answer your questions. Some I may have a good answer, and some I may not.
Hey Mike, some background about yourself for those that don't know you would add some clarity I think.
Bryan, you make it sound like I'm somebody important, lol. I'm just an ordinary, average guy who rarely gets to go out diving anymore, but have been collecting for almost 30 years and was fortunate enough in the early days to make some connections in my dive shop to recognize and get my hands on a lot of stuff.
Hey Ovalis, if you have access to that kind of information feel free to share, as all I have is sleuthing through the inaccurate catalog data and what Ovanessian published.
Ovalis & Ovanessian are one and the same. I never published anything, I just helped Allan with some serial # info for the fantastic write up he did.