These were donated to the Museum today

[Aileron]

They were donated by a gentleman who said they were given to him by a former SEAL who dove them in the 60's. No Doubt. They were painted by said SEAL....who as it turns out, was never a SEAL. I have ways of checking...and have an obligation to when anyone makes a statement like that. Anywhoooo...

Any ideas? It was interesting that one is stamped "spun".

Lisa

[Bryan]

There are a lot of folks with much more expertise on non magnetic cylinders than I...Do they by chance have plugs or caps threaded into the bottom of them?

BTW....Every 3rd regulator I get was used buy the most ultra secret no serial number special warfare operator that ever existed....

At least 1/2 dozen times a year I get an E-mail from a supposed 00 spy, member of the special warfare community, Delta Force/ SEAL Team 6, asking for a "special" discount because they will be using the regulator I am supposed to rebuild or supply parts for during training at BUD's school or believe it or not "Secret Missions in the current Iraq/Afghanistan theater......My response is always the same....Sure...I would love to do it for you...If it's on the up and up I'll do it for free.....Just give me your name and I'll get back with you as quick as I can....Only once have I ever received a reply and that person didn't think I would really check....He was a retired fleet sailor and he got nothing.

Sorry for the rant but I'm sure it gets even deeper around your place.

[1969ivan1]

Cool set up. You are lucky in that it appears you have the non mag manifold with the set as well. Nice find and I am glad that they made it to your museum.

[Aileron]

You have no idea Bryan....and it's the innocent family members that get to hear the bad news, mostly. It usually goes like this: My grandpa told us stories of the UDT/SEAL ops he went on, and he passed away, so I'm trying to find info on his teammates or teams. Grandpa was a liar. Sad. Or a wife who's husband has been lying to her his entire life, he passes on, and she wants to have his ashes swam out into the ocean during the service at Muster. He was never a teammate. It gets ballsier...a guy came in the museum, said he as a SEAL and graduated class xxx, and it happened to be the same class as our executive director....oops. He was so busted. I also know of a guy who tattooed SEAL TEAM 6 on his ankle....then gave his card to our Retail guy. Never a teammate. When you go as far as have a tat, you believe your own lie. I didn't realize it jumped out into your area, but now that I think about it, it makes sense. If you ever need any confirmations, email me...I'd be happy to help.

Should we have the paint removed from the tanks if we decide to display them? We may not be able to since we can't confirm their history....

[antique diver]

...Any ideas? It was interesting that one is stamped "spun".

Lisa

I may be a little rusty on the details of the actual manufacturing processes, but here is what I recall of aluminum cylinder manufacturing:

Those Navy cylinders were actually shaped by spinning an aluminum disc and working it over a "mold" to get the final shape. That left an opening at the bottom of the cylinder that was plugged. I don't really know if the plug was threaded or placed there in some other manner, but I suspect threaded then cut off and smoothed over. You should be able to see where that was done on the bottom.

Modern aluminum cylinders (about 1971 and later) are cold stamped out of a solid billet of aluminum which extrudes up the sides of the "punch" within a mold. Then the upper radius and neck are shaped in a separate operation.

(Someone please jump in and help out if I am missing something here)

[Aileron]

I haven't seen the bottom of the cylinders yet, but I suspect they are the plugged ones. Thus no DOT stamp. I think the Navy did away with them when the billet aluminum tanks were made in the 70's. (Huge guess)

Lisa

[Aileron]

...Any ideas? It was interesting that one is stamped "spun".

Lisa

I may be a little rusty on the details of the actual manufacturing processes, but here is what I recall of aluminum cylinder manufacturing:

Those Navy cylinders were actually shaped by spinning an aluminum disc and working it over a "mold" to get the final shape. That left an opening at the bottom of the cylinder that was plugged. I don't really know if the plug was threaded or placed there in some other manner, but I suspect threaded then cut off and smoothed over. You should be able to see where that was done on the bottom.

Modern aluminum cylinders (about 1971 and later) are cold stamped out of a solid billet of aluminum which extrudes up the sides of the "punch" within a mold. Then the upper radius and neck are shaped in a separate operation.

(Someone please jump in and help out if I am missing something here)

Thanks Herman! I think I was typing when you posted~ Thanks for the info!!!!!

[Bryan]

Thanks Herman! I think I was typing when you posted~ Thanks for the info!!!!!

She means Thanks Bill....I think Herman is Sand Dogging it in Bonaire...

[antique diver]

Thanks Herman! I think I was typing when you posted~ Thanks for the info!!!!!

She means Thanks Bill....I think Herman is Sand Dogging it in Bonaire...

I was confused there for a minute...

[JES]

Very nice!

[kgehring]

Cool! I would have the tanks stripped and glass beaded to bring the original appearance back to the tanks.

[Aileron]

Thanks Herman! I think I was typing when you posted~ Thanks for the info!!!!!

She means Thanks Bill....I think Herman is Sand Dogging it in Bonaire...

I was confused there for a minute...

I can only blame it on long day and no reading glasses....grrrrr

Sorry about that Bill...thanks for the info on the tanks!

[antique diver]

She means Thanks Bill....I think Herman is Sand Dogging it in Bonaire...

I can only blame it on long day and no reading glasses....grrrrr

Sorry about that Bill...thanks for the info on the tanks!

Don't worry Lisa, I'm not easily offended

[luis]

The tanks were made from a 6061 aluminum pipe (not a disk). The ends were spun down to make the neck at one end and spun down over a plug on the other end.

I don’t believe the plug was threaded. The manufacturing process was to form (by the spun process) the metal around the plug.


As far as I know, this tanks were design (and primarily) used by EOD (Explosive Ordinance Disposal, or Division) teams, not the UDT / SEAL teams. They were design to approach magnetic mines without setting them off. There are many pictures showing that they were used by other Navy underwater swimmers, but their original intention was for the EOD team.

From what I have read the use of open circuit Scuba became somewhat obsolete for EOD when they added acoustic sensors to magnetic mines. They have to use re-breathers to avoid exhaust bubble noise.


The EOD still uses regular Scuba for other types of ordinance. I met some EOD civilian sub-contractors in Vieques, PR two weeks ago. They have a huge clean-up job in front of them.

[captain]

I have a set like them. They were originally painted battleship gray over a gray/green zinc chromate primer.They were made from aged 6061 aluminum tube spun closed at each end. because the spinning process is not able to completely close the bottom end they are plugged.