USD one piece mouth part/hose assembly

[eskimo3883]

I have an original USD one piece mouth part/hose assembly in black and another in blue. Although the blue one is very soft and even divable I was thinking it was the older of the two. Can anyone comment on which color came first and when?

[ovalis]

I can't say for sure, but I believe the black came out first and probably came out in probably 1952. It is listed in the April 1953 USD catalog. Nick Icorn told me the blue hose assembly was introduced with the blue label broxton's. Which makes perfect sense. The blue label was introduced probably in late 1953. It coincides coming out for the 1954 model year, in which their 1954 catalog is blue. It just seenms to me that they had a blue theme going on for 1954. I was little thrown off a little on a recent ebay auction that had a green label broxton with what looked like a blue hose assembly that was sold in June 1953. I have a feeling that it must have been swapped out possibly. Anyhow, my guess is that the black came out in 1952, followed by the blue in late 1953, and went back to black sometime in 1954 or 1955. I think the blue was short lived because you simply don't see too many of them.

[eskimo3883]

Hi Ovalis

Thanks for the info on the hose color. The recent ebayed green label broxton with the blue hose likely had a few things switched. You could see a Hooka port in the photos, so I don't think it means anything that it had the blue hose.

[ovalis]

The green label that I was talking about didn't have a hookah port. It was original and had a whole bunch of other items from the same time period, catalog, sales receipt (June 1953), pressure gauge, weight belt, etc. The set sold for $2400. I can't say for sure if the hose was blue, but it sure looked like it. I hope that it wasn't blue, because it would sure help the theory that the blue hoses started with the blue labels.

[eskimo3883]

Hi ovalis,

I saved the ebay pics for the $2400 sale. The hoses were blue one piece ( I attached the pic) . I also saved pics from the other green label that sold for $1,113.88 (230108788066). Its hoses were black one piece. Hard to believe the $2400 reg saw much time in the water but they may have just replaced the original hoses a year after they bought the reg.

[YankDownUnder]

According to HDS magazine, Volume 13, Issue 1, Number 42 (Phil Nuytten), the green label first came out with a chromed mouth piece and black two piece hoses. It then changed to the one piece vulcanized hose. My green label is in un-used condition and has the blue one piece hose assembly. It is a late green label, with a serial number in the 9000 range.

The article does not say what color the green label one piece hose assembly was. It does say the blue label had blue hoses. I would guess that there was a bit of a pattern, as to what hoses belonged to what regulator, but that both could appear on the green and blue labeled regulators.

I collected vintage guns and learned that Winchested rifles had whatever rear sight was handy and varied from gun to gun, as several vendors provided sights. I would guess the regulators were the same. Manufacturers often vary what they sell, depending on what they have on hand and you should not be too worried about which was right, as both might be.