Description
DESCRIPTION OF A DIVING MACHINE, K H Klingert
English editions of a rare 18th century German diving book and its supplement..
Karl Heinrich Klingert was an ingenious inventor and mechanic, but an unlikely designer of diving apparatus, living as he did several hundred miles from the sea in eastern Europe. Nevertheless at the end of the eighteenth century he invented and constructed several items of diving apparatus, the last of which was an ‘open’ helmet that also made use of a cylinder of compressed air from which the diver was able to breathe independently of the surface.
Klingert’s designs, however, were not put into practice despite their publication in two of his books: ‘Description of a Diving Machine suitable for use in rivers’ (1797) and ‘A Brief Supplement to the History and Description of a Diving Machine, together with the explanation of a lantern or lamp which burns in any vitiated air, and in water’ (1822).
The ‘open’ helmet was re-invented shortly afterwards and led to a revolution in diving; and much later the use of compressed air for diving became commonplace.
In 2002 the Historical Diving Society published this facsimile of Klingerts two books bound together in a single book, ‘Description of a Diving Machine’. They are translated into English from the original German and describe his pioneering diving equipment in detail. Also included is an authoritative introduction by Michael Jung incorporating much original research.
195mm x 254mm (7.75in x 10in)
Hard back with dust jacket
51 pages
8 black and white illustrations
Limited edition of 500 copies
Published 2002
