Solo diving II. In the late 1940s, after the invention of the Aqua-lung by Cousteau and Gagnan, the first retail underwater breathing apparatus for sport was commercially marketed. As the sport expanded through the 1950s, several sporting organisations – notably the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) – began scuba training programmes for swimming enthusiasts, thus began the codification of what was believed to be proper practices for the expanding amateur sport of scuba diving. The buddy system was thought to be a useful corollary to the "never swim alone" edicts of the YMCA swimming and lifesaving programmes. Cousteau independently implemented a buddy
Submarine Products Submarine Products Submarine Products Ltd (1959−1990) was a diving gear manufacturer, with a factory in Hexham in Northumberland, England. It was founded in 1959 by Lt.Cdr. Hugh Oswell. Until the late 1950s, the British Siebe Gorman company patents kept aqualungs expensive in Britain, and many British sport divers had to use home-made breathing sets and ex-armed forces or ex-industry rebreathers. Some became expert at home-making scuba diving demand regulators from industrial parts such as Calor Gas regulators. In 1959 Hugh Oswell designed around the Cousteau-Gagnan patent and made sport diving breathing sets accessibly inexpensive. Submarine Products Ltd were the first