DESCO Nuclear Diving Helmet

This heavy Commercial helmet uses the standard commercial pattern breastplate and top shell. Contact DESCO for price quotation when price is not shown.

The DESCO Nuclear Diving Helmet has features for use in extreme contamination situations. The standard banana tube exhaust is replaced with a Helium type double exhaust mounted on top and in back on the shell. The brass "Screw In" front door is replaced with a clear shatter resistant Acrylic "Screw In" front window. The air control valve is integrated into the helmet and the air is ducted to the windows through tubes from a central diffuser. Communications is through two blind terminals set in Phenolic insulators which straddle the air inlet elbow.

History

The DESCO Nuclear Helmet came into being from a design by John Peterson of Peterson's Diving of Chicago, IL in the late 1980's. Three diving firms (Peterson's, Scott, and Chicago) in northern Illinois were owned by extended family members. After John retired these helmets were used by Scott Diving in nuclear power plant maintenance dives. Since preventing water infiltration is critical in nuclear diving every method available to prevent it was incorporated into the design.

The early helmets used the Morse air control valve while current helmets incorporate the Browne Commercial air control valve. The communications connection is unique in the design is totally blind (no opening between the inside and outside). Brass rod is epoxied into a phenolic insulator with only the ends drilled and tapped for screws. This eliminates the possibility of leakage passed the terminals.

Another feature of the Nuclear helmet is its use of the U.S. Navy Helium helmet double exhaust valve. The Navy developed this valve in the late 1940's due to salt water leaking back into the helmets. If the salt water came in contact with the scrubbing agent in the canister Chlorine gas was produced. The result of an accident of this kind was serious chemical burns to skin, eyes, and lungs or a particularly nasty death. The effectiveness of the double exhaust valve made it a natural choice for inclusion on the Nuclear helmet.

One feature of the Nuclear helmet was the solid Acrylic front door. It does away with the heavy cast brass door, retaining ring, and guard. DESCO would not build another helmet using this method until the Browne Commercial Helmet some twenty years later. Breastplated helmets have fallen largely out of favor for commercial work. The majority of contaminated diving is now handled by the Air Hat.

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