Video: © Kendelia Videos.

This is the diver from the Lego Series 8 (8833) that was released in 2012. On the wrist is the Panerai Luminor Submersible 1950 3 Days Automatic Bronzo wristwatch otherwise known as the PAM 382 that was launched in 2011.

According to lego.fandom.com, the Diver is the only minifigure in Series 8 to have printing on its back.

In the past, such a diver’s helmet was typically made of copper. Bronze is an alloy that is primarily made of copper with the addition of tin and other metals such as aluminium, manganese, nickel or zinc.

This explains the PAM 382 as seen on the wrist earlier. It also explains a diver’s helmet seen in the video and its engraving on the case back of the Bell&Ross BR02-92 Diver Bronze.

The term for the diving gear used by this Lego diver is known as the “scaphander”. According to the article “Historical Development of Diving and its Contribution to Marine Science and Research” by Dr Hermann Heberlein and published in a 1972 Cambridge University Press Journal*, the scaphander term was used for the first time by M. de la Chapelle, in 1775, in his book: Traite de la construction theorique et prarique du Scaphandre .

The scaphander term refers to the gear a diver uses comprising a round copper helmet with a sight window and closed dry diving suit, lead shoes, a communication string towards the surface and air supply from a tube connected to the air pump on ships.

Perhaps the use of the scaphander became more widespread in the 19th century. According to the book “Sponges: A Museum Victoria Field Guide” written by Lisa Goudie, Mark Norman and Julian Finn, “scaphander” is described as a diving suit of the 1800s.

They write that a revolution occurred in the sea sponge industry in the 1860s with the introduction of the diving suit or scaphander. The suit was made of rubber with a heavy bronze collar and helmet. With a rubber hose from the boat connected to the suit that pumped air, divers could go deeper and spend more time searching for the “diminishing supply of sponges”.

The authors add that: “At that time, however, the risks of compressed air use and the need for decompression were not known. Tragically one diver in three was left either dead or crippled by decompression sickness, otherwise known as ‘the bends’.”

Was this the reason why the authors have also noted that the scaphander was nicknamed “Satan’s machine” by divers of the past?

This Lego diver, as described on lego.com, is “a born explorer” plumbing the ocean depths in search of new discoveries and the answers to old mysteries.

He can spend hours submerged thanks to his weighted belt and boots, and as long as someone on the surface keeps pumping air into his diving hose. This Lego diver isn’t afraid of sharks or giant squids. The grumpy Ocean King considers him a friend and has asked this Lego diver to look after his pet catfish when he is away.

свернуть