In 1958, there were still only a handful of companies manufacturing diving equipment, and in recent years, not many brands had joined the historic ones established in the previous decade. This is why the launch of the Swedish company Poseidon, founded by Ingvar Elfström, caused a stir in the small international diving community that year. Poseidon introduced an immediately interesting product: the Cyclon single-hose regulator.
It features a very compact diaphragm first stage and a downstream second stage with an original design that proved so successful, remaining virtually unchanged almost seventy years later.
Poseidon Cyclon |
Poseidon Jetstream |
The product quickly became synonymous with robustness and reliability, adopted for this reason by professionals around the world. Subsequent series are distinguishable from each other almost exclusively by serial numbers, as is the case with the 1972 Model 300, which can withstand a supply pressure of 300 bar.
In 1978, it was followed by the innovative Jetstream, a servo-assisted uo-stream regulator with a distinctive second stage, black in the basic version and silver in the commemorative version celebrating the company's 40th anniversary. Its ability to deliver ample air even at extreme depths made it immediately popular among deep-sea divers, who had to contend with increased air density and the resulting increase in inhalation effort proportional to ambient pressure.
Regulators were soon paired with other completely original pieces of equipment, such as the 1968 Unisuit, likely the first ever neoprene drysuit equipped with inlet and outlet valves. Wearing it required acrobatic skills, but it was the only one at the time capable of providing effective protection from the cold even in icy waters.
Poseidon Unisuit |
From the same period is the Aquasport lamp, which then evolved in 1990 into the Comby Light with a plastic body in an unprecedented double tube shape.
In the early years of the new century, the Xtream regulator, certified for depths of up to 200 meters, was released, but this period was all about new rebreathers, and in 2006, Poseidon introduced the revolutionary MK VI, a fully automatic device intended for the recreational market. A further technological exclusivity, demonstrating that for the Gothenburg-based company, always distant from the fashions of the moment, the search for new performance cannot stop.
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