Filippo Cirio has been a diving pioneer and, in 1957, he blended his diving passion with its artisan talent by founding Cirio Sub (Cirio diving co.) in Turin. This small plant immediately showed itself to be unique for its original projects and the precision of its workmanship, dedicating above all to regulators and to video and photo camera housings however, without ignoring the extremely important spring diving spear gun sector. Remarkable is its video camera Nizo 8 mm model introduced with Cirio brand and the other one introduced with La Photocinesub brand for the Zeiss Contina photo camera, both produced at the end of 1960; are also valid those housings for the large 16 and 35 mm Arriflex. However, its regulator proclaimed the true success of this artisan brand, although most of the time, it designed and produced for large companies such as Pirelli and Tigullio.
Tigullio offered for many years, as the main items of its catalogues, the Abissal Super double-hose double-stage regulator and the standard Abissal single-hose regulator, both of great performance and of unique shapes. The Abissal Super regulator prototype was composed of a pressure reducer connected to the second stage by a rigid hose; as Bruno Cirio remembers who, at that time, was a very young factory assistant, its expansion chamber was built in the Fiat Topolino car horn housing. Everything was made in steel, very heavy but very functional and, during the first test dive on the sea, his father Filippo descended at a depth of 50 meters in the Portofino gulf. In 1958, the final aluminum version was made, with its second stage outdistanced from its main body and equipped with an industrial connection to the first stage, a nut of Ø32 mm, sold together with its large clamping key. In the second series developed in 1960, this first stage connection became a yoke, while the shiny metal parts became chromed. The standard Abissal regulator, born in 1960 quickly evolved; it is unique because of its second stage with a diameter of 110 mm and the side metal discharge pipe in the mouthpiece with a curved chimney shape. "Mini" and "Micro" models followed and became, in 1969, the Pirelli’s SM 70 model; then followed the Antarctic and Bi-regulator models.
In 1978, a robbery reduced the already small company resources and, since then, Cirio Sub company ceased to exist.
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