 Los Angeles, November 20, 2004
Mr. Bev Morgan
Diving Pioneer By Steven M. Barsky © 2005 KMDSI All rights reserved.
If it weren't for Bev Morgan, neither commercial nor sport diving would be where they are today. That's a big statement, but true. Mr. Bev Morgan's ideas and inventions have had a profound effect on the diving industry for over four decades.
Say the words "Kirby Morgan" to any commercial diver and watch the instant recognition in their eyes. Kirby Morgan is the name that identifies the commercial diving helmets and masks developed by Bev Morgan, and sold by his company, Diving Systems International.
Bev began free diving and surfing in 1949, a year after graduating from high school. In those' days he built his' own surfboards and learned to use fiberglass. The skills he learned in using resin and cloth would serve him well years later when he began making fiberglass diving helmets.
In 1952 Bev became a Los Angeles County lifeguard, and learned to use lightweight surface supplied equipment, and trained in the use of oxygen rebreathers. During the same year, he purchased an early Aqua Lung scuba unit and started the first scuba instructor's program for the public, the L.A. County Underwater Program. He also wrote the first diving textbook, Underwater Safety.
Bev also began manufacturing wetsuits from neoprene in 1952. He expanded the business in 1954 with the formation of Dive 'N Surf, the first integrated scuba facility where you could buy dive gear and learn to dive in one location. By 1958, Bev had sold his interest in Dive 'N Surf and began diving commercially for abalone off California.
In the early 60s, the oil companies in California had begun an active program of drilling for oil offshore California. There was a strong need for divers to service the underwater drilling equipment and many divers who had been successful in the abalone business were recruited to work for oil companies. A diver could make $4,000 a month or more; still good money by today's standards, but a phenomenal income at that time.
While Bev had tremendous experience in lightweight dive gear, he had no training in heavy gear, the traditional hardhat gear used for salvage, construction, and oilfield diving.
Despite his lack of experience, Morgan talked his way onto a job in Alaska. Out on the rig, Morgan dressed into heavy gear and dropped into the swirling black waters of Cook Inlet. His job was simple; connect a massive shackle to an anchor system designed to hold the rig in place in the six knot currents found in the inlet. Unable to see, Bev directed the topside crew to take up slack on the wire ropes that supported the shackle, not realizing he had completely pinched off his air supply. As the air to his helmet dwindled and stopped, Bev climbed his hose until he reached a knot of hose and cables. He freed the hose and managed to surface safely.
Bev realized he was in over his head and soon returned to Santa Barbara. He became involved with General Offshore Diving (later renamed Ocean Systems) an international commercial diving contractor. He designed and manufactured life‑support systems, underwater photography equipment, and assisted with the construction of the Purisima diving bell. Bev could see. that although heavy gear had distinct advantages, the future lay in bell diving and the diver who could swim and was more mobile than a heavy gear diver. These new divers would need a lightweight mask that would allow them to swim freely at the end of a hose.
Bev had built a number of lightweight masks for abalone diving, and together with Bob Kirby, a former Navy diver, developed a helmet that could recirculate helium making deep. diving economical. In 1966 they formed the Kirby Morgan Corporation and began building heavy gear air and mixed gas helmets, fiberglass masks and helmets, and other diving equipment.
Although Kirby and Morgan developed many helmets, including the "Clam Shell" for the Navy's Sea Lab project, the product that first made them famous was the Kirby Morgan Band Mask, or KMB‑7. It was the first lightweight fiberglass mask to incorporate an adjustable demand regulator, an equalizing device, an oral‑nasal mask (to reduce carbon dioxide), communications, and a removable neoprene hood connected to the mask by a band. The mask was held in place by a head harness or "spider.
The development of the Kirby Morgan Band Mask was a classic case of the right product at the right place and time. When an oil company representative told Bev they would need 5,000 divers in the next few years, Bev knew the diving industry could not meet that demand. There were probably less than 100 qualified commercial divers in the late 60s.
It took months for a diver to learn to use heavy gear properly, he could train a diver to use lightweight gear in a few weeks. The band mask was a piece of gear that could be used by relatively inexperienced divers wearing wetsuits or dry suits. The Kirby Morgan Band Mask was eventually approved for use by the U.S. Navy as the Mark I mask.
Bev continued developing masks and helmets for both the commercial diving industry and the military. In 1975 Kirby and Morgan produced a diving helmet known as the Kirby 15, and the company name was changed to Diving Systems International (DSl). Their next big success was the SuperLite‑17®.
The SuperLite‑17 incorporated all the best features of the band mask, but with numerous improvements. It keeps the diver's head dry and warm, and offers tremendous head protection. Many divers would not be alive today if it were not for the strength of the helmet's fiberglass shell. The SuperLite‑17® also provides superior communications.
Kirby left the company and Morgan continued to work on many new improvements to the 17 and finally the entirely new SuperLite-27® was developed and marketed in the early ‘90s. This led to the development of the three newest helmets from Kirby Morgan, the 37, 47, and 57. Today the company goes by the name Kirby Morgan Dive Systems, Inc.
By 1985, the DSI team was designing another full face mask, the EXO‑26®. Bev collaborated with engineer Pete Ryan and then president, Skip Dunham. The EXO‑26® is a favorite mask with diving scientists, search and rescue teams, and technical divers. Today, DSI produces the KMB‑18®, the SuperLite‑17®, the SuperLite‑27®, the EXO‑26®, Kirby Morgan® helmets 37, 47, and 57, the KMACS-5®, and the M-48 SuperMask® and numerous other products.
Visiting Bev at his office is like taking a walk through modern diving history. There are boxes of ideas and inventions that were incorporated in existing products, as well as several prototypes that are soon to be in production. I wish I could tell you about what Bev's working on now, but I've been sworn to secrecy. Suffice it to say that he is about to change the future of diving yet again, and you're going to like what you see!
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