Many thanks to professional diver and helmet designer David L. Clark for his fantastic help on this part
Introduction
Diving helmets are large, bulky to handle and often restrict the diver from getting into small spaces or keep him from getting his face really close to his work. Because of the large volume the diver needs a lot of weight to stay down as well. In the early 1940-ies Art McCray of Seattle Washington USA developed a commercial helmet. He reduced the volume of the bonnet by giving it the same diameter as the neckring. Less weight was needed this way but more important: the hat had neutral buoyancy so the diver could work easily with his head down. Also, the diver was able to get closer to his work. Only 8 "real" Art McCray helmets were produced. Morse did the job and the bonnets were fitted on an Morse commercial breastplate. Art McCray said that when he ordered the first helmets; Morse asked him if he made a mistake on the size of the helmet. When McCray replied that the helmet size was correct, Morse's reply was "divers in the northwest must have awfully small heads".
Art McCray helmet
All true McCray helmets are built on Morse commercial breastplates. The breastplate neckring is raised about 3/4" to accommodate an air channel around the neckring. Air enters the breastplate in the rear of the raised neckring, passes through the air channel, and enters the helmet through a rectangular opening in the front center of the air channel. There were other helmets built by Morse with a raised neck ring for the air inlet.
Two of these helmets are pictured in Leon Lyons book "Helmets of the Deep" on pages 76 and 80.
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This is one of the last 2 real Art McCray helmets ever built. Note the raised neckring on the breastplate. This raised neckring has an airchannel around it. The air enters through the gooseneck in the back and exits through a slot in the front. Incoming air is directed to the divers' face. Photo courtesy of Dave Clark. |
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McCray type helmet
The terms "McCray helmet", "McCray type helmet" are being applied to all helmets that have a bonnet in the same diameter as the neckring. Art McCray had the first small helmets produced, but divers all over the US copied the small helmet. These helmets were called Pacific Northwest Modifieds by many local divers.
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Hockett
An important issue with
small volume helmets is the position of the control valve and phone inlet.
Here you see Leither Hocketts' diving helmet. He deserves the credit of
designing the air control valve and the phone penetration inlet on the
breastplate. This idea came up in 1948. |
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Garrison 8 Divers helmet
Professional diving company Garrison 8 Divers copied the Art McCray style helmet around 1967.
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pictures was taken in spring 1967. Dave Clarks' 6 year old son Steve is holding the Garrison small volume helmet that is pictured on pages 166-167 of Leon Lyons book "Helmets of the Deep". Photo courtesy of Dave Clark. |
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The same
helmet a while later (after it had been on the job for a while). This was
the first helmet of this type. |
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Dave Clark and Kirk Anderson
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Art McCray
type diving helmet produced by Dave Clark and Kirk Anderson around 1968. They
too copied McCray's small helmet, and Leiter Hockett's air control valve and phone penetration in the front of the breastplate.
They made a wooden plug, and had the copper helmet blanks spun at a local metal spinning outfit. The donor helmet was
sweated apart; the faceplate bored out; and the exhaust valve modified. The helmet was reassembled on the small spinning. The air control valve was fabricated. The non return valve is downstream of the air control valve, and is inside the breastplate. The phone wire penetration is a hydraulic fitting. |
Unknown producers
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| A McCray type helmet. Unknown producer. Notice the bonnet is used on a MKV Breastplate. Air inlet and communication elbow are mounted to the breastplate. Between dives the tenders can simply remove the bonnet and communicatie with the diver. |  |
