$5,640
Comex, circa 1980. A fine and rare heavy chrome metal diving flashlight accompanied by a regulator. Both signed Comex Pro. Notes The present torch model (Comex Pro bell torch) is extremely rare since it had proven to be inefficient with the light it produced and COMEX quickly replaced it with the improved Divex model. Modern offshore drilling began in 1947 in the Gulf of Mexico to accommodate an American surge in oil consumption and operations utilized little more than simple extensions of systems already tested on land. As the industry evolved rapidly in the 1950s, worldwide demand for crude oil and products refined from it exploded and logically, in the ensuing decades offshore drilling operations advanced into areas such as the North Sea, demanding innovative methods. While commercial divers worked initially at depths between 5 and 30 meters and used compressed air like in the 19th Century, now the oil industry’s increased demands asked for improved techniques to dive deeper than a maximum of 60 meters. Consequently, a professional diver’s routine included dealing with life-threatening risk and between 1965 and 1990, 56 confirmed diving fatalities occurred in the North Sea alone. Industry pioneer Henri Germain Delauze founded the COMEX (Compagnie Maritime d’Expertise) firm in 1961 at a time, when industrial deep-sea diving didn’t yet exist. A southern France native born in 1929, Delauze became an engineer and started diving during his military service, before working
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2008-04-17
