For the larger Engineering Group see Siebe plc

Siebe Gorman & Company Ltd was a British company which developed diving equipment and breathing equipment and worked on commercial diving and marine salvage projects. The company advertised itself as 'Submarine Engineers'.

Contents 1 History 2 Operations 3 Product List 3.1 Rebreather equipment 3.2 Other items 4 References 5 External links

[edit] History

• 1819: After the Napoleonic War Augustus Siebe moved to London in England and settled at 5 Denmark Street in Soho in London, where he became an engineer; he was joined by his son, Gorman.^[1]
• 1830: Siebe Gorman started making standard diving dress.
• 1941: Siebe Gorman's factory in Lambeth was bombed during World War II.
• 1941: The company, already planning to leave London, moved to Chessington, Surrey and resumed manufacturing.
• 1948: Siebe Gorman was making aqualungs.
• around 1950: Peak production of standard diving dress.
• 1955 or after: Siebe Gorman stops making standard diving dress.
• 1960's: Siebe Gorman started making scuba gear aimed at the public market (sometimes using the tradenames Essgee and Essjee), although they had made it earlier for work divers and the Navy. They also continued to make diving bell equipment and pressure chambers.
• 1961: Siebe Gorman takes over Heinke, a business founded by Charles Heinke.
• 1975: Siebe Gorman moves to Cwmbran in Wales in 1975 and concentrates on firefighter's breathing equipment.
• 1979: Siebe Gorman & Co Ltd v Barclays Bank Ltd [1979] 2 Lloyd’s Rep 142, a well known UK insolvency law case about book debts in debentures.^[2][3]
• 1985: Siebe Gorman acquires CompAir, a business making compressed air equipment for divers and firefighters.
• 1992: Siebe Gorman was still producing an escape gear system.
• 1995 October: Siebe Gorman still had their premises at Cwmbran.
• 1998 Siebe Gorman's parent company, Siebe plc, sells Siebe Gorman to Norcross Safety Products.
• End of 1998: Norcross closes the plant at Cwmbran and transfers production of breathing apparatus to Dukinfield in Manchester, where they still had capability to make oxygen rebreathers, but did not make or overhaul any there.
• End of 1999: Norcross sold what had been Siebe Gorman as a going concern to an Iranian entrepreneur Parvis Moradifor. The company was re-named Air Master Technology Limited from the name of the famous Siebe Gorman breathing apparatus.
• 2000: Air Master Technology relocated to Swindon in Wiltshire.
• 2001: Air Master Technology ceased trading.
• 2001: Parvis Moradifor sells the assets; he also sells the name Siebe Gorman to a Malaysian concern, who with a factory in Malaysia, still make breathing apparatus and parts for civilian and military use, including an industrial breathing set and a gasmask.^[4][5]

[edit] Operations

The Company was notable for developing the "closed" diving helmet of the standard diving dress and associated equipment. As the helmet was sealed to the diving suit, it was watertight, unlike the previous "open" helmet systems. The new equipment was safer and more efficient and revolutionised underwater work from the 1830s.

Standard diving suit equipment was their main manufacturing operation, producing diving helmets in copper and brass. They also made frogman's equipment for the British armed forces during World War 2, and later, sport scuba gear. See makes of rebreather.

Siebe Gorman and Co manufactured 12 bolt, 8 bolt, 6 bolt, 3 bolt, 2 bolt, no bolt, flange, and 12 bolt square corselet standard diving helmets.

Heinke Ltd in London also made diving gear and had connections with Siebe Gorman.^[6]

[edit] Product List

[edit] Rebreather equipment

This is a partial list of some of their rebreather equipment covering military and civilian, diving and non-diving. Taken from Oxygen Rebreather Database, and afterwards edited.

[edit] Other items

• Gasmasks^[5]
• Drysuits (with tradename "Frogman" when sold to the public market)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Unique rebreather tear down by Jan Willem Bech on Therebreathersite
• Siebe Gorman archive photographs at Trinity Marine
• Siebe Gorman.
• Siebe Gorman Diving Helmets Gallery.
• Current Siebe Gorman website