I propose that Cdiver has a contest between all the guys that have made their own hats.  Not for the guys who hot-rod out their manufactured rigs, although that could be a sub-category.  I suppose there should be a mask category too.  And to round it out, maybe a widget and gizmo section or so...

Victory comes with the following honors.

Entry into a cheezy hall of fame with pics and stuff,

bragging rights for a year, or longer if we forget to do it on time next year.

A cool title and honorary.... something or other, donated by......... so and so and... what's his face

a plaque put under the winning rig, possibly a mount made for the helmet by that one guy who does that stuff, likely on the mantle, elaborating on its various coolness, neatness or other ness's that may apply.


May be kind of fun.

Individuals who are also existing helmet manufacturers, or work for one, to apply, must build the rig submitted entirely by their own hand and design, without company or other asset or assistance and not be remotely similar to a model they currently in production by them.

May be really really fun actually.

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Got any pics of your stovepipe hat from before you where in the buiz, and just making one's for your own use?
I like it, simple, pragmatic, cool.

Saw ya suiting up to dive on a McDermott Jet sled, so I can guess that it stayed put just fine.

Thanks for the pics and narrative, really awesome job.
I am not near my computor now but I will get you some pics when I get back home. I will tell you how I made it then.
Thanks Martin,

Just the name "Sovepipe Hat" deserves elaboration, lol, the attempted visualizations keep falling shy, it ain't just an abe lincoln style costume hat is it?

That would be a bit anticlimactic, and likely make me send you a picture of a naked, grossly obese woman, preferably in a compromising pose that illicits a mild to uncontrollable gag reflex on those it is aimed at...lol.
I have no idea who named it "stovepipe". I never named it. I took a band mask frame to an art foundry that does sculptures and had them cast me a bronze frame. I took brass strips 1" x 1/8" and framed a helmet and then skinned it over with 1/8" brass plate using refrigeration mil-spec silver brazing rods to connect it all and then used my band mask parts to finish it off with the regulator, exhaust, sideblock, ect...
Richard Ramos aka Rico Suave named it the "Excalibur" since it looked sortof like a jousting knights helmet. Sucker worked great but was big butt ugly. Some of the wimpier tenders said it was scary looking.
Correct me if I am wrong, I have seen a similar hat and band-mask setup... is it similar to that one by that one guy who was lost track of, with the pic from that one site, I forget which one.

I really thought that it was cool! Even if I had never even seen it, which I can't recall if I did or not, and if I do I cannot recall the context in which it was originally viewed... uh...good description, it like, painted a picture...

Bev Morgan invented water!
Ed thats gonna be hard to beat . Just based on vintage kick A$$ness and professionalIZM.
Eric Rosado helmet is a very well built system, this is a free flow helmet.

This was featured in Offshore Diver Magazine Issue Number 3, pages 11-14

You can down load a copy from URL:

http://www.offshorediver.com/pdf/ODM_3.pdf
There was another one too, the Hydro-Star in offshore diver mag issue, 6

http://www.offshorediver.com/pdf/ODM_6.pdf

pages 22-26

Looked well done as well.

Also noticed a vintage Miller ad in that issue, RIP BEN!!!!! As well as a pic of a kirby designed full face mask, I'm guessing prior to the combined KM days, looked really cool. Was it Kirby or Morgan who invented the original MK1Mod0/MK20 style bandmasks, or a combined or corporate effort?

I am impressed thus far with all of the homemade diving helmets, officially nominated or not.
I would like to see more like Ed's, from back in the day, especially those that have helped our gear evolve the public domain definition and standard design of a modern demand diving helmet.

Looking at faceplates and regulators on the front of hats since the 1960's, moving the date for eminent and public domain of those features back around a decade and a half, especially with photographic record of predating technologies.

I posthumously nominate Ben's First bronze Hat, regulator, rounded faceplace on the front since the sixties as well..... Anyone have any more info on it?

Lots of similar looking helmets from the sixties and early sevanties out there, nomination from the wh*** of the community are welcome, even if you where not the designer, would go a long way in establishing when this configuration really entered public domain and clear some time-line misconceptions for those in practice of jurist prudence, intellectual property related.

You guys rock!
If you're going to nominate Ben Miller's helmets you should go back to the beginning and give him credit for inventing the first fiberglass helmet and his bronze helmet.
I would've but I don't know of any pictures or examples of his fiberglass work... :(
anybody?
8 yrs before the SL came into existance Ben Miller made his his fiberglass helmet.

From the Miller website:
"In 1967, Ben went to work for Ocean Systems Inc. where he had the opportunity to try many helmets and masks. This experience led Ben to design and build his own fiberglass helmet, and set him on the path as a manufacturer. In 1969, the bronze 100 Series helmet was built, followed in 1970 by the Miller quick release weight belt buckle. "

Pictures of the Miller Fiberglass Helmet made in 1967-68 can be found at the following link:

http://www.divingheritage.com/benmillerkern.htm

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