Wetsuits are used in a variety of water sports, for preserving and insulating body heat. Hugh Bradner is usually considered as the inventor of the modern day Wetsuit. The History of Wetsuits can not actually pinpoint the person who invented the first wetsuit, however, Bradner was an SIO physicist, and along with UC-Berkeley came up with the idea of using water to keep the body heat warmed. He knew that water was a better heat conductor than air.
Originally wetsuits did not have any backing material and one had to be very careful when taking the suit off, as the rubber would stick to their skin. They also were very easily torn. To prevent this from happening divers would use talc powder, rubbing it through out the wetsuit, which helped the rubber slide easily over the skin. Later on backing material was made from nylon sheeting, however, the suit still had the rubber side exposed and it was not only stiff as well as rigid, it had very limited flexibility.
The first wetsuits used the traditional ways of sewing the strips together, which did not work very well. Having to punch holes in the wetsuit for the thread to fit into, caused water to flow through it and the stretching of the foam rubber stretched the seams and the wetsuit would feel cold around those seams. This type of sewing the suit together also made the suit easier to tear along those seams.
Today the seams are taped and glued. After many experiments a wetsuit was made with closed cell, neoprene foam which is a synthetic rubber containing many small bubbles of nitrogen gas. Neoprene foam is very buoyant and helps swimmers stay afloat; this is why some surfers use wetsuits. Since Nitrogen gas has a very low thermal conductivity, it reduces the heat from the body and keeps a thin layer of water between the body and the wetsuit warm enough to help divers prevent hypothermia, which can happen even in warm water. The neoprene foam wetsuits tend to lose buoyancy the deeper the diver goes as the bubbles compress it also causes a loss of thermal protection. A wetsuit must have a snug fit in order to work correctly, if the wetsuit is too big it can cause the suit to loose the warm water between the suit and the skin. Some wetsuits can be obtained which use Merino Wool and titanium fibers to add more warmth to the suit.
However, Neoprene wetsuits were not used in Europe at that time. The English and French both used a natural sponge rubber which was lined with stockinet, produced by Siebel Gorman, the Heinke Dolphin Suit that Gorman developed were manufactured in green for males and white for females. In the 1960's Britain began manufacturing an Aquafort Neoprene Wetsuit; designed by the Dunlop Sports Company, this suit was more designed for the diver's safety. The design did not last long and soon wetsuits went back to the black types. During the 70's people began to see the type of wetsuits that we see today. That is the colors were more than just plain black, however, the black is still used in most military operations. At this time wetsuits were developed with a double backed neoprene, so the foam rubber was wedged between two protective outer layers, which increased the tear resistance of the material. Since the 80's wetsuits have seen an even greater amount of colors including bright fluorescents, which are very common.
Today even children as young as toddler age can be seen wearing specially sized kids wet suits on beaches all over the world. Wetsuits are offered in many different thicknesses which depend on what they are used for. Some suits are called body suits and are thin because they offer a minimal protection from jelly fish and coral.
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