Diving valves and regulators

Claim 1

A valve for use in diving breathing equipment comprising a housing connectable to a compressed air tank and having an air inlet passage with two branches and an air outlet, an automatic valving means in said housing normally closing one of said branches in response to the pressure of the surrounding water as against the pressure in said one of said branches, a manually operated valving means in said housing normally closing the other of said branches and a third valving means in said housing communicating with both said automatic and manual valving means and the air outlet of said housing and operable by the differential between the air pressure under control in said third valving means and the pressure of the surrounding water, said automatic valving means comprising a cylindrical housing being mounted in said first housing, a shut-off valve being slidably mounted in said cylindrical housing, a coil spring tending to retain said valve against said one of said branches closing the same, means for adjusting the pressure of said spring, said cylindrical housing having openings venting the spring side of said shut-off valve to ambient pressure, an elastic cap covering said cylindrical housing openings, a lubricating substance in said elastic cap and cylindrical housing and an outside cap having openings, mounted on said first housing and covering said elastic cap with said outside cap openings being open to said elastic cap whereby outside water can act on said shut-off valve tending to close the same.