Early Years
Eldred was born in Melbourne in 1920. As a young man he lived by the sea near Sorrento on the Mornington Peninsula south of Melbourne. He started snorkelling as soon as mask, fins and snorkel were available, and wished that he could make or obtain some sort of free-swimming breathing set, until World War II intervened. After World War II in the late 1940s he designed a sport diving oxygen rebreather. Eldred said he had never dived with the Cousteau-Gagnan model of the Aqua Lung, but knew of its existence and its principle. The Aqua Lung was protected by patent and difficult to obtain in Australia. Siebe Gorman had the license to manufacture for Commonwealth countries and could not meet demands. When Eldred decided that rebreathers were not suitable for general sport use, he shifted his focus to developing the world's first single-hose open-circuit scuba set, both with tradename "Porpoise".
Read more about this topic: Ted Eldred
Famous quotes related to early years:
“Even today . . . experts, usually male, tell women how to be mothers and warn them that they should not have children if they have any intention of leaving their side in their early years. . . . Children don’t need parents’ full-time attendance or attention at any stage of their development. Many people will help take care of their needs, depending on who their parents are and how they chose to fulfill their roles.”
—Stella Chess (20th century)