Please let me know if you know the original manufacturer who first started selling this mask in the world.

[tsuji]

Nice to meet you all. This is the first time I am posting an article.

A Portuguese based company called Picasso sells a mask called Infima.

The shape of the frame of this mask is distributed by many other manufacturers in the exact same shape.

My guess is that this is because the design right, which is the intellectual property right of the design, has expired.

You can still find many other masks with the same design as the Picasso Infima, such as Mares' Sealhouette, Sigalsub's Mate, and Spetton's Matt.

I think this is because the design shape of the frame also matches the needs of users who feel that they have a better view through the mask.

I would like to know if anyone knows who was the first manufacturer in the world to come up with and market this design that fits easily on the faces of people all over the world and is universally accepted.

I'm sure there are other enthusiasts around the world who have spent their careers in the field, so I hope someone can give me a simple answer to this question!

 

[DRW]

Nice to meet you all. This is the first time I am posting an article.

A Portuguese based company called Picasso sells a mask called Infima.

The shape of the frame of this mask is distributed by many other manufacturers in the exact same shape.

My guess is that this is because the design right, which is the intellectual property right of the design, has expired.

You can still find many other masks with the same design as the Picasso Infima, such as Mares' Sealhouette, Sigalsub's Mate, and Spetton's Matt.

I think this is because the design shape of the frame also matches the needs of users who feel that they have a better view through the mask.

I would like to know if anyone knows who was the first manufacturer in the world to come up with and market this design that fits easily on the faces of people all over the world and is universally accepted.

I'm sure there are other enthusiasts around the world who have spent their careers in the field, so I hope someone can give me a simple answer to this question!

This design may be ultimately traceable to the Cressi Pinocchio diving mask, which is still in production 70 years after its launch.

According to Cressi, una leggenda italiana nel mondo, "A world success was the Pinocchio mask (above) which was produced in 1952. When it came out it became an international success, with that funny rubber nose it allows divers to better compensate, abandoning annoying nose clips. They were cutting-edge products that made Cressi Sub famous throughout Europe and America. Today everything seems obvious but, before the Pinocchio, there were only oval glass lens masks covering the whole face and they often made the descent phase slow and painful."

And the image above shows Luigi Ferraro himself wearing the Cressi Pinocchio diving mask he invented. According to Ferraro's official website at Pinocchio Mask | Luigi Ferraro: "Another of Ferraro's inventions that was destined to leave a permanent mark in the evolution of diving equipment, is the Pinocchio mask, which again, he designed for Cressi in 1952. The Monogoggle, the prototype of all masks, was a French invention that only covered the eyes and excluded the nose. For this reason, it was not able to compensate for external pressure. The next generation of diving masks improved comfort and were more effectively sealed but could not resolve the problem of pressure compensation as the nose was still covered by the glass. Ferraro was the first man to design a rubber face shield which is soft and, as it covers the nose, enables the wearer to easily compensate for external pressure on the eardrum. His invention was successful worldwide, not only because of the feature mentioned above, but also because of its reduced size, its excellent adhesion to the face and its good visibility. A veritable "cult" within the diving mask field, Pinocchio was the most famous mask in the world. Venerated by generations of divers, it was such an advanced design when it was introduced on the market that it is still valid today, over fifty years later. Pinocchio is still produced by Cressi Sub today and it is certainly the diving product that has been on the market the longest."

Of course, the Cressi Pinocchio is not identical to the Picasso Infirma that interests you, but it appears to represent the basic design that has undergone what have been subtle but significant changes over the years to improve comfort and efficiency or simply to look a little different from models created by commercial competitors.

 

[popgun pete]

Early dive masks have the strap either part of the mask body or mounted on metal buckles that swivel on lugs that are moulded into the mask body, the mask frame being simply a rim holding the glass. Nemrod made a number of dive mask models in the late sixties that moved to a twin lens design and the original Tusa Splendive had this look. The real key is when two glass plates are mounted in the plastic frame rather than a shaped single glass plate that presents two lenses with a divider moulded in the centre. Also moulded plastic frames became the mounting points for the strap buckles rather than the rubber skirt. This Picasso mask has skirt mounted buckles, so returns to the earlier format. The frame of two lens masks needs to hold the lenses in the same plane and the success of making such a mask dates back to that achievement, especially when the plastic frame no longer works as a clamp split at the sides and secured by vertical side screws such as used in the Beuchat Minimax from the late sixties. Next was the use of snap in lenses enabling optically ground inserts for vision correction, such masks dating back to the Mares Vedo where screw in alloy rings were used to secure each lens.

 

[tsuji]

I was surprised by this, as the answers were posted more quickly than I had imagined.

Thanks to both of you for posting the answer to this question.

However, it seems that I did not ask the question in the right way and gave both of you a different interpretation.

I also understood that CRESSI-SUB's Pinocchio was the progenitor of the diving mask.

I also understood that the attachment point of the strap belt buckle has evolved over time.

What I wanted to know was the name of the manufacturer and model that first invented the design of the frame in the image attached in the attachment.

Since the design right, which is the intellectual property right for the design of the frame, has already expired, I assume that the first manufacturer of this mask was the one who marketed it 20 years ago.

There must have been an originator of the diving mask, imitated by Mares Sealhouette, Sigal Sub mate, Spetton Matt, Picasso Infima.

If you know the name of the manufacturer or model for this question, please let us know.


I'm looking forward to working with you.

 

[popgun pete]

It is impossible to say, no one copies a design exactly, in fact they often borrow different features from different masks and create a mix and match for their "new" model. It only takes a few changes such as a fatter curve or different angling of the face plate, or a different strap buckle detail to make their mask slightly different. The Chinese have been guilty of making direct copies when they first started manufacturing "professional equipment", but even they have their own stylists in recent years. The move to wider vision with less internal volume (for equalizing) has been responsible for the mask evolution we see today and moulded frames that are rigid and durable and don't separate from the skirt. That is when twin lens masks arrived as before everything relied on metal bands and reinforcing ribs or strakes on the rubber mask body.

 

[marco15499]

I think the original design was from Technisub, with their "Micromask". Everybody copied that mask.