Pete: To the best of my knowledge, while Submarine Products was in business from 1959 to 1990, the company never gave the brand name "Submarine" to any of its merchandise. The firm was based in Hexham, further up the Tyne Valley from where I live in North East England. It mainly distributed "Tarzan" diving equipment manufactured by Beuchat of Marseilles, best known for inventing the Jetfin. I have the 1960, 1964, 1966, 1969 and 1980 Submarine Products catalogues; the 1966 edition can be viewed in its entirety here:
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The only spearguns Submarine Products distributed were "Tarzan" branded, i.e. of Beuchat provenance.
Within the context of underwater diving, "Submarine" was one of the brand names of another French enterprise: Kent Rubber Company of Anglet. Thank you so much for posting that "Submarine" advertisement, which I have never seen before now. The first fin in the ad also appears in glorious colour on the
Skin Diving History website:
And here's the patent protecting this unusual fin design:
And here's a Kent Submarine snorkel-mask:
The pattern of triangles on the top of the mask matches the plainer mask on the Kent Rubber ad. As for the company itself, I found the following entry for the Kent Rubber Company in a French-language diving equipment directory somewhere:
Kent Adour Caoutchouc. Sarl., 39, avenue d’Espagne, 64600 Anglet. Tél. (59) 03.84.01. Télex : 578002. « Kent », « Submarine », palmes, masques, tubas et tous articles de plongée et de chasse sous-marine.
English translation: Kent Adour Rubber Company Ltd. 39, avenue d'Espagne, 64600 Anglet. Tel. (59) 03.94.01. Telex: 578002. Brands: "Kent", "Submarine". Products: fins, masks, snorkels, all diving and underwater hunting equipment.
If the ad above is anything to go by, Kent Rubber was best known for its hot water bottles. According to the June 1964 document at
COUR DE CASSATION, Chambre sociale, du 10 juin 1964, Publié au bulletin | Legifrance, its other products included bathing caps and balloons. At some stage, the company adopted the name "Kent Adour Caoutchouc", which identified the manufacturer with rubber products, as "caoutchouc" is French for "rubber".
Focusing on the Kent range of basic diving gear, my principal source of information is the 1967 edition of an "Equipment List" I have in my possession, published by Calypso Sports Ltd of Poole in the UK. A summary follows of the Kent products Calypso Sports imported from France for the British market.
Face Masks
- Kent Junior (Black). £1 3s 0d.
- Kent Senior (Black). £1 5s 6d.
- Kent Biarritz (Blue). 13s 9d.
Compensators
- Kent Compensator Beryx (Black). £1 9s 6d.
- Kent Compensator with Drain Valve (Black). £1 17s 2d.
Snorkels
- Kent Rubber (Black). 10s 9d.
Goggles
- Kent Senior Champion Goggles (Blue). 8s 0d.
Swim Fins
- Kent Tiki Standard, Adjustable (Black). £2 10s 8d.
- Kent Tiki Large (Black). £2 10s 8d.