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Poseidon
Ingvar Elfström, was already a young boy in the mid-40s when he used to look down to the sea floor during his fishing trips with his father.
The only problem was that there was no dive equipment to buy. Therefore, in order to discover this world, he had to develop and manufacture his equipment himself.
The first prototype of a divng regulator was developed in 1954. In the same year Ingvar formed the diving club Poseidon. Thus he got the chance to exchange experiences with other interested. The first series of Poseidon Senior double hose regulators was made by
Ingvar home in the kitchen.
After a few years he started to develop his regulators with the help of
Rolf Tistrand, who had been with the company since
1957.
Together with his friend Dennis Österlund sales started to improve. Products were sold under the brand name Poseidon and marketed by a company called Aqua-Sport. The equipment that they could not produce was imported from foreign manufacturers.
Dennis Österlund dive school manager and instructor -Grebbestad 1957
Dennis Österlund
and Ulla Sandklev (miss Sweden in 1955) - Grebbestad 1957
At the back. Dive instructor
Dennis Österlund and Bernt H. Jan W -Grebbestad 1957
This bellow photograph shows Maj Ljungberg, Jan Hansson and Margit Nordblom. It was taken in Valhallabadet in Gothenburg. May later, Maj married Dennis Österlund and Margit with Ingvar Elfström (the two founders of Aqua-Sport, later Poseidon). Jan was employed at Aqua-Sport between the years 1959 and 1962. The photo was published in a report in the Gothenburg newspaper on November 19,
1959. (achieved by Staffan von Arbin)
Maj Ljungberg, Jan Hansson and Margit
Nordblom
In 1956, Dennis Österlund (1927-2007) who has rightly been called "Sweden's Cousteau"
and Âke Follin (another Swedish dive pioneer and also a
manufacturer of double hsoe regulators) participated in the
documentary film "Expedition Röda havet" (Red Sea Expedition).
The Company continued to grow so Ingvar and Dennis moved the production of regulators from their kitchen sink to a small rented garage. The first shop was opened in Gothenburg in 1958, shortly after followed by Stockholm and
Malmö. The accessibility of a neoprene diving suit, in the fifties was a big problem as everyone thought that the permeability of the neoprene would allow water to seep through.
Bellow, one of the earliest Poseidon regulators, made by Ingvar Elfström around 1955 - that is, before the start of Aqua-Sport/Poseidon
in 1958. The early series were extremely small, and it is therefore likely that this is one of the few preserved regulators of their kind.
Pictures: Staffan von Arbin
The American Company Rubatex produced a think rubber material that, after a small modification
by Poseidon, could be used in the manufacture of wet suits. Poseidon was now manufacturing regulators and wet suits, quite an improvement since the kitchen sink days.
The first Poseidon double hose
regulator from 1958. It was later kwon as Poseidon Senior
Courtesy: Ryan Spence - The
Flashback Scuba Museum
The double hose regulator Senior and Monsun were - in principle - the same regulator, the Senior (who came
first) and the double hose
regulator Monsun (who subsequently succeeded) were
made of stainless steel.
Poseidon Monsun
In 1963 Poseidon got a request from the Swedish Navy, would it be possible to produce a suit that could be used for longer exposure times in their cold northern waters. After some research and experimenting with different materials and manufacturing techniques, they produced a dry-suit that met the Navy's demands.
The first gastight neoprene dry-suit the UNISUIT, was delivered to the Swedish Navy in 1963. A name that is synonymous with drysuits, as Hoover is to vacuum cleaners. The very same year Poseidon started to export products. Ingvars big dream came to be realised in 1984 when a factory fully adapted for diving equipment manufacturing was built. Ingvar died in 1998 at the age of 70 years.
Reference:
1. http://archive.li/RjCrI
2. https://www.poseidon-uk.co.uk/about/how-it-all-started/
3. https://svenskfilmdatabas.se
4. https://dykarna.nu
5. Staffan von Arbin
6. Niels Sejr Oxenvad
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