In 1910 Emil Carlsson, based at Falugatan 7 in Stockholm, took over the helmet manufacturing Business of Axel Lindqvist. I also mentioned Email Andersson with his name because that is the caster who manufactured the brass parts for the helmets, lamps, pumps, boots etc. He signed his parts with EA and these signatures you find back in the brailes of the 12b helmets, lamps, pumps etc. Initially Emil Carlsson names his company ‘Dykerifirma Emil Carlsson’ but in 1925 he renamed it ‘Dykerifirma Emil Carlsson & Son AB’. Around 1952 the Emil Carlsson company was taken over by ‘Fritiof Morell’. Morell runs the company until he dies in 1976. That summer the Emil Carlsson company was sold to Dykeryfirmen Hajen in Uddevalla on the Swedish West Coast.

Initially Carlsson continued the production of the so called ‘pot’ helmets, the somehow bizar looking helmets without a breastplate. But in 1940 Carlsson publishes a catalogue to celebrate ‘30 years in the diving business’ and in this catalogue he shows his first 12 bolt helmets. His pot helmets used to be very common in Scandinavia and were used well into the nineteen eighties, nowadays they start becoming rarer and the prices go up. Right after the second world war Carlsson supplied 7 diving equipments to Poland, these helmets had been designed with both a 4 bolt neck ring and a 12 bolt breast plate. These extremely rare helmets have recently appeared on the market in numbers which exceed the original quantity that was manufactured and we have to be very alert when being offered such a rare piece. Some research in Poland learned that a group of workshops had been contracted by a Mr Rybicky, the owner of a technical diving company in Gdynia, to built parts for diving helmets for him. These parts were assembled in Gdynia and the helmets were sold as genuine antiques through german dealers and a dutch dealer ( they manufactured and sold Emil Carlsson helmets, Draeger helmets, Medi helmets and possibly other models too ) These fake 12 b 4 b helmets look very authentic and are very hard to recognize as fakes: always ask for the background story of the helmet and old photo’s that show the helmet in use, if not the chance is big that they are selling you a fake. Also the original ‘pot’ helmet has been reproduced, these reproductions were made for the same german and dutch dealers in the nineteen nineties but they can be recognized by their rough finish. To learn more about these frauds please visit the ‘Fake Helmet Alert’ chapter on the main website.

the scrapbook of diving history

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Do you have images you want to share then please send them to: david@divinghelmet.nl Thank you.