The suit was made by an Australian company in the early eighties called Protector Industries. It is made of double coated PVC over a heavy cotton or canvas. There is a 1 metre air tight zipper running vertically in the back for entry which also has a double flap clip down cover to protect it. The steel capped boots are welded onto the legs and the gloves are attached by cuff rings. There are four exhaust valves in the suit, one on each fore arm and one on each thigh. If the air is disconnected, these valves stop the entry of the outside atmosphere, the suit is air and gas tight.

Inside there are braces that support the trouser part of the suit and a waist harness is worn, this is attached to the air control and a large metal "D" ring for the fitting of a life line. The external air supply attaches by a quick connect coupling to the "air control block", which can be manually adjusted by the wearer to increase or decrease the amount of air coming into the suit.

Once inside the suit, the wearer has a built in hard hat (which can be replaced) that is bolted into the suit hard hat(this has the outside hanging hook bolted to it )and it also supports the toughened inner optical visor and air dispersing tube.

The visor is in three parts, the inner as mentioned above, the one welded into the suit and a replaceable outer. The air issues down the inner visor across the wearers face, making for easy and refreshing breathing.

Once inside the suit the air pressure can be adjusted, this is usually around 10-20 PSI. The suit is quite heavy until it is inflated then you would hardly know you had it on if not for the restricted movement. It can get quite hot in there when doing heavy physical work also if some smart arse cuts off the air, what is left in the suit is soon squeezed out and you find the suit becomes body hugging like a dry suit and every breath you take sucks the suit tighter(it's great fun).

I use to train people in the use of this sort of gear and heavy fire suits. This chemical has had a hard life as it has mainly been used in acid vapor environments. It is much dirtier now than when this photo was taken.

Ian Nunn.