Company History

A History of DESCO and the people who created it.

Known to commercial divers throughout the world DESCO was first organized in 1937 as a Wisconsin corporation under the name of Diving Equipment and Salvage Co. Its organization was the result of several events, which occurred during the preceding years.

During the early 1930's, a Milwaukee diver, Max Gene Nohl, had received national publicity as the result of his salvage operations on a sunken steamship, the "John Dwight." This brought him to the attention of a Hollywood producer, Col. John D. Craig, who was interested in the possible salvage of the torpedoed Cunard liner, the "Lusitania," which lay in 312 feet of water off the Irish Coast. At that time, no equipment or reliable techniques were available for diving operations at such a depth, and it was obvious that such a project would require both physiological experimentation and an advance in diving equipment design.

Although no actual attempt was ever made to salvage the Lusitania, its challenge caused Nohl to join forces with two other Milwaukeeans. The first was Jack Browne who was also a diver. The second was Edgar End, M.D. of the Marquette University School of Medicine who was a pioneer in the new science of hyperbaric physiology and medicine.

Max Eugene Nohl born in Milwaukee in 1910 grew to become an engineer, inventor, adventurer, and diving pioneer. Surviving the (common among young divers of the time) tin bucket and garden hose stage he went on to The Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he earned a degree in engineering. While at MIT he designed several diving related devices. His thesis was on the design of a self contained diving suit for deep diving. After MIT Max joined the Phillips Lord expedition and spent seven months in the Caribbean.

In June of 1935 Max had his sights set on the Prohibition rum runner John Dwight. He hoped to salvage the cargo and cash assumed to be onboard. The safe proved to be empty and seawater had entered the scotch which was ruined. As mentioned above this was the time Max made his connection to John D. Craig. Craig had won many awards for underwater photography so an association with Nohl was a natural fit. John Craig owned the film rights to the sunken Liner RMS Lusitania. Nohl had already been working on diving equipment to work at the Lusitania’s depth. Additional support equipment would need to be designed and built for the project. Nohl using the suit design from his thesis as a starting point began experimentation on building the necessary gear.

Another Milwaukee native came on the scene at this time. Jack Browne was also a survivor of tin can diving as a boy. His father was an executive with the Goodrich Transportation Company in Milwaukee. This brought Jack down to the docks and into a position to meet Max Nohl. Browne’s name first appears on the 50 foot test dive in the fall of 1937.

The third Milwaukee man to join in the venture was Dr. Edgar End. He also was a survivor of tin can diving. He made a helmet from a can, used a tire pump and garden hose for air, and sash weights tied to his belt. He did this to attempt to recover a friend’s lost eyeglasses. Edgar End was a graduate of the Marquette University Medical School and was a practicing physician. Dr. End served as Assistant Clinical Professor of Environmental Medicine at MU. In this capacity he was studying the effects of Caisson Disease on Milwaukee tunnel workers. In April 1937 Max Nohl contacted Dr. End about his development of Helium/ Oxygen decompression tables. Dr. End suggested using the recompression chamber in the basement of the Milwaukee County Hospital to test their theories.

Browne and Nohl worked together on the design of a new type of lightweight, self-contained diving suit. At the same time they worked with Dr. End to explore the promising possibility of preventing nitrogen narcosis by having the diver breathe a mixture of helium and oxygen rather than air.

The first result of this collaboration was the incorporation of Diving Equipment & Salvage Company (DESCO) as the manufacturer of the newly designed diving equipment. Mr. Norman Kuehn, a Milwaukee businessman, largely financed the new corporation. Browne and Nohl became its first full-time employees. Browne was also one of its shareholders. The company was set up in the rear of Kuehn Rubber Company on North 4^th Street in Milwaukee. Norman Kuehn was made Vice-President of the firm.

The second result was that, On December 1, 1937 in the cold waters of Lake Michigan, Max Nohl succeeded in diving to a depth of 420 feet, thereby breaking a depth record which had been held by a U.S. Navy diver Frank Crilley, since 1915. Nohl accomplished this feat using DESCO's new diving equipment and breathing a heliox mixture prescribed by Dr. End. As war neared in Europe the British Admiralty began placing more and more restrictions on John Craig’s expedition so it was finally called off.

From 1938 to 1940 Max Nohl was hired by Newton Perry to work on the Tarzan films starring Johnny Weissmuller. Accompanying Max to Florida were James Lockwood, and Ivan Vestrem.

The outbreak of war shifted the focus of the company to standard diving equipment production. World War II brought large Navy contracts for diving equipment to DESCO. The company quickly became the largest diving equipment manufacturer in the world. Four diving equipment firms produced the bulk of equipment during the war. DESCO made over 3000 Mark V and Navy Helium Helmets during the war. The company’s research and development roots were not overlooked by the government. DESCO was contracted by the Office of Strategic Services (forerunner of the CIA) to design and build a compact oxygen rebreather. The result was the DESCO B-Lung. This unit, for the first time, permitted divers to swim freely under the surface, in the manner of SCUBA divers today, but without producing bubbles, which might disclose their position. Other projects included the Browne U.S. Navy Diving Mask, The Browne Lightweight Suit (Bunny Suit), and the Browne Utility Mixed Gas Helmet which morphed into the Buie Mixed Gas Helmet. The government contracts included not only conventional hard-hat gear, but also weightbelts, shoes, knives, tools, recompression chambers, and miscellaneous items. By V-J Day, DESCO was producing more diving equipment than any other company in the world.

Photos from DESCO's North 3rd Street factory during WWII (1944).

By 1945 DESCO had its own pressurized wet tank for research and development. On April 27, 1945, Jack Browne used this tank to "dive" to still a new record depth of 550 feet of seawater. Mr. Browne used a U.S. Navy Lightweight Diving Suit (bunny suit) for the tank dive. As in the case of Nohl's earlier dive, he breathed a heliox mixture under the supervision of Dr. End. Both dives were milestones in the development of modern techniques of mixed-gas diving. During this time Max Nohl left DESCO to pursue other interests. He would return briefly in the early 1950’s. Also at about this time the company changed its name to "Diving Equipment and Supply Co., Inc.

In 1946, Norman Kuehn and Jack Browne sold the company to another Milwaukee businessman, Alfred Dorst. Under Dorst, the company continued to design and manufacture U.S. Navy and commercial diving equipment but also broadened its product line to include a variety of sporting goods, including water skis, aquaplanes, swim-fins, spear guns, and simplified oxygen rebreathers, such as the "A Lung," intended for use by sports divers.

After the Korean War, which again brought an increase in U.S. Navy contracts and orders, the ownership changed hands several times, and during this period it went out of the sporting goods business. Ever since, it has concentrated solely, as it did at the start, on the design and manufacture of commercial and U.S. Navy diving equipment.

The years after the war saw Max Nohl involved in underwater salvage work, commercial Sponge diving, sub-marine contracting, and underwater motion picture work. Also during this time Max became a public celebrity. He appeared in product ads for Blatz Beer and Imperial Whiskey. He also appeared on the TV show "What's My Line". In early 1954 He started American Diving Equipment Company in Milwaukee. ADE would focus on bringing professional level equipment to the relatively new and growing sport diving market. They were a dealer for DESCO products and Max continued to be a technical advisor to DESCO. ADE was dissolved in late 1954 when Max won rights to salvage the sunken freighter Prins Willem V off Milwaukee Harbor. The vessel was determined to be above the legal depth. Winter prevented the start of work. In the spring of 1955 work began and a legal battle with the Corps of Engineers was on the horizon. The necessary legal depth was 41ft. Upon examination of the wreck a floating gangplank was discovered and cut away. This brought the wreck clearance to 41ft 6in. The previously agreed upon price to bring the wreck into compliance was $50,000 which the USACE felt was unjustified for 5 minutes work. After some negotiation Nohl settled for $46,000 and the Corps agreed since both parties had entered the project in good faith. Nohl was awarded salvage rights to the Willem and he made plans to raise the ship. The first attempt to raise the Willem in 1956 failed and more legal problems arose. He had divers working on a share basis but the plan to float the vessel could not be made workable. In 1958 a new venture was mounted. Nohl formed Seaboard Excavators Inc. to make this attempt. After a summer and fall of trying the Willem was still on the bottom and $200,000 was spent. Again the legal specter raised it head. The diving supervisor and the remaining salvage crew absconded with the salvage barge. The U.S. Marshal forced them into Sheboygan and the barge was returned to Nohl. In 1959 he found new backing from Robert Meissner , President of Meissner Engineering Inc. of Chicago. They formed Willem Salvage Corporation. Unfortunately three was not to be the charm for this endeavor. After a trying year Nohl and his wife Eleanor decided to take a vacation in Mexico. In 1960 while returning from their vacation Max and Eleanor Nohl were tragically killed in an automobile accident near Hope, Arkansas. Killed in the other car was Jesse Belvin and wife JoAnn. Belvin was a rising R&B singer and co-writer of the 50's hit Earth Angel.

Jack Browne served as President of DESCO during World War II and left the company shortly after the war. Not much was heard from him until 1958 when he is flying guns to Cuban rebels. He is forced down by the Cuban Air Force and imprisoned. Browne managed to escape from prison and steal back his plane. On the flight to Florida he runs out of fuel over the Florida Keys. He was rescued by the Coast Guard. Jack retired to the Virgin Islands and passed away in 1982 from a heart attack.

Dr. End continued his research into hyperbaric medicine becoming one of the leaders in the field. He was a proponent for use of recompression chambers to treat stroke victims.

In May 1966, DESCO was purchased by Tom and Marilyn Fifield. Mr. Fifield was an attorney and Mrs. Fifield served on several boards in Milwaukee. In 1968 DESCO moved to its present address at 240 North Milwaukee Street in Milwaukee.

Mr. Fifield was responsible in the 1960's for the design and development of the DESCO Diving Hat, which remains a standard piece of modern equipment for diving with air in relatively shallow water where mixed gases are not needed. Also the company, in addition to its full line of conventional diving equipment, has continued to improve and manufacture its famous DESCO Full-Face Mask, which originated in the early design efforts of Jack Browne and Max Nohl. This mask has probably been used in more total hours of commercial diving than any other piece of equipment ever made.

The company ownership changed again in 1997 with the purchase of DESCO from Mr. Fifield by Ric Koellner. Under Mr. Koellner the company has expanded its representation of other firm’s products that complement DESCO’s product line. DESCO is an importing distributor for Hunter Drysuits and accessories. In 2002 DESCO became the dealer for Composite Beat Engel DeepSea Lightweight Diving Helmets in the Americas. Since 1990 we have made significant upgrades to the DESCO Air Hat, and we introduced the Bob Kirby inspired Browne Commercial Diving Helmet.

The expansion of hobby collectors and diving enthusiasts has brought resurgence in demand for classic helmets and a demand for more repair and restoration services. We provide repair and parts services to the collector and enthusiast market.

DESCO is a recognized resource for writers, artists, historians, and film makers. DESCO manufactured the helmets, weightbelts, control valves, shoes, and knives used in the movie Men of Honor. DESCO also provided equipment to the films The Deep, and The Legend of Sawtooth Island. We loaned a helmet to Milwaukee County for a special exhibit at the Horticultural Conservatory Domes. We have provided technical information and photographs to artists and writers for projects.

The Future

DESCO is looking towards the future at new products and services. As the industry evolves DESCO will keep pace with new products and assure that our current products meet or exceed industry requirements. DESCO will continue to explore new product possibilities and marketing opportunities to bring our customers top quality equipment and services.

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