Design
of spearfishing equipment from two distinct individuals within the same
early dive club lead to two different lines of spearguns. In the early
days of spearfishing in San Diego, a small group of very young athletes
would freedive in effort to shoot fish with hand-made spearguns to feed
their families. As they became successful at landing their fish certain
design elements started to become evident from these beginnings. It is
possible to trace the evolution of these designs to contemporary
equipment.
It is not my intention on this page to define the history of the Bottom Scratchers Dive Club. That job can be left to others. My intention here, is to present some images of the earliest spearguns hand-built by Jack Prodanovich and Wally Potts. Perhaps at a future time, more commentary on these fine original artifacts will can be compiled.
I have taken these images in efforts to document and understand some of this early equipment. These guns are all in the personal collection of Bottom Scratcher, Jack Prodanovich. Some of the images were taken at the 70th anniversary gathering last year in San Diego which was in celebration of the long history of the Club.
It is not my intention on this page to define the history of the Bottom Scratchers Dive Club. That job can be left to others. My intention here, is to present some images of the earliest spearguns hand-built by Jack Prodanovich and Wally Potts. Perhaps at a future time, more commentary on these fine original artifacts will can be compiled.
I have taken these images in efforts to document and understand some of this early equipment. These guns are all in the personal collection of Bottom Scratcher, Jack Prodanovich. Some of the images were taken at the 70th anniversary gathering last year in San Diego which was in celebration of the long history of the Club.
This was the first speargun which Jack
Prodanovich ever made. It has a tag which is dated year 1938.
This side by side illustration shows the
handle of Jack Prodanovich's first speargun (green) with the second one
he built for Bottom Scratcher Jim Stewart. These two guns had two-piece
triggers and a line release under the gunbody. both handles have
been
refurbished over the 65+ years. The black tape on the lower handle is
only
to hold a temporary handle on the gun. The arrow reciever is made from
stainless steel and lead soldered to hold it in place. Both of these
guns use a stainless tube to hold the sear and trigger elements.
Next images are of early spearguns
hand-built by Wally Potts subsequent to the above spearguns.
Each of these individuals, Jack
Prodanovich and Wally Potts had independent design concepts which they
persued in their own evolving product lines. It is important to
remember that although these men were in the same dive club, the Bottom
Scratchers, and they frequently swam together, they had individual
designs and ideas. The images below are of spearguns designed by Wally
Potts.
Note the early line
release under the green gunbody is a clothes-pin fastened to the
underside of the wood.
Be aware there are some elements of
this handle which are stainless steel TIG welded components and some
element are combined with lead solder.Tungsten-Inert-Gas welding (TIG)
is an electric process which uses a very high-temperature plasma
'flame' in a hand-held torch. A shielding gas (often argon) flows out
of the torch to surround the molten stainless steel and keep it from
oxidizing at the elevated temperature. Filler metal rod is manually
introduced into weld puddle to create the weld bead between the two
components being fastened. The welding machine needed to make a TIG
weld is quite expensive.
Wally Potts worked at Solar Aircraft plant in San Diego during the 1940s. He would look in the scrap bins for discarded metal which did not pass the stringent aircraft inspections. Wally was able to find several discarded components which he adapted for speargun handles. These components included the handle assembly you see above and below. The angle and size of the TIG welded stainless steel components suggested to him, the housing and handle for a speargun. These metal objects found in the scrap bin became the basis for the first five Wally Potts spearguns.
Jack Prodanovich's green gun with the D-shaped handle (above) was created in 1938. It was years later that Wally Potts built his first spearguns. Although Wally Potts is no longer around to give us information. All indications are that he NEVER had speargun parts manufactured by machinists at the aircraft plant.
Wally Potts worked at Solar Aircraft plant in San Diego during the 1940s. He would look in the scrap bins for discarded metal which did not pass the stringent aircraft inspections. Wally was able to find several discarded components which he adapted for speargun handles. These components included the handle assembly you see above and below. The angle and size of the TIG welded stainless steel components suggested to him, the housing and handle for a speargun. These metal objects found in the scrap bin became the basis for the first five Wally Potts spearguns.
Jack Prodanovich's green gun with the D-shaped handle (above) was created in 1938. It was years later that Wally Potts built his first spearguns. Although Wally Potts is no longer around to give us information. All indications are that he NEVER had speargun parts manufactured by machinists at the aircraft plant.
In this image, notice how there is a
line release element which is linked to the lower part of the trigger
element. The mechanism in this gun is a single
piece trigger. The elliptical tube handle is TIG welded, not soldered
onto the tube which houses the wood gunbody. All the other elements are
lead soldered together. It is believed that this is one of the first
five guns Wally made.
The above image is the personal speargun
of Bottom Scratcher Bo Smith. It was made by Wally Potts. Note the line
release on the
trigger and the fact that the elliptical tube is now lead soldered onto
the tube. Also note the similarity of design in the webpage http://rocknfish.com/VinLong.html
where bluewater spearguns were rapidly changing from the first Potts
guns. This desgin evolved into the fine Safari speargun made by
ScubaPro. See: http://rocknfish.com/Safari.html
The machining is much better in later models, but the design shows
similarity. With these representative handles we can surely see the
evolution of a commercially successful product design. For
further cross reference on the Wally Potts gun see: http://rocknfish.com/PottsGun.html
.
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