One of the most fascinating spearguns that
I have encountered was designed and fabricated by Dimitri Rebikoff, a French
engineer. He is primarily known for his productive inventiveness in
the field of underwater photography and submarine exploration. He is credited
with a long list of impressive accomplishments. Rather than attempt to list
his inventions, I will provide some links at the bottom of this page. My
goal here is only to document a very interesting Rebikoff vintage speargun.
There is certainly much that I do not know about this artifact and it's history.
This speargun is made from quality gold anodized aluminum parts. The handle and nosepiece are cast. The spearshaft is galvanized steel and the mechanism contains stainless steel elements. In this particular vintage gun, the rubber band has long ago disintegrated, yet the wishbone remains.
To cock the Rebikoff gun, the diver fit the arrow and wishbone
into the notch in the handle with the handle in a forward position. He then
would place the gun butt on his chest and grasp the two plastic knobs on
each side of the handle and pull backward. A ratchet mechanism would prevent
the handle from slipping back. When the diver pulled it as far as possible.
He would then squeeze the handle of the gun, further ratcheting the handle
and band back, thus cocking the gun.
This speargun is made from quality gold anodized aluminum parts. The handle and nosepiece are cast. The spearshaft is galvanized steel and the mechanism contains stainless steel elements. In this particular vintage gun, the rubber band has long ago disintegrated, yet the wishbone remains.
This speargun has the rubber band and
spearshaft beneath the gunbody tube. The bands attach to the nosepiece and
the wishbone notches into a pivoting cruciform component at the back of the
spearshaft. To cock this gun, the handle slides toward the nosepiece. The
spearshaft is inserted with the wishbone into the gun handle. The wishbone
can be seen in the slot above the trigger.
An interesting feature of this mechanism is that it would
allow the diver to only partially load his speargun if a low-power shot was
desired. This would keep from damaging the spearpoint if the diver would
accidentally shoot through the fish and hit the rock behind it.
The Rebikoff vintage speargun is a creatively designed and well-crafted spearfishing artifact. To learn more about Dimitri Rebikoff please see the following website. Be sure to return to this vintage speargun website.
Dimitri Rebikoff Foundation http://www.rebikoff.org
A search in Google turns up many references to Rebikoff.
The Rebikoff vintage speargun is a creatively designed and well-crafted spearfishing artifact. To learn more about Dimitri Rebikoff please see the following website. Be sure to return to this vintage speargun website.
Dimitri Rebikoff Foundation http://www.rebikoff.org
A search in Google turns up many references to Rebikoff.