thumb|right|The [[Newtsuit has fully articulated, rotary joints in the arms and legs. These provide high mobility, while remaining largely unaffected by high pressures.]]

An atmospheric diving suit (ADS), atmospheric pressure diving suit or single atmosphere diving suit is a small one-person articulated submersible which resembles a suit of armour, with pressure-tight joints to allow articulation while maintaining a constant internal volume and an internal pressure of one atmosphere. An ADS can enable diving at depths of up to for many hours by eliminating the majority of significant physiological dangers associated with deep diving.

Purpose and requirements

The underwater environment exerts major physiological stresses on the diver, which increase with depth, and appear to impose an absolute limit to diving depth at ambient pressure. An atmospheric diving suit is a small submersible with a pressure hull which accommodates a single occupant at an internal pressure of about one atmosphere. The provision of hollow arm spaces with pressure-resistant joints to carry manually operated manipulators, and usually separate leg spaces, similarly articulated for locomotion, makes a suit resemble a bulky suit of plate armour, or an exoskeleton, with elaborate joint seals to allow articulation while maintaining internal pressure.

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Further reading

  • ADS database in therebreathersite.nl
  • "Metal Diving Suit Has Lamps and Phone", January 1931, Popular Mechanics
  • "Robot Diving Ball To Speed Deep Sea Salvage" Popular Mechanics, September 1935
  • Hard Suit
  • Historic Armored Suits
  • Atmospheric suits
  • US Navy Chief goes to