Helmet and suit were attached by a watertight joint and as soon as the diver closed the valve, the whole suit was filled with air.

It has been suggested that Norcross could have been the inventor of the first closed diving dress.

Norcross was born on June 18, 1798 in Readfield,Maine, United States. His father died when he was only three years old, he lived with his mother  and later with aunt in Greene, where he attended school, learned to be a millwright and a mechanic.

While working as a young man, he continued independent reading and study, eventually returning to school followed by teaching for several years.

He later moved to Dixfield where he invented several useful machines and obtained patents on some. One was filed in the name of Hiram A. Pitts of Winthrop. Fitz-Gilbert claims “He was wrongfully defrauded of his rights in this patent.

Norcross called his underwater diving suit - a "Diving Armor." He designed an airtight leather outfit with a brass helmet connected via a rubber hose to an air bellows pump on a boat. To reduce buoyancy, the feet were weighted with lead shot. In May 1834, one month earlier, he tested the practical diving suit in the Webb River.

Norcross named his son Submarinus in honor of the achievement. With Norcross’s improvement, divers could now bend over and even lie down underwater without cutting off their air supply.

According to ancientpages