Spyke
sopuli.xyz

Why does it have an opening on the belly?

31
Masterreply
sh.itjust.works

Its about being waterproof. You climb into the suit and you only have two openings. one for your face covered with a hat or secondary hood. the second one is in the chest covered by a rain jacket or poncho. most of the time you are hunched over forward protecting both the head and chest hole. Under heavier rain you can actively protect both openings as they are both within reach.

Its also a suit that a single person can get in and out of without any secondary help.

Its a good system that looks weird as fuck.

33
lemmy.world

I wonder what the waterproofing is? Given the time period, I'm assuming oiled canvas?

Edit: come to think of it, whale oil would be terribly convenient for this.

15
sopuli.xyz

Having no knowledge of the subject I would also bet that the suit itself is made out of whale which are rumored to be waterproof

10

You'd have to be brave or stupid to coat yourself in whale oil and wander out into polar bear hunting grounds.

4

It’s so your alien chest burster doesn’t ruin your garment when it comes out. The work must continue, no stoppages, throw the next poor sap in the body bag.

11
lemmy.world

Whalers were really really big on belly rubs back then, they were willing to forgo a little breathing as long as they could get there belly rubs.

10

Man that thing fucked me up when I was a kid. Hated every second of seen it.

I think it is based on Bill Keller, the psychic parasitic twin of young girl Edie Keller in PK Dicks' novel Dr Bloodmoney

3
Ryudosreply
lemmy.world

I was wondering the same thing. Maybe that's where you get in from?

8

They didn't have zippers. And, they didn't have elastic fabrics.

I don't think this was a good solution, because it's not common. It was a solution that worked, but perhaps not very well.

A better solution would have been as a corset is made. A corset expands to slip into, and then contracts with laces. That idea could have been adapted to the shoulder area. Alternatively, a seam at the shoulder that could fold over itself a couple of times and is held with buttons.

10

Tony Snark was able to build this in a cave, with a box of leather scraps!

7

You reached the end