His reputation as a businessman arose from his talent for always finding the practical help and money needed to satisfy his all-embracing curiosity. His most famous invention, for example, came from the thought that it would be useful to have a way of being able to breathe while filming under water. He turned to the company Airliquide, where he met Emile Gagnan, an engineer who had developed a relief valve for feeding gas-fuelled engines. Together they developed a flexible relief-valve that enabled a diver to breathe compressed air from a gas bottle without choking. In 1943, following a filmed dive to a depth of 62 m, he filed a patent under the trade name Aqualung — the beginning of a great commercial success.
When, in 1950, Cousteau sought a ship with which to lead his own expeditions, he found a British benefactor, Sir Loel Guinness. With Guinness's help, he was able to buy an old mine-sweeper and convert it into an oceanographic vessel, the Calypso. Throughout his career he maintained the knack of obtaining funding for his costly expeditions, from National Geographic, the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, the oil companies BP and Elf, the industrial firms Fiat and Péchiney, and the American TV channels ABC and CNN.
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