The Attitude Adjuster ®, the world's first automatic adjustable weight system for scuba divers, developed at Think Tank Technologies Inc. by Joe Nicklo, is a replacement for the conventional divers weight belts. The Attitude Adjuster® allows ballast/weight repositioning to adjust to a SCUBA diver's changing angle or attitude in the water. The Attitude Adjuster® consists of two tubes that fasten lengthwise to the diver's air tank.

The tubes are partially filled with lead shot that adjusts automatically with the divers position. "Submarines have used this principle for years," Nicklo says. "It's called movable ballast. If a submarine descends, ballast is moved to the front. If the submarine ascends, ballast is moved to the rear." Micro adjustments for attitude stabilization are obtained by momentarily holding a desired position. The system also has an emergency jettison feature.

Nicklo's system places the weights on the torso, the diver's center of buoyancy, instead of around the waist. This change in weight placement gives divers more control under water, he says, because they no longer have to fight the tendency for the legs to drift downward because of the weight belt.

"Since attitude can be maintained with less effort," he says, "you conserve energy. And conserved energy results in more efficient air consumption, which gives all divers more of what they want more bottom time." 

Other benefits of the Attitude Adjuster® include comfort -- Nicklo's idea was sparked by his wife's complaints of hips bruised by weight belts -- and a sea environment protected from damage caused by diver's drift..