Headsets The company is best known for
noise attenuating communication headset systems featuring boom microphones.
G-suits David Clark worked closely with the laboratory of
Earl Wood at the Mayo Clinic when developing the early
G-suit. The goal was to prevent blackout during high-G forces experienced during dive bombing maneuvers. With the physiologic principles of blackout during high G-forces worked out by Wood and colleagues, the G-activated single pressure suit utilizing air bladders, first released in 1943 with improvements to follow in 1944, provided what was considered to be a significant advantage for the Allied forces. Of key importance was Wood and colleagues' recognition that gravitationally induced loss of consciousness (GLOC) was due to relative loss of arterial pressure pushing blood to the head rather than a loss of venous return.
Pressure Suits The company has designed and manufactured pressure/space suits and
life support systems for
NASA and
U.S. Air Force. It developed partial pressure suits for
NASA's
Bell X-1 rocket-powered research aircraft in the 1940s, and full pressure suits for the D558-2 and
North American X-15 research aircraft in the 1950s. DCC's X-15 suit design became the basis for all of its subsequent full pressure suits, including the spacesuits worn by astronauts for the first U.S. extravehicular activities (EVA) conducted during NASA's
Project Gemini. It also participated in team effort to develop the Integrated Life Support System for
F-15 jet fighter and
B-1 bomber crews. In 2026, the S1041 also known as the NASA Orion Crew Survival System (OCSS) suit was flown as the secondary pressure safety system around the Moon with
Artemis II. == References ==