THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



293 



used less than any other nation (thanks to allied sea power) but 

 were not able to eliminate it entirely. Their earliest masks were 

 made of rubber fabric which was abandoned in favor of oiled 

 leather as soon as the rubber shortage became acute. They sub- 

 stituted cloth- 

 covered s pi r a 1 

 springs for elastic 

 webbhig and the 

 only rubber used in 

 the greater part of 

 their production 

 was a washer con- 

 taining very little 

 new rubber, to 

 make a gas-tight 

 joint between the 

 canister and the 

 mask, ll is inter- 

 esting to note in 

 connection with 

 this group that the 

 Russian inask con- 

 tained more rubber 

 than any of the 

 others, as it had a 

 complete hoed cov- 

 ering. The linal 

 F. nglish. all 

 l-rench. and all 

 American masks 

 er unrein forced or 



2. — American Box' Respirator, C. E. 

 Type, Showing Rubber Parts. 



3ox Respirator, C. E. 

 Type. 





used rubberized fabric of soine form, 

 united to close-woven cloth or stockinet. 



OPERATION OF THE AMERICAN RESPIRATOR. 



An outline drawing of the American box respirator furnished 

 to our troops is shown in Figure 2 and in order that the reader 

 may understand more clearly the various matters discussed later 

 it will not be out of place to describe briefly the manner in 

 which the respirator functions. Upon inhalation, the air passes 

 into the bottom of the canister lt> through rubber diaphragm 

 check valve 31, up through 

 absorbent chemicals and 

 mechanical lilters into flexible 

 rubber hose 17, through the 

 face-piece by way of an alum 

 inum die casting and into the 

 mouth of the wearer through 

 a rubber mouth-piece 16 

 which is worn betu eeii tlic 

 lips and the teeth. At the same 

 time any passage of aii through 

 the nose is stopped b\ a sprin, 

 and rubber nose clip S and 9 

 Upon exhalation the an passe 

 out through the same mc utl 

 piece through anothei pass 

 in the die casting and hnalK i 

 the outside air through the 

 rubber exhalation or flutter 

 valve 14. 



It is evident that in a device 

 of this kind the lungs are pro- 

 tected by the closure of the nose and the direct connection of 

 the mouth-piece. However, since the Germans used gases which 

 immediately closed the eyes and even led to temporary blindness 

 it was essential that the face-piece should provide a tight fit with 

 tl-.t face and that the rubberized cloth in the face-piece prevent 

 the entrance of gas by permeation. Gas-tightness of the eye- 

 piece was insured by a rubber gasket and the various points were 



made gas-tight by use of wire, adhesive tape, and rubber 

 cement. 



THE FIRST 25.000 MASKS. 

 When the United States went int.. the war practically nothing 

 was known of gas 

 warfare. • In fact, 

 very soon after the 

 tirst use of gas in 

 April. 1915, by the 

 Germans, the Al- 

 lies adopted a pol- 

 icy of strict secrecy 

 in order tliat their 

 nti'cnsive and dc- 

 lensne plans nn;.;hl 

 be more- e'tfective. 



It can be easily 

 appreciated that 

 t h e Bureau o f 

 Mines faced a dif- 

 ficult task when it 

 was requested b> 

 the War Depart- 

 ment on May 16, 

 1917. to furnish 

 25,000 respirators 

 in three weeks. 

 The Director of 

 the Bureau, Van 

 H. Manning, had 

 realized the ugly 



possibilities of gas warfare and had organized a bureau under 

 the direction of G. A. Burrell for the purpose of gas investiga- 

 tions. Mr. Burrell called upon Bradley Dewey', a Pittsburgh 

 chemical engineer, to take charge of the production of the first 

 25,000 masks. 



It was recognized that a delivery could not possibly be made 

 in three weeks' time, an impossibility, even if a settled design 

 had ex-sted. Contracts were placed with The B. F. Goodrich 

 L \1 r 111 Oni t r tuniishm-, complete face-pieces and with 

 the .\merican Can Co., New 

 York, for the canister and final 

 assembly. Only those actually 

 eonnected with the enterprise 

 at the time would appreciate 

 the intense etifort reejuircd of 

 all to make this delivery by the 

 end of June, which was done. 

 While the masks resulting 

 from this early effort were 

 not adequate when' they 

 reached the front, because of 

 new gases introduced in the 

 mterim, nevertheless they were 

 idcquate to meet conditions in 

 1 rnd when they were made 

 md a credit to all concerned. 



RUBBER MANUFACTURERS 

 COOPERATE. 



The memorandum of May 

 16, 1917. from the Chief of 

 Staff called for completion of 



Colonel Bradley Dewey and grew 

 Movember 11, 1918, it had through- 

 its and a personnel of 274 officers, 



