Who invented the gas mask?

Moleman

The first gas mask was the anti-chlorine mask developed by Sir Robert Davis of Britain and issued to British troops May 1915. Feb 07 01, 8:20 PM

dgrt1

Garrett Morgan Jul 21 06, 11:00 PM

McGruff

Contrary to some modern day opinion, there is no single inventor of the "gas mask". In fact, there were patents for such devices as early as 1887. A first gas mask to be used by miners was introduced by Alexander von Humboldt already in 1799, when he worked as a mining engineer in Prussia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_mask Perhaps the most common misconception about gas mask history is that it began with a device invented by Garrett A. Morgan. In fact, Morgan's invention (patented in 1914, Nos. 1090936 and 1113675) was less like a modern gas mask than many others that preceded it. It consisted of a hood, to which was attached a long, bifurcated breathing tube that hung almost to the ground (see illustration). Similar smoke protectors with a low-hanging tube had previously been patented by a number of inventors throughout the 19th century. These devices allowed the wearer to draw breath from the cleaner layers of air beneath the rising smoke. http://www33.brinkster.com/iiiii/gasmask/page.html The site above is a history of the gas mask and describes the various kinds and their usage. Some designs were more or less air filters rather than any protection against poisonous gases. Jul 22 06, 4:42 AM

Baloo55th

And if anyone has one of the old WW II ones, DON'T wear it even for a joke. Many of them contain asbestos. Jul 22 06, 2:29 PM