Design of New American Mask
The American Gas Service felt from the beginning that the mouthpiece and noseclip must be abandoned and bent every effort toward getting a mask perfected for that purpose. The English opposed this view fiercely for nearly a year. This position on the part of the English was more or less natural. They developed their mask in the beginning for protection against cloud gas. In those days the opposing trenches were close together. Moreover, front line trenches were quite strongly manned. The result was that a large number of men were exposed to a very high concentration of gas, but—and highly important—for a short period only. Inasmuch as the German feared this cloud gas even more than the English there was no danger of his attacking in it. The English rules of conduct during a gas attack called for all movement to stop and for every man to stand ready until the cloud passed. Accordingly, the man was breathing the easiest possible and hence did not suffer particularly from the resistance.
With the advent of mustard gas, however, the whole general scheme of protection changed. Mustard gas, as is well known, is effective in extremely low concentrations and has very great persistency. In dry warm weather mustard gas, scattered on the ground and shrubbery, will not be fully evaporated for two to three days and accordingly will give off vapors that not only burn the lungs and eyes but the soft, moist parts of the skin as well. In cool, damp weather the gas remains in dangerous quantity for a week and occasionally longer. Since this gas, in liquid form, evaporates too slowly for use in gas clouds, it is used altogether in bombs and shells. Accordingly it could be expected to be and actually is fired at all ranges from the front line to nearly eight miles back of that line. Hence, with the coming of mustard gas, the need for protection changed from high protection for a short period to moderate protection for very long periods. Indeed, mustard gas makes it necessary for men to wear masks just as long as they remain in an area infected with it. There is still occasional need for high protection for short periods, but with the increase in the efficiency of charcoal alone, it is found that the amount of charcoal and chemicals in the canister can be very greatly reduced and still maintain sufficient protection for the high concentrations encountered in cloud gas and projector attacks.