In spite of this elaborate technical section, the testing of masks did not stop with it. There was a special field-testing section of the Gas Defense Division, composed of about 150 men who were trained to the minute in field maneuvers and did most of their work in gas masks. They were constantly in and out of gas with regular production and experimental masks, they played baseball in them, they dug trenches, laid out wire, cut wire, and fought sham battles at night, both with and without actual gas. This section was not organized until July, but it should have been one of the first of our units. It was there that we learned all the fine points of gas mask comfort and durability. The work of this section even went so far in the case of the later designs as to include a test where six men worked, played, and slept in the masks for an entire week, only taking them off for 30 minutes at each mealtime, and each day entering high concentrations of the most deadly gases, without any ill effects whatsoever to the wearers. When it is remembered that eight hours was the limit of time which a strong man could wear the old-type mask, something of the efficiency of the new mask may be realized.
We also built 377,881 horse masks. Investigation showed that a horse's eyes did not shed tears in the presence of even strong lachrymatory gases. Moreover a horse never breathes through his mouth; and it was, therefore, necessary only to cover his nostrils. Furthermore, horses proved to be more resistant to the toxic gases used in Europe than were men, and his mask, accordingly, needed to be only a bag of many layers of chemically treated gauze. The horse masks were all manufactured by the Fifth Avenue Uniform Co., of New York City, under the supervision of a detachment of the Gas Defense Division.
We furnished 191,338 dugout blankets to be used at the doors of dugouts to make them gas proof. These were specially woven all-cotton blankets which were treated in France with a special heavy oil, shipped from the United States.
Toward the end of the war we received large requisitions for protective suits and gloves to safeguard men against mustard gas burns. The suits were made of oiled fabric and the gloves were of cloth impregnated with chemicals. As a work just starting, we produced 2,450 suits and 1,773 pairs of gloves.
A total of 1,246 tons of a new ointment known as sag paste was made and shipped. This was an ointment to protect the skin against mustard-gas burns.
Gas warning signals were of several types, watchmen's rattles and Klaxon horns being the most commonly used to sound the gas alarms. We shipped 45,906 of these special hand horns. The rattles were secured in Europe.
THE AKRON TISSOT MASK. AN IMPROVEMENT OVER THE MASK THAT WAS IN GENERAL USE AMONG OUR TROOPS.
THE KOPS TISSOT MASK. OUR LATEST DEVELOPMENT AND CONSIDERED TO BE THE BEST OF ALL MASKS.