Who invented the gas mask? What influenced the invention of the gas mask in Russia

It is still not known who invented the gas mask. There is no common opinion on this issue. Their primitive prototypes were used in the Middle Ages, when doctors used special masks with long noses. They put medicinal herbs in them. Doctors believed that this could protect them from plague and other epidemics. More seriously for the creation of gas mask took in the late nineteenth - early twentieth century. It was connected not with healing, but with military affairs.

Briefly about gas masks

Before you know who invented the gas mask, it should be clarified what it is. This product protects the respiratory system, as well as the eyes and skin.

There are two types:

1. Filter - protects against certain poisonous substances. The current who carries it, breathes air from the environment that passes through the filter.
2. Isolating - provides a person with air from a container filled with a limited amount of oxygen.

The invention of gas masks was associated with the appearance of a new type of weapon - poison gas. To determine in which year the gas mask was invented is quite difficult, since different scientists around the world worked on this device at the same time.

The invention of Lewis Haslett

Who invented the gas mask? From the point of view of chronology, the first device, which belongs to modern gas masks, was invented in 1847. Its author was American Lewis Haslett.

The patent was granted for an invention called "Pulmonary Protector". It included a block and a felt filter. The unit was equipped with valves to inhale and exhale. It could be fastened to the mouth or nose.

However, during the First World, a more reliable means was needed to protect the soldiers. When the Germans began to conduct gas attacks, scientists began work on improving the existing gas mask.

Who invented a filter mask for soldiers of the First World War?

The invention of Nikolai Zelinsky

In the Russian troops during a gas attack, soldiers defended the respiratory system with a gauze dressing impregnated with a special remedy. There was no use from such protection. It was necessary to create an effective means of protection.

The Russian chemist Zelinsky decided to use coal as a filter. As a result of the experiments, he came to the conclusion that birch charcoal, which was thermally processed, absorbs the poisonous substances best of all.

The idea of Zelinsky was realized by engineer Kummant. He made a rubber mask that fits tightly to his face. Air entered the respiratory tract through the filter element. The device was created in a few months. The first consignment of gas masks was sent to the army in 1916. In total, during the war, about eleven million gas masks were made for the Entente army.

However, Haslett and Zelinsky were not the only ones who invented a gas mask. They were one of those who worked on the general problem. It was to protect the respiratory system from smoke or poisonous fumes.

Gas masks of other inventors

There is information about inventions in other regions long before the advent of the device Zelinsky and even Haslett.

Examples of inventions:

• In 1871, the Irish physicist John Tundalls created a respirator that protected breathing organs from smoke and poisonous vapors that were released during a fire.
• In 1891, Bernhard Lobs created a respirator, which consisted of a metal container. It was divided into three chambers.
• In 1901 a respirator appeared, which completely covered the head. The air passed through a carbon-based filter.
• In 1912 Garrett Morgan created a device to protect firefighters and engineers who have to work in an environment with a large concentration of toxic substances. An inventor from the USA.
• Another inventor of the gas mask in the United States was the inventor Alexander Drager, who came from Germany. He patented his device in 1914.

It is difficult to say in which country the gas mask was invented. His creation was carried out both in the US and in Russia. However, Zelinsky's apparatus became the most widespread during the First World War. It was implemented not only in Russia, but also in England and Germany. The device was recognized throughout the world, but the Russian scientist did not earn anything on this.