Name/Title
StereographEntry/Object ID
2023.055.3.0151Description
A black and white stereograph. Image is of seven soldiers reciveing training on how to put on a gas mask. Above the image "W194 (Star)" is printed, below the image "19198 Our Boys in France Learning to Correctly Use Gas Masks." is printed, to the left of the image "Keystone View Company Copyrighted, Manufacturers MADE IN U.S.A. Publishers" is printed, to the right of the image "Meadville, Pa., New York, N. Y., Chicago, Ill., London, England." is printed. On the reverse the following is printed:
19198
LEARNING TO USE GAS MASKS
The officer before us is instucting his squad in the use of gas maks. Thorough drill in this is of the utmost importance, for a few second delay in adjusting his mask in a gas attack may incapacitate a soldier for service and subject him to weeks of agony, if not death.
The Germans were the first to use poison gas in the war, expelling it from metal tubes and trusting to the wind to carry it down upon our allies. This method wa soon discarded in favor of gas shells, which they used extensively, sometimes one shell in every three being filled wih gas. It became necessary to equip every man in our army with a mask and drill him in the use of it. These masks fit so closely that air cannot enter the nostrils except thorugh the breathing tube. Te gernal principle on which they are constructed is this - that the inhaled air is drawn through ceratin substances which absorb the gas before if can get into the mask while the breath which a soldier exhales escapes from the mask through a rubber valve opening ony on pressure from the inside. The mask is carred in a canvas case, ready for instant use. A soldier, expert in the use of his mask, can put it on in about then seconds.
Soldiers do not like to wear the mask and will often take great risks rather than be annoyed with them, for even the best of them add somewhat to the difficulty of breathing. Then too, moisture which accumulateds inside the mask dims the eye glasses and it becomes difficult to see. Throughout the war there was constant effort to produce a gas against which no mak would be effective. The Germans used phosgene, mustard gas, lachrymal gas and others, but our chemist devised mask effective against each.
Copyright by The Keystone CompanyCollection
Photograph Collection