The “Training Gas Mask”

Also known as the American Small Box Respirator, this gas mask was one of the first to be used by American troops during the World War I. Based upon the British Small Box Respirator, an initial 25,000 units were produced and sent overseas with the first waves of the A.E.F. Although inspired by their successful British counterpart, these masks were manufactured without sufficient knowledge of their predecessor’s specifications. In turn, each of the 25,000 masks produced were found to be seriously defective and as such were never used by American soldiers. Among the mask’s problems were defective eye pieces and a filter box that was unable to provide protection against most of the gases used during the war. It was not until later in the war that a working American gas mask was produced.

From the Collections of the
First Division Museum at Cantigny.