#akron tissot

[bureau-of-mines]

H.P. Lovecraft once wrote a story exploring his phobia of air conditioning. This may seem nonsensical now, but back in the 1920's, when all refrigeration and air conditioning systems were basically handcrafted and used ammonia, I'd've been wary of the damn things too.

One of many companies that sold protection from Ammonia was Protecto. I am not sure of the exact date of their founding, but we know that in 1923 they were purchased by a company mostly known at the time for their all-in-one first aid kits, Davis Emergency Equipment Company.

Protecto was a relatively small brand and their name doesn't come up much. We have a couple of photos of their "ammonia helmet" masks. I don't have an exact date on those, but one picture-article I have which shows those photos has 1917 penciled on it. Who knows.

Protecto has two notable contributions to the history of respirators: the aforementioned Davis merger in 1923, and getting sued by Max Yablick in 1927. I guess they were still going by the Protecto name for a time after the buyout.

Yablick is known for patenting the Yablick valve, sometimes incorrectly referred to as a Connell valve, and for developing Kupramite, which absorbs ammonia very effectively and this makes for good mask filters.

As he held the patent for Kupramite, he determined that Protecto's use of it in their masks without his permission was a patent infringment. However, as he had been working for the CWS at the time of his discovery, he lost the lawsuit, on the grounds that you cannot make exclusive private profit off of research that was funded by the American public.

It would be funny as fuck if he also sued all the industrial companies that used Yablick valves on their masks, but I digress.

So, onto the actual mask we're looking at here today, the Absorbits. It's a standard Akron-Tissot Type B facepiece with a standard-size industrial filter. The label is a single strip of paper wrapped around the filter, which is shedding paint.

Easily the coolest part of this is the "decoder" ring on the front of the canister sheath. You basically rotate it after every use to indicate how much time is left on the filter. This is a stupid idea and did not last long, although Davis would keep the basic idea of the metal sheath around for a while, albeit with some refinements. I do like the metal hook for hanging the facepiece though.

Thanks to @goatsludge for editing these pics for me.

[madnessofmen]

Type A Akron-Tissot Masks worn with Simplexene Permeable Fighting Suits, Dipped Gloves, and Overboots. War Department, Chemical Warfare Service, 1917-1918.

[spaceintruderdetector]

akron tissot gas mask ww1

[gopresidentpicklechips]

Akron Tissot sketch by:me I can't wait to be an elderly grandfather and tell my grandkids how FREAKING hard it was to draw this damn mask