The Small Box Respirator Gas Mask

The small box respirator was a type of gas mask used by British Empire forces and issued to American forces. It protected soldiers’ lungs, eyes, and faces from chemical weapons. Soldiers carried their small box respirators at all times when in the forward trenches, where there was constant risk of gas attacks. 

Gas warfare as we know it began in April 1915, at the Second Battle of Ypres, in Belgium. Looking to break the stalemate of trench warfare, the German Army released large volumes of deadly chlorine gas. The wind carried the chlorine clouds across the positions of French, British, and Canadian troops, none of whom were outfitted with anti-gas equipment. From 1915 onward, both sides used deadly gases as wartime weapons. While the early gas attacks relied on compressed-air tanks, chemical agents such as chlorine gas, phosgene, and mustard gas were later packed into artillery shells so that they could be used on more specific targets. 

By the end of the war, some 124,000 tons of chemical weapons were released by all sides. In 1918, approximately 30 percent of the artillery shells fired by Canadian artillery were packed with gas. Although gas was a common element in most operations during the second half of the war, its impact was increasingly limited by protective masks, such as the small box respirator. Gas made the battlefield even more horrific than it had been but never proved to be a decisive weapon.

Within weeks of the gas attack at the Second Battle of Ypres, the Allies issued goggles and simple cotton face masks soaked with an anti-gas solution to the troops. These masks, which were hand-sewn by civilian volunteers, offered only limited protection to the lungs.

By mid-1915 a more effective anti-gas hood was mass-produced for the British Empire forces. It was a cloth sack with eyepieces that was pulled over the head like a pillowcase. The cloth was treated with an anti-gas solution that filtered the air as the soldier inhaled.

The small box respirator, which was introduced in 1916, was much more sophisticated than earlier anti-gas equipment. It consisted of a face piece and a filter box, connected by a corrugated tube. The small box respirator was carried in a canvas haversack, normally on the soldier’s chest. In the event of a gas alarm, the soldier fastened the respirator against his face, leaving the filter box in the haversack. When the soldier inhaled, he drew air through the filter box, where it was decontaminated before passing through the corrugated tube and into the face mask.

The small box respirator was ineffective if the delicate corrugated tube was damaged, which could allow contaminated air to enter the face piece without passing through the filter. To ensure that the equipment functioned properly, soldiers went to mobile testing stations for respirator inspection and repair.

After the first gas attack, British pharmaceutical research chemist E. F. Harrison transferred from an infantry battalion to the Royal Engineers to work on anti-gas equipment. Here, he developed the small box respirator. In November 1918, Harrison died of pneumonia, a lung condition that was aggravated by his repeated exposure to deadly chemicals during respirator experiments.

Although improvements were made to the materials and construction of the small box respirator after the war, its basic design remained unchanged until 1942–1943, when a more compact model with a directly mounted filter was introduced on a limited scale in the British and Commonwealth armies.

Source: The Canadian War Museum Website

Also See: The PH Helmet Respirator