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According to War Department General Orders No. 56 issued in 1922, Major Karl Connell of the U.S. Army Medical Department, while serving with the Chemical Warfare Service was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for personally inventing, testing, and perfecting a new type of gasmask during the first half of 1918.
Development[]
The experimental respirator devised by Major Connell, and subsequently known as the Connell Gasmask, was comprised of a mask made from stamped brass that was padded with a sponge rubber seal. The whole was encased in a combination rubber and rubberized fabric facepiece that was secured to the head by means of an elastic head harness. The Connell Gasmask incorporated the Tissot mask’s principal of drawing the air across the eyepieces to prevent them from fogging. Unlike other U.S. made respirators, the filter canister of the Connell mask was positioned directly behind the user’s neck, not on the chest. Approximately 1,000 Connell Gasmasks were fabricated in Great Britain under Major Connells supervision and shipped to the U.S. for evaluation. Production was discontinued in July of 1918, because the comfort of the Connell mask’s design was not comparable to that of the AT and KT gasmasks which were designed in the U.S.
