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The person responsible for the gas mask was Garrett Augustus Morgan, Sr., an African-American, who was born in Paris, Kentucky, on March 4, 1877, to Sidney and Elizabeth (Reed) Morgan. Elizabeth Morgan had been a slave freed by the Emancipation Proclamation. She and Sidney had eleven children. Garrett Morgan was the seventh.
He spent his early childhood working on the family farm with his sisters and brothers, while attending school. At the early age of 14, he left Kentucky and moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, in search of employment. His education never went beyond elementary school, so he decided to hire a tutor while living in Cincinnati where he worked as a handyman for a wealthy landowner. He wanted to continue his studies in English grammar. Morgan moved to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1895 working for a clothing manufacturer as a sewing machine repairman. During his employment as a repairman, he invented a belt fastener for the sewing machine.
He truly became a businessman in 1907 with the opening of his own sewing equipment and repair shop. He included a tailoring shop in 1909 that employed 32 employees. Morgan’s new company began to put on the market coats, suits, and dresses. These clothes were made with the equipment that Morgan himself had made.
In Garrett’s hometown of Cleveland, numerous firefighters were being overcome by smoke in their attempt to put out fires. Morgan obtained a patent on October 13, 1914 for his breathing device or ‘safety helmet’ as he called it. The device was worn by placing the canvas hood over the head. Merging in the single tube in the back of the hood was a double tube. There was a sponge soaked with water at the open end. The sponge was used to filter out smoke and cool incoming air.
On July 24, 1916, 200 feet under Lake Erie a tunnel was being constructed by the Cleveland Water Works. Unexpectedly, an explosion occurred in the tunnel with 32 workmen trapped inside. This was going to be a true test of Morgan’s breathing device. Rescue parties were called on the scene to enter the tunnel, but they never came out. Officials summoned Morgan to the scene of the tunnel explosion.
Only wearing pajama bottoms and carrying his safety hoods, Morgan rushed to the scene. Police and firefights were apprehensive about going into the tunnel. They had watched as their comrades descended into the tunnel and never return. It was more than they could handle. Two volunteers, Morgan and his brother put the hoods on and entered the tunnel.
Morgan and his comrades pulled workers and rescuers to safety. Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation had to be performed on the superintendent of the tunnel project. The City of Cleveland honored Garrett Morgan with a gold medal for his heroic efforts. This disaster killed twenty-one people.
Fire departments across the country began to purchase the breathing device. Morgan also won numerous medals, which helped him sell the invention. Refined versions of this breathing device have served important roles in military combat. When it was disclosed that the inventor of the gas mask was African-American, public acceptance was affected. Nevertheless, it was used by the U.S. Army during World War I to protect the soldiers from chlorine gas fumes and saved hundreds of American soldiers.
Garrett Morgan is known to come up with extraordinary inventions of which has made a significant impact on society. With Morgan, he always managed to create one invention after another. He was just one of those special and rare people. Morgan was just compelled to try and solve safety problems of the day.
As Morgan got older, he developed glaucoma, which took away 90% of his sight. He died on August 27, 1963. The world is certainly a much safer place because of Garrett Morgan and his contribution to safety.
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