Article about: M1 service gas mask history: An experimental design from WW I, known as the Kops Tissot Monro (KTM), was standardized as the Model 1919 and renamed the M-1 Service Gas Mask in 1921. It came
An experimental design from WW I, known as the Kops Tissot Monro (KTM), was standardized as the Model 1919 and renamed the M-1 Service Gas Mask in 1921. It came in five sizes, with fixed round eye lenses, a long corrugated rubber tube and canister, very similar to subsequent designs.
After more than a decade of successful use, two improved models of the M1 mask were developed in the mid-1930s:
1934: the M1A1 mask with replaceable lenses and improved exhaust valve, minor modifications to the head-harness straps and the mounting of the eyepieces. Five sizes produced.
1935: the M1A2 mask with a one-size stockinet-covered rubber face mask with a seam at the chin. The universal size fit about 95% of soldiers; M1A1 largest and smallest sizes continued to be used for those who could not fit the M1A2 mask.
Although rooted in the designs of WW I, the M1 series masks (M1, M1A1, M1A2) served until 1944, late in World War II. By 1937, Edgewood Arsenal was producing over 50,000 M1A2 masks per year, but all three variants were in use until declared obsolete in 1944.
early WWII era M1A2 Gas Mask displays
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