Botstowo

Gas mask and respirator history youtuber with over a decade of experience in the field! https://linktr.ee/botstowo

[botstowos-cbrn-gear]

Some scans of my catalog from H.S. Cover Co.! This has genuinely been a super useful resource that shows what was being sold by HSC during the time of its publication.

[botstowos-cbrn-gear]

Portraits I drew of the various owners of H.S. Cover Co. (later Pro-Tech Respirators, Inc.) through the years.

[botstowos-cbrn-gear]

I'm quite fond of Pro-Tech Respirators, Inc. (formerly H.S. Cover Co.)

I've been researching the company for around five years! Here's just a handful of masks in my PTR/HSC collection!

[botstowos-cbrn-gear]

My previous attempt at posting this seems to have not worked, so we’ll try it again!

These are all examples of the Goodrich Safety Respirator. Produced by B.F. Goodrich from approximately 1919 to the 1940s, these are fairly typical examples of Automatic Respirators.

Defining “Automatic Respirator” is fairly difficult. The name comes from the “automatic” exhaust valve found on H.R. Hurd’s original patent AR from the late 1870s. However, not all ARs actually have an exhaust valve.

While most use natural sea sponge for the filters, some used cotton or added silk or gauze prefilters. Another model added goggles to the basic design via straps and some types are even made of metal!

Because of the diversity in this category, the working definition of the term “Automatic Respirator” I have is this:

“Any respirator based upon H.R. Hurd’s patent or any respirator that is.”

On another note, the example pictured with the sponge sewn to the peripheral seal was modified by its original user. They did not come like that stock.

[mou1age]

All,

@botstowos-cbrn-gear's is finally on tumblr, and you should follow him. He's another US industrial collector who's doing incredible work with old pieces of rubber, and a good friend of mine.

[botstowos-cbrn-gear]

For my first post on tumblr, I’ll post something really special! This is the Gibbs Respirator from the Gibbs Respirator Co. of Chicago. They were made from approximately 1886 to 1925 and fall into the category of the remedial respirator due to its design.

Remedial respirators were an early trend in modern respirator design going back to Julius Jeffrey's respirators. In fact, this design convention is so old that Julius Jeffrey literally coined the term respirator as it's used today regarding PPE.

What they are, though, are respirators designed not only to protect from dusts, but to also remedy pre-existing respiratory conditions like congestion or allergies. Jeffrey's respirators - and all other remedial respirators, which were all based on his design - worked by allowing exhaled and inhaled air to pass through a wire mesh screen. Exhaling would trap moisture and heat in the screen which would warm and moisten inhaled air. This had a soothing effect for the wearer.

The Gibbs Respirator makes use of this principle in an interesting way. It has two unfiltered screens on each side of the bridge of the nose. Their placement allows for inhaled air to rapidly enter the nose and exhaled air to rapidly pass back through it. However, since they were not filtered, they ruined the protective capabilities of the actual filter. Though I'd say it wouldn't matter much as the filter itself was either made of horse hair, straw, or both.

The Gibbs Respirator was not only advertised as a dust protector for commercial and industrial use, but it would also be advertised in medical and literary circulars solely as a respiratory remedy.

Overall, this is an awesome piece I'm stoked to have in my collection!