Anselme Payen (1795-1871) and Garrett Augustus Morgan are credited with inventing the modern gas mask. Payen, a French chemist, was the son of an industrialist who established chemical factories. After his father's death, Payen took over the family business and turned his attention to a factory that refined sugar from sugar beets. In 1822 Payen used animal charcoal to remove large-molecular impurities. Eventually his use of charcoal to absorb impurities became an important feature of the gas masks used in World War I.

Morgan, an African American, was born in Paris, Tennessee in 1875. After working as a general handyman in Cincinnati, Ohio, he left for Cleveland in 1895. Morgan eventually opened a shop that sold and repaired sewing machines. In 1912 he came out with his most important invention, the Safety Hood or "Breathing Device," as he called it. His Breathing Device was a hood placed over the head...