In 1941, Drs. Randolph Lovelace, Walter Boothby and Arthur H. Bulbulian at the Mayo Clinic collaborated to design the BLB mask enabling World War II aviators to fly at high altitudes and is later adapted for patients who require oxygen therapy.

Initially, Dr. Lovelace was interested only in finding a way to deliver oxygen more efficiently to patients than with the oxygen tent, which had many disadvantages. After the BLB mask was perfected for clinical use, the thought was that pilot error, related to hypoxia, could be ablated by use of the same mechanism.