In 1914, Garrett Augustus Morgan, a prolific inventor, submitted a patent for the first gas mask. Morgan’s first well-known invention was the safety hood, a forerunner of the gas mask. Subsequent inventors built on Morgan’s work to create masks that protected soldiers from poisonous gases during WWI.

The hood was popularized during a tragic accident in Cleveland, Ohio. When 32 workers were trapped during a tunnel collapse under Lake Erie in 1916, rescuers were unable to reach them because smoke, dust and fumes blocked their way. Morgan and several volunteers using the masks were able to reach the trapped men and rescue several survivors.