James Bert Garner

James Bert Garner (September 2, 1870 – November 28, 1960) was an American chemical engineer and professor at the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research from 1914 until his retirement in 1957. He is credited with the invention of a World War I gas mask in 1915.

After reading an account of a gas attack by the German Army on Canadian and French troops at the Battle of Gravenstafel near Ypres on April 22, 1915, Garner hypothesized that chlorine gas had been used. Based on research he had performed while at the University of Chicago he believed that activated charcoal would adsorb the gas. After performing a successful test using two of his associates who were exposed to gas in a sealed room while wearing Dr. Garner’s gas mask, the results were turned over to the British government. In America thousands of gas masks were produced for American as well as Allied troops. Mine Safety Appliances was a chief producer. His mask was later used widely in industry.

Garner graduated from Wabash College in 1893 with a Bachelor of Science degree and studied under the renowned Dr. Alexander Smith.

In 1895, after receiving a Master of Science degree from Wabash and teaching there, he went at Smith's invitation to the University of Chicago for a teaching appointment. This is where he was first exposed to the principle he later used in a charcoal gas mask. It was part of his duties to set up experiments on the lecture tables. In an effort to find a demonstration that would seem especially dramatic, he turned to a little used one from a well-known source-book, G. S. Newth's Chemical Lecture Experiments.

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