Gas mask procurement

Mass production of the gas mask gave rise to a number of problems. The mask and its major components were specialized military items unfamiliar to private industry moreover, as equipment which might mean the difference between life and death to the individual soldier, the Army required a high standard of precision in its manufacture. The first need of the contractors was for skilled and experienced workmen. There was but one place, Edgewood Arsenal, from which to draw them accordingly men and women from Edgewood s gas mask plant joined the assembly lines at the factories as instructors and inspectors. In some cases they remained to form the nucleus of permanent inspection teams. 

Without the assistance of the experienced employees from the gas mask plant at Edgewood Arsenal, the contractors would not have been able to operate, for as just indicated, nowhere in industry were there workers with the necessary skills. After picked employees of the contractor had learned to perform their tasks, they in turn became instructors to other seleaed employees. 

Both the CWS and the contractors assembling gas masks had trouble procuring components. Under the educational order program the CWS had 

Another difficulty in the manufacture of the gas mask resulted from slight variations in the faceblank molds of the different mold manufacturers. Because each mold maker used a slightly different pattern the face-blanks also had slightly different patterns and could therefore not be successfully assembled with the same tools. Many faulty assemblies took place with resultant delays in production.  

But if one gas mask program was marked for conclusion after war came, another was suddenly and vigorously resuscitated. The period of educational orders had witnessed a small-scale trial production program for noncombatant gas masks. In 1940 the Chemical Warfare Service selected five firms, none of them experienced in such items, and contracted to set up complete noncombatant mask production lines in each for turning out a single educational order of gas masks. On the basis of this experience 

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