Gas masks from World War 1. Academician Zelinsky. The father of the Russian gas mask with a carbon filter. What did the professor get for his invention?
Nikolai Dmitrievich Zelinsky was born in 1861 in Tiraspol, into a noble family. The parents, first the father, and soon the mother, died of rapid consumption. Nikolai, left in the care of his grandmother, graduated from a district school in his hometown, then from the famous Richelieu gymnasium in Odessa. In 1880, Zelinsky entered Novorossiysk University, passed the master's exam in 1888, and defended his master's and doctoral dissertations (in 1891). After N.D. Zelinsky was sent as a faculty fellow to Germany.
The laboratories of Johannes Wislicenus in Leipzig and Victor Meyer in Göttingen were chosen for the internship, where great attention was paid to issues of theoretical organic chemistry and the phenomena of isomerism and stereochemistry. Shortly before Zelinsky's arrival, Meyer discovered thiophene and suggested that Nikolai Dmitrievich carry out the synthesis of tetrahydrothiophene. However, it turned out that the intermediate product (dichlorodiethyl sulfide) is a substance that is very strong on the skin; N. D. Zelinsky received a rather severe injury and was forced to stay in the hospital for several months.
“Following the path of such a synthesis, I prepared an intermediate product - dichlorodiethyl sulfide, which turned out to be a strong poison, from which I suffered severely, receiving burns to my hands and body,” Zelinsky wrote in his memoirs.
The Germans took advantage of Zelinsky's discovery during the First World War, using dichlorodiethyl sulfide as a skin blister poison, called mustard gas.
From 1893 until his death in 1953, Nikolai Dmitrievich Zelinsky was a professor at Moscow University.
Petroleum cracking, activated carbon and gas mask
The scientific activity of Nikolai Zelinsky was wide and varied, but one of its main directions was the search for oxide catalysts for oil cracking. In particular, Zelinsky proposed a way to improve the catalytic densification reaction of acetylene into benzene using activated carbon as a catalyst.
Around this time, in 1915, Zelinsky carried out work on the adsorption and creation of a coal gas mask, which was adopted by the Russian and Allied armies during the First World War and saved many lives.
The characteristic horn on the gas mask attracts attention: there is an army myth that says that it is necessary “to prevent the cap from slipping down.” In fact, its purpose is to insert your finger inside the mask to wipe the glass from the inside.
It must be admitted that Zelinsky was not the first to discover the ability of charcoal to absorb chlorine, hydrogen sulfide and ammonia vapors from the air. This was done in 1854 by the Scottish chemist John Stenhouse, who developed a respirator, which is a mask that covers a person’s face from the bridge of the nose to the chin. Charcoal powder was placed in the space between two hemispheres formed by copper wire mesh. Stenhouse carbon filters were only one of the alternatives and were not widely used before Zelinsky’s work.
The first to suggest using birch charcoal taken from a fireplace, activated by calcination, to purify chemical solutions, drinking water To remove fusel oils from vodka and protect meat from rotting, there was Toviy Egorovich, aka Johann Tobias Lowitz. Lowitz, who was born in Göttingen and came to Russia as a child, enjoyed the special favor of Mikhail Lomonosov, headed the Main Pharmacy in St. Petersburg, and at the end of his life was elected academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Gas masks of the second half of the 19th century were improved from model to model, until in 1879 the American Hutson Hard proposed a gas mask in the form of a mask made of vulcanized rubber.
Hard's filter cup mask (1879) However, neither Hard nor the German chemist and inventor Bernhard Lab used activated carbon as a filter or used it only as an auxiliary agent. The American Samuel Danilevich recalled the sorbing properties of charcoal in 1909. The filter box of his gas mask, like that of the British James Scott, was filled with charcoal. True, in addition to coal, the inventors also used other filters.
Zelinsky’s priority is that Nikolai Dmitrievich used not just charcoal, but activated carbon (its production was first established in Germany), that is, prepared in a special way, with increased adsorption capacity: the total pore surface of one cubic centimeter of activated carbon can have an area of up to 1500 square meters. meters.
Activated carbon granules and their appearance at 300x magnification.In addition, Zelinsky brought in Edmond Kummant, a process engineer at the Triangle plant, to work.
In combat conditions, even the penetration of a small amount of a toxic substance, due to the loose fit of the gas mask to the skin of the face, became fatal. Edmond Kummant solved the problem of “mask fit”, and his name deservedly went down in history as the name of a full-fledged co-author of the gas mask. The originality of Cummant's mask was also recognized by the fact that in 1918 the British Patent Office issued him patent No. 19587 for a gas mask.
Zelinsky–Kummant gas mask
The Zelinsky-Kummant gas mask was tested under the guidance of Professor Zelinsky’s student Nikolai Shilov. Shilov carried out tests in combat conditions, and made several important proposals (for example, a layer-by-layer design of a carbon filter), which made it possible to improve the original design. Under the leadership of Shilov, mobile laboratories for testing gas masks and special courses for training personnel were organized. At the same time, Shilov also carried out work, so to speak, in the opposite direction - he created an original device for spraying chemical toxic substances.
Instructions for using a gas mask During 1916-1917, over 11 million Zelinsky gas masks were produced for the Russian army, although the entire Russian army numbered only 6.5 million people. Russian troops were fully provided with Zelinsky-Kummant gas masks. The effectiveness of the German gas attacks decreased so much that they were stopped on the Russian front in January 1917.
Zelinsky's gas mask was far ahead of both French and British gas masks.
Thus, the French gas mask of Jules Tissot assumed the placement of a respiratory box weighing more than four kilograms on the back; Tissot used caustic soda mixed with metal filings, wood wool soaked in castor oil, soap and glycerin as absorbers.
Gas mask Tissot system Most modern Western researchers of personal chemical protective equipment believe that the modern gas mask has its predecessor in the British gas mask of 1916. In fact, this is true. Moreover, its modification in 1918 gave grounds to recognize the British gas mask as the best in the First World War. On its basis, all subsequent models were subsequently designed, including models of Soviet gas masks. We are talking here about a quality mask.
British gas mask model 1915/16.You just need to take into account that neither French nor British chemists at the time of the creation of the Zelinsky-Kummant gas mask knew anything about the possibility of using activated carbon to absorb gaseous and vaporous toxic substances of various types. chemical nature. At the request of the British command of the Russian General Staff, on February 27, 1916, 5 Zelinsky-Kummant gas masks were sent to London for research. British chemists did not believe that activated birch charcoal could be a good remedy. When they were convinced of the opposite, it turned out that in England there was no technology for producing high-quality activated carbon. Then the technology for activating charcoal was transferred.
At the origins of aviation fuel
By this time, Professor Nikolai Zelinsky was no longer working on gas masks. In 1918–1919, he developed an original method for producing gasoline by cracking diesel oil and petroleum in the presence of aluminum chloride and bromide, putting scientific basis high-performance production of aviation fuel. By developing this topic, Zelinsky managed to improve the quality of aviation gasoline.
New gasoline made it possible to dramatically increase the power of engines and the speed of aircraft. The plane was able to take off with a shorter run and rise to a greater altitude with a significant load. These studies had a significant impact during the years of the Great Patriotic War invaluable assistance to our aviation. For his work on the organic chemistry of oil and the catalytic transformations of hydrocarbons, Academician Zelinsky was awarded the State Prize in 1946.
It is immoral to profit from human misfortunes
Zelinsky fundamentally did not want to patent my gas mask, believing that it is immoral to profit from human misfortunes. Perhaps this also happened because Zelinsky felt his own responsibility for these misfortunes. After all, Nikolai Dmitrievich was the first to develop the principles industrial production chloropicrin, used in the First World War as an auxiliary toxic agent.
The services of N.D. Zelinsky to science and to the Motherland are widely recognized in our country. In 1929, N.D. Zelinsky was elected academician. He was awarded the titles of Honored Scientist and Hero of Socialist Labor; he was awarded 4 Orders of Lenin and 2 Orders of the Red Banner of Labor; He is a three-time winner of the Stalin Prize.
An ascetic and very energetic person who firmly believed in the power of science, together with V.I. Vernadsky in 1941, through the Royal and Linnean Societies, addressed a letter to scientists in Great Britain expressing “confidence that the union of science and culture of the two great states will promote in every possible way the speedy destruction of Hitlerism."
Commemorative stamp of the Moldavian post office, dedicated to the great native of Tiraspol.The great Russian scientist D.I. Mendeleev wrote many years ago about three services that any outstanding scientist does in the name of the Motherland: the first of them is a scientific feat, the second is activity in the pedagogical field, the third is to promote the development of domestic industry. According to this covenant, Nikolai Dmitrievich Zelinsky performed all three services to the Motherland.
The Russian Academy of Sciences established the Zelinsky Prize in 1961. It is awarded for outstanding work in the fields of organic and petroleum chemistry.
The PPE Association (ASIZ) established a medal named after Zelinsky: the academician’s work continues to live actively and creatively. In addition, ASIZ helps to maintain
The history of the creation of a coal gas mask is connected with the events of the First World War (1914-1918). Already at the end of 1914, German chemists led by F. Haber
(Director of the Institute of Physics and Chemistry) proposed to the military to use gaseous or highly volatile liquid toxic substances in combat conditions in the form of a cloud moving in the direction of the wind at enemy positions. Despite the fact that the use of such weapons was prohibited by the decisions of the Hague Conference
1898 and 1907, in the winter of 1915 information appeared about its use by Germany on the French front in Belgium. More than 15 thousand people suffered from gas attacks with poisonous and asphyxiating agents near the city of Ypres, 5 thousand died within 24 hours. A section of the front was exposed, and panic began among the French soldiers. In May and early summer 1915, such attacks were carried out on the Russian front under
Warsaw. Russian troops also found themselves completely defenseless and suffered heavy losses.
The use of toxic substances against people caused general outrage and confusion at the same time. Attempts were made to find remedies, but they did not give positive answers. The Russian chemist N.D. Zelinsky coped with the task.
N. D. Zelinsky - inventor of the coal gas mask
Tirastol, Kherson province in a noble family. His parents died early from transient consumption, orphaned at the age of four, the boy was raised by his grandmother
Maria Petrovna Vasilyeva. Fearing that the boy would inherit his parents' illness, she did everything necessary to toughen him up. Nikolai learned to swim, row, and ride a horse early. They often spent the summer in the village of Vasilyevka under
Tiraspol. “As a child, my best comrades and peers were peasant children, and I grew up in constant communication with them,” he later wrote.
Having received elementary education at home, Nikolai studied for three years at the Tiraspol district school, and then at the famous Richelieu gymnasium in Odessa, which was distinguished high level teaching staff and gave students broad humanitarian knowledge. Teaching natural sciences was poorly delivered. Chemistry as a subject was not taught at all in gymnasiums at that time; only one page was devoted to chemistry in the physics textbook. But, despite this, the future scientist became interested in chemistry very early. “I was ten years old when I tried to produce chlorine by treating manganese peroxide with hydrochloric acid,” he said.
In 1880, Zelinsky entered the natural sciences department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Novorossiysk (now Odessa) University, which arose in 1865 from the Richelieu Lyceum. Among the professors were famous scientists Sechenov, Kovalevsky, Mechnikov, Zalensky, Verigo and others.
All of them were devoted to science and tried to pass on their love to students.
From his first year, Zelinsky decided to devote himself to organic chemistry, or, as they said then, the chemistry of carbon compounds. In 1884, he received a university diploma and was left to work at the chemistry department. According to the tradition that existed at that time, young scientists were required to undergo internships in advanced Western European laboratories. N.D. Zelinsky was sent to
Germany - to Leipzig and Göttingen - to get acquainted with the newly discovered areas of organic chemistry and collect materials for the dissertation. During one of the experiments in Göttingen, he received burns to his hands and body and was bedridden for a whole semester. As an intermediate reaction product, the future creator of the gas mask first received one of the most powerful toxic substances - dichlorodiethyl sulfite, later called mustard gas, and became its first victim.
Returning to Odessa in 1888, Zelinsky passed his master's exam and was enrolled as a private assistant professor at Novorossiysk University, where he taught a course to students general chemistry and continued the research begun in Germany. In 1889 he defended his master’s thesis, in 1891 his doctoral dissertation (it was called “Study of the phenomena of stereoisometry in the series of saturated carbon compounds”0. In 1893
Zelinsky became a professor at Moscow University. His scientific interests focused on the chemistry of carbons and related oil chemistry (in this area he subsequently made his most significant discoveries, developed methods for the catalytic cracking of heavy oil waste and oils, the use of high-sulfur oil, etc.).
In 1911-1917, the scientist worked in St. Petersburg, at the Central Chemical Laboratory of the Ministry of Finance. He will leave Moscow in protest against the reactionary actions of the government, which fired the leadership of Moscow University. It was during these years that the scientist developed a coal gas mask. In total, the scientist, who lived 92 years (died in 1953), published over 700 scientific works, many of which have been translated into foreign languages and became classic. The Institute of Organic Chemistry was named after him Russian Academy Sci.
2. 3. Tests of Zelinsky's gas mask.
The popularity of the gas mask in the army.
Nikolai Dmitrievich Zelinsky was the first to come up with the idea of creating a universal gas mask, which was based on the possibility of sorbability of almost all toxic substances, regardless of their chemical nature. He used activated carbon as an absorber. Having carefully studied official reports from the front, Zelinsky drew attention to the fact that during gas attacks those who survived were those who resorted to such simple means as breathing through a cloth moistened with water, or breathing through loose earth, tightly touching it with their mouth and nose . Those who covered their heads well with their overcoats and lay calmly during the gas attack also escaped. These simple techniques that saved people from suffocation showed that although the gases were deadly poisonous, their concentration was insignificant. Therefore, it was decided to use a simple agent as an absorber, the action of which would be similar to the action of matter soldier's overcoat go to soil humus. Toxic substances were not chemically bound, but were absorbed or adsorbed by wool and soil. Such a remedy was found in charcoal, whose adsorption coefficient in relation to gases is much greater than that of soil.
Preliminary experiments with coal were carried out in the laboratory of the Ministry of Finance in Petrograd. Sulfur was burned in an empty room. When the concentration of sulfur dioxide became unbearable to breathe, people entered the room wearing carbon respirators (a handkerchief in which granular coal was wrapped).
People could stay in the room for up to half an hour without experiencing discomfort.
In June 1915 Zelinsky first reported on the cheap gas mask he had found at a meeting of the gas mask commission at the Russian Technical Society in
Petrograd. The commission announced a competition for the design of a gas mask using coal. An engineer at the Triangle plant, E. L. Kumant, proposed using a rubber mask he designed for a gas mask. However, the implementation of the invention was slowed down.
A specially created commission first gave preference to the gas mask design created at the Mining Institute, although it was inferior to the Zelinsky-Kumant design in terms of power and convenience. Only in March 1916. An order was placed for the production of 200 thousand Zelinsky gas masks. In August 1916 The army was provided with such gas masks only 20%, although their popularity at the front was enormous. Myself
N.D. Zelinsky received many letters from the front asking him to send gas masks. The same requests came from countries allies of Russia. In February 1916 5 Zelinsky gas masks were sent to London for research. The gas mask saved thousands of lives and was adopted by the Russian and then allied armies. In total, 11,185,750 Zelinsky-Kumant gas masks were sent to the active army during the First World War. The name of Zelinsky became the property of Russia, although the scientist himself did not receive any official remuneration for his invention.
His reward was words of gratitude in letters from front-line soldiers. Zelinsky himself proudly said: “I invented it not for attack, but to protect young lives from suffering and death.”
2. 4. Types of modern gas masks.
Gas mask device.
Modern gas masks, based on the principle of protective action, are divided into two types: filtering and insulating.
The insulating gas mask is designed to protect people working in hazardous conditions. It is used when extinguishing fires, performing mine rescue operations, and eliminating accidents (for example, on gas networks), when the concentration of toxic substances can be especially high. An insulating gas mask contains a supply of oxygen to ensure breathing. The eyes, face, and respiratory organs are completely isolated from the external environment.
To protect people from the possible use of toxic substances, a filter gas mask is used. A filter gas mask filters the inhaled air passing through the gas mask box. The air enters the respiratory system purified of toxic and radioactive substances. A special absorber (activated carbon catalyst) and a smoke filter are placed in the metal body of the gas protection box. External charged air enters the box at the entrance, passes through a filter on which particles of dust and smoke remain, and then through a layer of coal where vapors of toxic substances are retained. The connecting tube connects the gas box with the rubber mask, protecting the face, eyes and respiratory organs. The rubber connecting tube has folds (corrugations). Between the connecting tube and the mask there is a valve box with three valves - one inhalation and two exhalation. Through the first valve, clean air enters from the connecting tube under the mask when inhaling, and through the remaining valves it is removed from under the mask when inhaling.
This is how the civilian gas mask GP-4u works. The GP-5 filter gas mask model is similar to a helmet mask, does not have a connecting tube, and anti-fog films are included for the glasses. The general-arms filter gas mask has a similar device and the same principle of protective action.
3. Conclusion
The carbon gas mask, created based on the design of engineer E. L. Kumant and the idea of chemist N. D. Zelinsky about the sorbability of almost all toxic substances, saved many human lives. The scientist did not receive any official reward for his invention, but the lives saved became a real reward for him.
The gas mask, invented during the First World War, did not lose its importance at the beginning of the 21st century. Its modern designs, based on the principle of protective action, are divided into two types - filtering (filter inhaled air) and insulating (have a supply of oxygen to ensure breathing). In peaceful life, a gas mask is used when working in dangerous conditions associated with rescuing people, eliminating accidents, and extinguishing fires. The use of protective equipment may also become necessary in connection with terrorist attacks, the number of which, unfortunately, has been increasing recently.
Exactly one hundred years ago, on March 16, 1916, the Naroch operation began on the territory of Belarus - one of the largest offensive operations Russian troops during the First World War. Generally the first World War became, perhaps, the first terrible war of the 20th century. It was the first to use long-range artillery, tanks, aircraft and weapons of mass destruction - shells with chemical gases.
And also - during the First World War, for the first time in history, photo reports from the battlefields began to be published. Newspapers printed bravura photographs of parades and victories, and soldiers and ordinary field reporters brought in their cameras the terrible truth of the trenches - typhoid trenches half-filled with water, rusty rows of barbed wire with the bodies of dead soldiers, whole ranks of dead soldiers mowed down by machine-gun fire... Perhaps , these terrible images became the impetus for the realization that war is an abnormal state for humanity, and in Europe, after a few decades, all wars stopped.
So, today’s post contains rare and terrible photographs from the First World War.
02. A German squad in gas masks (then called “gas masks”) and with hand grenades in their hands. Photo taken April 23, 1916.
03. British troops during the attack. The British had interestingly shaped helmets that survived into World War II.
04. Equipment from the First World War - a device for some kind of military wiretapping. Apparently, it was used in reconnaissance and surveillance.
05. Gas mask of an unusual design, with pipes leading into the shoulder pack. I will assume that this is a prototype of modern instrumentation - gas masks with a closed breathing cycle and its own supply of oxygen, which are used, for example, by firefighters when working in heavily smoky rooms.
06. In general, the gas mask became one of the symbols of the First World War - during it, terrible chemical weapons began to be used on a large scale for the first time. The troops standing in fortified positions were fired at with gas shells containing mustard gas, after which the heavy gas fell into the trenches in green clouds, killing people en masse... In the photo - Russian troops in gas masks.
07. Since then, the image of a man in a gas mask, more like some kind of semi-technical creature, has become associated with death and war.
08. Machine gun crew in gas masks, photo from the Eastern Front.
09. Rare photograph of a gas weapon in action. In the foreground we see two German soldiers wearing gas masks, and behind us are thick clouds of poisonous gas.
10. Gas masks of those years were very unreliable. They look more like some kind of desperate attempt to protect themselves from terrible gas clouds than real reliable protection.
11. Scary photo- A French orderly holds the body of a German soldier who died as a result of a gas attack. The gas mask didn't help him...
12. French soldier wearing a gas mask.
13. Trench life of French soldiers. A long deep trench, mud, cold, gruel from a kettle. People often sat in such conditions for months.
14. More trenches, in the warmer seasons.
15. French troops during the battle, photo taken in 1916.
16. British troops with a tank.
17. German machine gun crew. Everyone is wearing gas masks, there is a risk of a gas attack.
18. Trenches...
19. French cavalry cuirassiers help a wounded comrade.
20. German assault troops on the front line, 1917. Stormtroopers were usually recruited from motivated volunteers, armed and supplied better than ordinary "trench" troops.
21. A rare photograph capturing the “work” of a German flamethrower. There were two flamethrowers - one carried a tank with compressed nitrogen, and the second directed the hose. The flamethrower was a terrible psychological weapon, the mere sight of which sent the soldiers of the opposing side scattering.
22. The result of the “work” of the flamethrower is a burnt British tank...
23. British soldiers during the assault on a German bunker.
24. Letter home from the trenches.
25. Trenches...
26. The soldier who died during the attack...
27. "Descendants, take care of the world."
On April 22, 1915, at 3:30 a.m., near the Belgian city of Ypres, the Germans for the first time in history used chemical weapons against the Anglo-French troops preparing to attack. It was chlorine. Although difficult to classify as a chemical warfare agent, the French 1st Army suffered massive casualties. There was no escape from the suffocating gas that caused painful coughing. He penetrated into any crevice. 5 thousand soldiers and officers died in positions. Another 10 thousand lost their health and combat capability forever.
Soon, on May 31, 1915, Russian troops were subjected to a gas attack in the Bolimov area, near Warsaw. On a 12-kilometer front, the Germans released 264 tons of chlorine. 8,832 people were injured, 1,101 of them died.
All over the world they began to look for means of salvation from a new type of weapon, which posed an unprecedented danger. Those air purification devices that were previously used in industry did not save us in a combat situation. It was difficult to rely on multilayer gauze bandages soaked in sodium hyposulfite. In November 1915, a process engineer at the Triangle plant Kummant invented a rubber helmet with goggles, which made it possible to protect not only the respiratory organs, but also most of the head. But the main thing – a reliable filter element – was still missing. It was this, back in June 1915, that the professor proposed .
He saw that the search for means of protection against chemical agents was going along the wrong path. Inventors tried to find chemical absorbers that bind one or another individual toxic substance. They lost sight of the fact that if another agent were used, such an absorber would be completely useless. It was necessary to find a substance that would purify the air from any OM, regardless of its chemical composition. Such a universal absorber was found Nikolai Dmitrievich Zelinsky, it turned out to be charcoal. Nikolay Dmitrievich spent a lot of effort developing ways to activate carbon - increasing its ability to absorb on its surface various substances(increased porosity). One gram of activated carbon with extremely developed capillarity had an absorbing surface of 15 square meters. After numerous experiments Nikolay Dmitrievich suggested using activated birch or linden charcoal. This is how the famous Zelinsky universal gas mask with the Kummant mask was created in Russia.
Zelinsky's invention did not immediately meet with support. The head of the sanitary and evacuation unit of the Russian army, Prince of Oldenburg, first tried to establish mass production of gas masks of his own design. But their absorbent - non-activated carbon with soda lime - petrified when they breathed. The device failed even after a series of training sessions.
Under pressure from the General Staff, members of the State Duma and the State Council, Zelinsky’s gas mask was finally adopted. Its testing in combat conditions has proven its high reliability. The name of the Russian professor gained worldwide fame. Samples of his gas mask were sent to the allied armies. Ultimately, the principles that Nikolai Dmitrievich introduced into the filter gas mask became generally accepted.
Although work on the gas mask ended in mid-1915, it entered service with the Russian army only in February 1916.
After the units of the Russian army participating in the First World War began using this model of gas mask, human losses from enemy gases decreased sharply. In total, during the First World War, more than 11 million gas masks were sent to the active army, which saved the lives of millions of Russian soldiers.
An example of the disadvantage of the Zelinsky-Kummanat gas mask is that before use it had to be purged of coal dust accumulated from shaking and grinding of coal granules. This slowed down the process of putting on a gas mask and could cost the life of its owner. A heavy box of coal hanging in a “combat-like” position limited the rotation of the head.
The gas mask was made in orange color. There were two main types of such a gas mask, differing in the shape and capacity of the boxes: the Petrograd type with a rectangular cross-section (see picture; coal weight 160 g), which was manufactured by the Military-Industrial Committee; and Moscow, with an oval box section (see picture; coal weight 250 g and 200 g), produced by the All-Russian Zemstvo Union. There were no valves; inhaled and exhaled air passed through the box. There were two types of masks: with a “spout” and without it. T.N. The “spout” was intended to wipe foggy windows without removing the mask ( see picture ) . The gas mask had many shortcomings, but it protected well from a mixture of 0,2% chlorine with 0,1% phosgene on average for 2-3 hours and thus fully satisfied the requirements that were placed on respirators in 1915-1916, when the Germans used almost exclusively gas cylinders rather than artillery attacks. Breathing resistance – no more than 4 mm of water column.
About how N. D. Zelinsky came up with the idea of coal as a means of protection against gases
N.D. Zelinsky:
“At the beginning of the summer of 1915, in the Sanitary and Technical Department of the Russian technical society The issue of gas attacks by the enemy and measures to combat them was considered several times. Official reports from the front described in detail the situation of gas attacks, cases of defeat from them and the few cases of rescue of soldiers who were in forward positions. It was reported that those who survived were those who resorted to such simple means as breathing through a rag moistened with water or urine, or breathing through loose earth, tightly touching it with their mouth and nose, or, finally, those who covered their heads well with an overcoat were saved. and lay calmly during the gas attack. These simple techniques that saved one from suffocation showed that at that time, at least, the concentration of gases in the air was, although deadly poisonous, still insignificant, since it was possible to save oneself by such simple means.
This last circumstance made a great impression on us, and then discussing the question of possible measures to combat gas attacks, we decided to try and use a simple remedy, the effect of which would be quite similar to the effect of the matter of a soldier’s overcoat or soil humus. In both cases, toxic substances were not chemically bound, but were absorbed or adsorbed by wool and soil. We thought to find such a remedy in charcoal, the adsorption coefficient of which in relation to permanent gases, as is known, is much greater than for soil.”
Memoirs of personal assistant N.D. Zelinsky S.S. Stepanova
N.D. Zelinsky’s personal assistant S.S. Stepanov actively participated in the work to improve and test the coal gas mask during the First World War. In his memoirs, he describes episodes dedicated to the last tests of the gas mask in 1913.
Who wasn't an inventor back then? [gas mask]! Everyone was there. Wasn't the lazy one an inventor, and then some carried glasses for testing, some carried a nose clip, some carried a breathing pipe with a valve. And that’s it – nothing like Zelinsky’s gas mask.
When the Prince of Oldenburg was summoned to Headquarters in connection with the gas masks case, Nikolai Dmitrievich was invited to go there and took me with him to test our gas masks.
We traveled with the Prince of Oldenburg train to Minsk.
In Minsk they were waiting for the carriage to be equipped with a chamber containing asphyxiating gases.
The next day upon arrival, after examining the mask and respirator, I tested his breathing and exhalation abilities, learning to quickly put on and take off in case of demand or display. In general, I was preparing for a great task, knowing that at headquarters I would have to perform with the same device and be in the cell.
It was time to enter the cell. Nikolai Dmitrievich came to me, I took our gas mask, and we approached the designated carriage. Everyone was already assembled here.
The bosses, led by Oldenburgsky, watched the progress of the procedure with curiosity. They gave a sign to go to the cell. Taking my time, I carefully put on the mask and quickly entered the carriage. Masked students and teachers of the Mining Institute followed me.
How much time passed, but the “miners” gradually and one by one left the carriage. The last remaining “miner” stayed with me for a short time, twirled something with his finger near his nose and also left, I continued to be alone. Then I hear a knock on the door:
- Come out!
I was silent, thinking, what will happen next?
- Come out!..
I continued to remain silent.
I look, someone in a mask comes into my carriage, takes me by the sleeve of my coat and drags me to the doors:
- Come on... come out!
I see things are coming to a fight, I obeyed.
The serious faces of those present awaited my exit. Each one examined me from head to toe, and when I took off my mask, I was convinced of the impression they had received.
The next day after testing the gas mask at headquarters, Nikolai Dmitrievich received an official notification: by order of the Minister of War, the entire army must be equipped with Zelinsky-Kumant gas masks as soon as possible.
("Scientific Notes of Moscow University", 1934, issue 3)
Not far from Warsaw, the Germans emptied 12 thousand chlorine cylinders on May 31, 1915, flooding the trenches of the Russian army with 264 tons of poison. More than three thousand Siberian riflemen died, and about two were hospitalized in critical condition. This tragedy became the impetus for the development of a gas mask, which forever inscribed the name of N. D. Zelinsky in the Fatherland.
It is worth separately noting that the 217th Kovrovsky Regiment and the 218th Gorbatovsky Regiment of the 55th Infantry Division, which took the “chemical” attack, did not flinch and repelled the German offensive. And a little earlier, on April 22, the French front was successfully broken through by a German gas attack: Entente soldiers left the trenches in horror.
The first reaction to the gas attack in Russia was an attempt at mass production of wet anti-chlorine masks, which was supervised by Prince Alexander of Oldenburg, the great-grandson of Paul I. But the prince was not distinguished by any outstanding organizational skills or competence in the field of chemistry, although he served as the supreme chief of the army sanitary service. As a result, the Russian army was offered gauze bandages by the commission of General Pavlov, Minsky, the Petrograd Committee of the Union of Cities, the Moscow Committee of the Land Union, the Mining Institute, Tryndin and many other “figures”. Most of them suggested impregnating gauze with sodium hyposulfite to protect against chlorine, forgetting that the reaction with the combat gas caused the release of quite toxic sulfur dioxide. Meanwhile, the Germans, on the other side of the front, had already introduced a new poison into the battle: phosgene, chloropicrin, mustard gas, lewisite, etc.
The genius of Nikolai Dmitrievich Zelinsky was that he realized very early on the impossibility of creating a universal neutralizing composition for all types of chemical warfare agents. He already knew then about the surviving Russian soldiers who saved themselves by inhaling air through the loose earth or tightly wrapping their heads in an overcoat. Therefore, the logical decision was to use the phenomenon of adsorption on the surface of porous substances, that is, to implement the physical principle of neutralization. Charcoal was perfect for this role.
It should be separately mentioned that Nikolai Dmitrievich himself was familiar with toxic substances firsthand. This happened in Gettengen, Germany, when the future great chemist, after graduating from Novorossiysk University, worked under the guidance of Professor V. Meyer. This was a typical foreign internship for those years. Subjects laboratory work was associated with the synthesis of compounds of the thiophene series, and at one point yellow smoke, accompanied by the smell of mustard, rose above one of the flasks. Zelinsky bent over the chemical glassware and, losing consciousness, fell to the floor. It turned out that the young chemist had serious poisoning and a burn to the lungs. So Zelinsky came under destructive effect dichlordiethyl sulfide, a powerful toxic substance that later became part of mustard gas. It was first obtained that day in the Gottingen laboratory and the Russian scientist became its debut victim. So Nikolai Dmitrievich had personal accounts with the chemical industry, and after 30 years he was able to pay them in full.
It must be said that not only Zelinsky had experience with toxic substances. The chemist’s colleague Sergei Stepanov, who worked as his assistant for more than 45 years, received a letter from the front in July 1915: “Dad! If you don't receive letters from me for a long time, inquire about me. The fighting was fierce, my hair stood on end... They gave me a bandage made of gauze and cotton wool, soaked in some kind of drug... One day a breeze blew. Well, we think the German is about to let off gas. And so it happened. We see that a cloudy curtain is coming towards us. Our officer ordered to put on masks. There was a commotion. The masks turned out to be dry. There was no water on hand... I had to urinate on it. I put on a mask, crouched down on the ground, and lay there until the gases dissipated. Many were poisoned, they were tormented by coughing and spitting up blood. What did we have! However, some escaped: one buried himself and breathed through the ground, the other wrapped his head in an overcoat and lay down motionless, and thus escaped. Be healthy. Write. 5th Army, 2nd Regiment, 3rd Company. Anatoly."
Left: academician Nikolai Zelinsky and his assistant Sergei Stepanov in 1947. By this time they had worked together for 45 years. Right: Nikolai Dmitrievich Zelinsky (1861-1953) in 1915, when he invented the “revitalization” of coal and the universal gas mask. Photo from an album of portraits of Zelinsky, Moscow State University publication, 1947. Source: medportal.ru
Zelinsky was a purely civilian scientist. Since 1911, he has been working in Petrograd, where he heads a department at the Polytechnic Institute, and also heads the Central Laboratory of the Ministry of Finance, which oversees enterprises in the alcohol and vodka industry. In this laboratory, Zelinsky organized the purification of raw alcohol, research on oil refining, catalysis and protein chemistry. It was here that the scientist used activated carbon as an adsorbent to purify alcohol. Activated carbon is unique in its own way - 100 grams of the substance (250 cm 3) have 2500 billion pores, and the total surface reaches 1.5 km 2. For this reason, the adsorption capacity of the substance is very high - 1 volume of beech charcoal can absorb 90 volumes of ammonia, and coconut charcoal is already 178.
Zelinsky's first experiments showed that ordinary activated carbon is not suitable for equipping a gas mask and his team had to carry out a cycle of new experimental work. As a result, in 1915, in the laboratory of the Ministry of Finance, they developed a method for producing an adsorbent that immediately increases its activity by 60%. How was the new substance tested? As scientists usually did in those days, on themselves. Such a volume of sulfur was burned in the room that it was impossible to be in an atmosphere of sulfur dioxide without protective equipment. And N.D. Zelinsky, with his assistants V. Sadikov and S. Stepanov, entered the room, having previously covered their mouths and noses with handkerchiefs, into which activated carbon was generously poured. After being in such extreme conditions for 30 minutes, the testers made sure that the chosen path was correct and sent the results to OLDEN. This was the name of the Department of the sanitary and evacuation unit of the Russian army, which was supervised by the previously mentioned Prince of Oldenburg. But in this institution, Zelinsky’s proposal was ignored and then he independently reported on the results of the work at a meeting of the Sanitary and Technical Military in the Salt Town of St. Petersburg. Edmont Kummant, a process engineer at the Triangle plant, paid special attention to the scientist’s speech, and subsequently solved the problem of a gas mask fitting tightly to a head of any size. Thus was born the first prototype of the Zelinsky-Kummant gas mask.
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