On this day in 1914 Garrett A. Morgan was granted the patent for Breathing Device. U.S. Patent No. 1,113,675.
The object of the invention are to provide a portable attachment which will enable a fireman to enter a house filled with thick suffocating gases and smoke and breathe freely for some time therein, and thereby enable him to perform his duties of saving life and valuables without danger to himself from suffocation.
The device is also efficient and useful for protection to engineers, chemists, and working men who are obliged to breath noxious fumes or dust derived from the materials in which they are obliged to work.
The invention for its further objects to provide a device which can be quickly and easily attached and carried upon the person without the delay caused by buckling straps or the use of fastening devices of any kind and thus will be serviceable for immediate use in emergencies, since a little delay will often endanger life beyond recovery.
