This photo is of Jacob Maas.

The history of protective masks dates back to the sixteenth century when Leonardo DaVinci designed a toxic powder and suggested that a fine cloth dipped in water could protect sailors.

When the United States entered World War 1 in 1917, the German High Command and the Allies used five kinds of poisonous gases and more than 30 percent, or 70, 552, of the Americans wounded in World War 1 were gas casualties. Gas warfare pushed the development of protective masks from Great Britain's initial use of a piece of cloth tied over the face to those with more sophisticated construction and chemical absorbents. The horrors of World War 1 gas warfare increased precautions during World War II.