On July 25, 1916, an explosion occurred in Tunnel No. 5 of the Cleveland Waterworks. Some 250 feet beneath Lake Erie, more than 30 workmen were trapped. As smoke and dust threatened to consume the men, a call was put out to find Garrett A. Morgan. Someone had remembered that Morgan, a Cleveland inventor and entrepreneur, had designed a device called the Morgan safety hood and smoke protector back in 1912. Equipped with the gas mask, Morgan, his brother, and a team of volunteers were able to rescue 32 of the trapped men.
In the aftermath, the African American inventor was awarded a medal from the city of Cleveland and was inundated with orders for his gas mask from fire departments all over the country.
