PS Magazine - TB 43-PS-620
PS, The Preventative Maintenance Monthly
ISSUE 620
JULY 2004
M41 PATS…
A
s you NBC NCOs know, to use
PATS to check a mask you need a par-
ticle count in the room's air of at least
1,000 particles per cubic centimeter.
If it's lower than that, you can't test.
When you have trouble with a low
particle count, try these remedies:
•
Shut off any ventilation in the room
or move to a room with little ventila-
tion. Usually, the more ventilation in a
room the lower the particle count. If
the NBC room is one that isn't com-
pletely walled in, you may need to
move into one of the unit offices that
has a door that can be shut.
•
Use plastic (like you cover
windows with) to create a small
tent and do the testing in there.
•
If there is no fire hazard from anything in the
room, burn a candle no closer than 6 feet from
the PATS. Wait 2 minutes after lighting the
candle to do the PATS self-test.
PS 620
JUL 04
21
M40/M42-Series Masks…
Dear Editor,
If you're not careful when you
remove your M40/M42-series
mask's second skin, you can
break the drink tube off where it
connects to the mask facepiece.
Then the mask is ruined.
At the U.S. Army Chemical
School, we teach this method for
removing and installing the second
skin to prevent damaging the
drink tube.
Work the second skin off from
the top to bottom of the mask.
When you've worked the skin off
to the outlet valve, pull off the
skin first from the opposite side
of the valve from the drink tube.
Then slide the skin off over the
drink tube.
When you put the second skin back on, first put the drink tube through
the outlet valve hole and then work the skin over the outlet valve, beginning
with the side with the drink tube.
Once the skin is in place around the outlet valve, you can fit it on the
rest of the mask without danger to the drink tube. The whole point of "skin-
ning" the mask this way is to keep pressure off the drink tube.
SFC Michael Ebanks
U.S. Army Chemical School
Ft Leonard Wood, MO
(Editor's note:
You do know
mask skinnin', pardner. Thanks.)
hey,
pardner, I
hear you got
some masks
that need
skinnin’!
thanks, but I
think we’ve
figured out
how to remove
the second
skin without
damaging the
drink tube!
Remove skin first from outlet
valve on opposite side of
drink tube
Slide the skin off over the
drink tube
Put drink tube through skin’s
outlet valve hole first when
putting skin back on
what’s with
all this fresh
air!?
Ihate
fresh air!
here are
some tips for
dealing with a
low particle
count.
Safely Skinning
Your Mask
Ok,
now
I’m
ready to
see you!
candles
do
create
the right atmosphere,
don’t you think?
Drink tube
620. 20-21 (C)
6/6/04
9:48 AM
Page 1
Click here for a copy of these pages to email to a friend
Back to TopBack to Top
