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| This is the story of a unique chemical protective suit - the ILC Chemturion™ and the development effort that preceded its marketing. |
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In 1976, the U.S. Army's Chemical Systems Laboratory surveyed the United States for an off-the-shelf, positive pressure, totally encapsulating suit for use by maintenance personnel at a chemical weapons site planned for Tooele Army Depot in Utah. Since the suit was to be used in one of the most toxic chemical environments known to man (one breath could result in death), the requirements for reliability, impermeability, chemical resistance, and durability-plus personnel mobility and comfort-were most stringent. After verifying that no existing product met these requirements, the Army asked ILC to develop a special garment for the Demilitarization Protective Ensemble (DPE).
Because of the requirement for very low leakage and the desire to minimize cost, the DPE was designed to have as few seams as possible and be heat-sealed. However, finding an inexpensive material compatible with heat sealing and meeting all protective requirements presented a serious challenge. Butyl-coated nylon-the "workhorse" of Army protective garb at the time-was eliminated from consideration because of its susceptibility to breakdown when exposed to petroleum products, its poor flame resistance, and its cost. Over 50 materials were tested by ILC before Cloropel™ was selected. Prototypes of the Cloropel™ DPE were tested at ILC and Chemical Systems Laboratory for over two and a half years before the suit was declared ready for use.
In September 1979, the DPE made its initial entry into a "hot" environment at Tooele and met the challenge with flying colors. The suit is now being used daily and has over 700 recorded entries into a hot environment. Its safety record is perfect. The DPE is the only encapsulating suit system used by the Army with a breathing system that meets the standards of the National Institute of Safety and Health (NIOSH), and the office of the U.S. Surgeon General.
In 1979, ILC surveyed the industrial chemical protective suit market and decided that we could market an industrial version of the DPE garment at a competitive price. We changed the color from white to blue, added a unique extruded plastic closure assembly, a ventilation system, and wrist rings, and went to market in August of 1979. We called the new suit the CHEMTURION™, a name borrowed from the Roman "Centurion" signifying the ultimate in guardianship.
The Chemturion™ has caught on rapidly; it's now being used by the Environmental Protection Agency, NIOSH, the Atlanta Center for Disease Control, and many industrial companies such as DuPont, Dow, and Georgia Pacific. The Chemturion™ is built by the same ILC people who built the DPE, and who test and inspect it to ILC's traditionally stringent quality standards. It's a great suit, as our many customers will agree, and we are proud to put our name on it. When a life could be dependent on the reliability of a protective ensemble, it's comforting to know that the suit has the heritage of a DPE. We hope the Chemturion™ will be part of your protective future. |
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