Your gas mask : how to keep it and how to use it masking your windows / issued from the Lord Privy Seal's Office.

Date:
1939
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Your gas mask : how to keep it and how to use it masking your windows / issued from the Lord Privy Seal's Office. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Alternatively, thick curtains of suitable material will serve, if they really cover the window frames with a bit to spare all round. The simplest way of testing material, whether for blinds or curtains, is to hold up a piece against an electric bulb. If no light shows through, or only scattered pin holes of light are seen, then the material will do. If a patch of light shows through, it is no use. Possibly you have blinds already fitted to your windows. If the material is not sufficiently opaque, you can treat it with Oil Bound Water Paint or Distemper of some dark colour. The follow- ing mixture can be applied with a brush :— 1 lb. of concentrated size, 3 lb. lamp black in powder form, 4 gill of gold size. The size and lamp black should be thoroughly mixed and 23 gallons of boiling water added. This quantity will cover about 80 square yards of material. If your blinds do not fit very closely, you could paint the edges of the window panes all round with dark paint. It will, of course, help if you also shade your lights so as to prevent any light falling directly on the window. Most Important—do not forget your skylight if you have one, or glazed doors or even fanlights. You may find it simplest to make these permanently obscure by applying sufficient coats of some dark distemper or paint, or pasting them over with thick brown paper. There is another thing to remember—Make sure that no light shows when your front door or back door is open. In some cases it may be possible to fix a curtain in the hall or passage to form a ‘light lock,” but if this cannot be done, the lignt must be turned off before the door is opened. Some people perhaps will only use one or two rooms at night in war time. This, of course, would simplify matters considerably, as the precautions indicated would only have to be taken for those particular rooms. But you would have to take care not to show by mistake any light in a room where the windows were not screened, and also to see that light did not reach the window of an unoccupied room through some open door. Do not leave things until the last, but get together the materials which you think you would need. If you wait, you might find that you had difficulty in getting what you wanted. Besides, your help ts wanted in making effective the ‘‘ black-outs ”’ for the A.R.P. exer- cises which are being arranged to try out our defences from time to time. After all, it is only common sense to make our preparations in advance to meet a possible emergency. [51-4154]