Man Living in the Arctic; Proceedings of a Conference, Quartermaster Research and Engineering Center, Natick, Massachusetts, 1, 2 December 1960 (1961) / Chapter Skim
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QUARTERMASTER CORPS CONTRIBUTIONS TO MAN LIVING IN THE ARCTIC
QUARTERMASTER CORPS CONTRIBUTIONS TO MAN LIVING IN THE ARCTIC
Pages 49-78
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From page 49... ...
In any event, we were immediately deluged with requests to provide similar data on 75 different kinds of sleeping bags and on all kinds of cold weather clothing. As a result of this experiment the Quartermaster Climatic Research Laboratory was established a year later.
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From page 50... ...
Sid Robinson was in charge and Steve Horvath was there. The test program was to consist of two hours of marching "on the trail" to see whether the "Eskimo suits" would ventilate better than conventional cold weather clothing and thus reduce both sweating of the wearer and moisture pick-up of the clothing.
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From page 51... ...
of wind, which can easily halve the protective efficiency of the clothing that is worn. The suggestion that clothing for cold weather should incorporate a "thermostatically controlled venetian blind" principle to control heat flow is sensible, but engineers have as yet produced no practical design.
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From page 52... ...
. I must limit my discussion to a few of the studies which have enhanced our knowledge of the principles of cold weather protection.
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From page 53... ...
While skin temperature rose most rapidly while they sat in the warm room, that did not mean early comfort or restoration of body heat; the subjects shivered intermittently and their rectal temperatures actually fell for nearly an hour. This procedure turned out to be far less effective for rewarming than exercise in the cold; the latter restored core temperature and comfort in a few minutes.
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From page 54... ...
During subsequent periods of rest evaporation of this moisture occurred so far from the skin and so slowly that the normal rate of body cooling was not greatly accelerated. The over-all effect of these demonstrations was to point up the requirement for better ventilation of cold weather field uni54
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From page 55... ...
This principle has been under investigation and is in use in the "Korean" waterproof boot. Thus, in many ways the Quartermaster Corps has helped to develop a firm physiological and biophysical basis for design of cold weather clothing and equipment.
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From page 56... ...
Unfortunately our Army was no exception. Thus we had no cold weather combat uniform when war broke out.
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From page 57... ...
It was in tackling these problems and many related ones, that the Quartermaster Corps made its foremost contribution during World War II toward extending the capability of man living in the Arctic and at the same time gave impetus to a program which has since continued to pioneer in contributions to cold climate clothing for both civilians and the military services. Rather than look to the past empirical solutions of cold weather clothing problems by either Arctic natives or textile and clothing industries of other countries, the Quartermaster Corps turned to scientific data from the fields of physiology, physics, and textile technology; and using materials available from mass production, sought to improve cold weather clothing.
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From page 58... ...
Two major principles employed in the cold weather clothing developed at this time are worthy of mention for their subsequent impact 58
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From page 59... ...
over which cold climate clothing had to be effective and the range in activity levels of the soldier from hard manual labor or running to being completely inactive for as long as six hours at a time. Thus, a layer could be removed or added, or vents at the wrists, neck, and waist could be opened or closed, depending on whether the man needed to cool off or to conserve his body heat.
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From page 60... ...
It was then immediately made available to our forces in Korea and contributed to the almost complete elimination of this source of cold injury in the winter of 1952-53 and subsequent years. This concept has been perhaps the most important breakthrough in recent years in the whole field of military cold climate clothing and has made possible the effective control of cold injury to the feet under most combat conditions.
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From page 61... ...
That the job was incomplete was recognized generally by the users who in 1947 launched the comprehensive re-examination of all cold weather equipment in the triple test program of "Frost", "Frigid", and "Williwaw". Here the Army's cold weather clothing, as developed during World War II, was subjected to a complete re-evaluation in controlled field operations.
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From page 62... ...
While much of the World War II clothing was still in the system, large quantities of this new clothing did get to Korea and it was pronounced an excellent cold weather clothing system -- by far the best which our Army had ever been provided. That the basic principles and construction of this assembly were sound is attested to by the fact that the Canadian Army had adopted a quite similar cold weather uniform system which is actually functionally interchangeable with that of the U
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From page 63... ...
When applied to the shield fabric of the cold weather clothing assembly, QUARPEL withstood continuous rainfall for over seven days and permitted no seepage. It retains its water repellency after laundering so that clothes need not be re-treated in the field.
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From page 64... ...
For these special conditions we are developing auxiliary heating devices. It is expected that these will significantly increase the efficiency of man/machine systems in the cold and enable men to perform missions with the present cold weather clothing which could not otherwise be done.
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From page 65... ...
Such an approach, if successful, would, indeed, be significant in dealing with what is perhaps the most critical problem in the use of mass produced textiles for Arctic clothing. Related to this biophysical approach is what we refer to as the science of functional clothing design.
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From page 66... ...
How these new fibers may assist in providing cold climate protection may be judged in part by their moisture absorption characteristics. Among the principles developed by Dr.
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From page 67... ...
The speaker is also from the Quartermaster Research and Engineering Command. He is the Research Director of the Environmental Protection Division of that Command.
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From page 68... ...
Food has not been overlooked in this search. Food takes on a special significance in cold climates because of the need for the internal generation of body heat to keep warm.
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From page 69... ...
On the face of it, it seemed to make sense that more fuel would be needed in cold weather to keep the stove warm. The field ration trials in New Brunswick in the fall of 1942 showed that "caloric deficiency quickly produced deterioration in performance and morale of trained soldiers" and added urgency to the development of an adequate Arctic ration.
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From page 70... ...
Another moving bivouac series of studies at Fort Churchill during mid-winter conditions were conducted in 1956. The men were exposed to both very cold weather and hard work.
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From page 71... ...
QUARTERMASTER ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH IN THE ARCTIC WILLIAM C ROBISON Quartermaster Research and Engineering Command Natick, Massachusetts Introduction In addition to the problems of human physiology and personal protection that have been discussed in the previous papers, the Quartermaster Corps has done a considerable amount of research on the Arctic environment itself.
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From page 72... ...
It might be noted at this point that the Quartermaster program in Applied Environmental Research is designed to meet two types of requirement. First, studies are conducted in response to requests for specific types of information needed for the solution of particular problems presented by various elements of the Quartermaster Corps or other technical services.
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From page 73... ...
These maps, which were published in 1943 by the Army Map Service, have found wide use not only within the Quartermaster Corps but more recently as an instructional aid in many universities. Between the end of World War II and the consolidation of Quartermaster research activities here at Natick in 1953, the wartime dispersal of activities continued -- research on man's responses to the environment being conducted primarily at the Climatic Research Laboratory in Lawrence, Massachusetts, and research on the environment itself carried on by geographers and climatologists in Washington and nearby Cameron Station, Virginia.
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From page 74... ...
For cold regions, separate studies were made of northern North America and northern Eurasia to determine the degree to which Fort Churchill and Fort Greely can be said to respresent those regions. The environment of Greenland has received special attention in a series of regional studies of which the first -- on Southeast Greenland -- is now being printed.
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From page 75... ...
For example, under a protective insulating cover of snow, ground temperatures may be only slightly below freezing while the air temperature recorded at standard height (man-high) may be as much as 80°F lower.
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From page 76... ...
A very detailed comparison of the microclimate of two points near Fort Greely, Alaska -- one wooded and the other in a clearing -- was made by a Quartermaster investigator with the cooperation of the Signal Corps. Some of the most intensive observations of this type that have been made in cold environments were those taken by one of our staff members during two years in the Antarctic.
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From page 77... ...
Quartermaster geographers and climatologists have participated in operations sponsored by the Air Force and other technical services of the Army, as well as in projects that were planned for the testing of Quartermaster items. It is apparent from the foregoing remarks that the field of Applied Environmental Research in the Arctic offers a wide scope for research activities, requiring a flexible approach to meet the changing needs of the Army.
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