The United States Army Engineer Research and Development Laboratory ( ERDL ) was a United States Army Corps of Engineers research facility located at Fort Belvoir , Virginia .
4-738: The ERDL was formed in 1947 when the Army's Engineer Board was redesignated as the U.S. Engineer Research and Development Laboratory, or ERDL. Among other things, the ERDL was responsible for the creation of the ERDLator water treatment device in World War II , the ERDL woodland camouflage pattern in 1948, and the updated M1950 lensatic compass. The ERDL also established the first U.S. Army research group dedicated to night vision systems in 1954, called
8-800: A description of the United States Marine Corps Engineer Battalion illustrates the ERDLator's significance: ERDLator units of several production capacities were used for field water purification during the Vietnam War . The unit was replaced in 1979 by the Reverse Osmosis Water Purification Unit (ROWPU) ("row-pew"), also developed by a U.S. Army laboratory. Developing water purification systems for military use has led to technological breakthroughs which have benefited
12-470: The Research and Photometric Section. ERDLator The ERDLator was a field water treatment device developed during World War II at the U.S. Army 's United States Army Engineer Research and Development Laboratory (ERDL) at Ft. Belvoir , Virginia. Technically named the "Water Purification Unit, Van-Type, Body Mounted, Electric Motor Driven", the laboratory's acronym was incorporated into
16-438: The name of the purification device itself, creating the name by which it was most widely known, ERDLator, pronounced "erda-later". The device was introduced into the field as a van-type body-mounted mobile unit, and proved vitally important to the operational effectiveness of deployed units under harsh field conditions, providing not only the water needed for survival, but clean potable water for staying healthy. This passage from
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