Was Active Carbon Used Before HEPA Air Purifiers?

Oddly enough, we humans have been using activated carbon to filter water for a long time; as long as two centuries. Way back then, they already knew of activated carbon's great absorption qualities. Beginning in the early 1900's, activated carbon was produced and sold commercially in the form of a powder. Only used to remove taste or smell from water or color from sugar, we really didn't know at that point exactly what all it could do for us. Once World War I was in full swing, it was discovered that it could be used in gas masks for protecting our soldiers from the chemical agents in the air. The soldiers also used it, as did their ancestors, for water purification. By this point, commercial activated carbon had evolved from powder form to a granular form, which was the beginning of activated carbon being used in even more other ways.