WWI M1917 Helmet (ZC202) Complete Liner, Tag & C/S (Size 6 7/8) Mint NOS Uniss

WWI M1917 Helmet ("ZC202") Complete Liner, Tag & C/S (Size 6 7/8). Man'f'd by the Edward G. WWI USMC Army M1917 Helmet ('ZC202'), complete with a 100% intact black Rubberized / Oilcloth Liner, Intact Wool Felt Dome Pad, and Sweatband Liner, Leather Chinstrap, and paper Adjustment Tag!

+ Absolutely unmolested, "museum-grade" example of a M1917 Helmet! + Impossible to "upgrade" this example; the PAINT, OILCLOTH LINER, LEATHER CHINSTRAP and ADJUSTMENT TAG are in PERFECT "fresh-from-a-Depot-shelf" condition! + Made by one of fourteen known manufacturers of the AMERICAN version of the M1917 Helmet.

During WWI Budd manufactured 1,150,775, or almost half, of the 2,707,237 M1917 Helmets of those struck during the'Great War to End All Wars. Many of these shells, remained, arsenal-refurbished with leather Liners and Web Chinstraps, in service through the opening months of WWII as the M1917A1. This Helmet was stamped, painted, fitted with its liner and entered the Army and/or the Marine Corps Quartermaster supply pipeline no later that August of 1918, the start of the. Which led to ultimate defeat of the Central Powers. + WWI shell is crisply, legibly stamped with the heat/ batch/ lot alpha numeric data.

+ The RUBBERIZED/OILCLOTH LINER may be stamped on the the underside but I have NOT bent the ruberized fabric for fear of damaging it. The next owner can do so... Supplied to both the U. + NOTE: This steel shell is not one of British "Brodie" Mk.

1 or M1917 manganese shells that we acquired from Britain in 1917. + As mentioned above, this is NOT the "Brodie" Mk. 1 shell which was made of the lighter British 21 Gauge Steel, but the heavier American M1917 model made of heavier 19 GAUGE non-magnetic Manganese Steel. + The Chinstrap Bails (or Loops) are NOT the lighter wire British "Brodie" bails, but the heavier 12 Gauge Iron Wire used by American contractors. Also the bails are attached with steel Harness Rivets and NOT British "Split" Rivet.

+ NOTE: The WWI-era American-made shells rolled and stamped during late-1917 and 1918 did NOT have simply the one or two-digits numbers , but had the following "Heat/Lot/Batch/Cast Code" Letters. Z' indicates the SUPPLIER of the steel. C' indicates the COMPANY that pressed and actually made the helmet.

UC, YJ, XH, ZA Crosby Co. , ZB Worcester Pressed Steel Co. , ZD, ZE, ZF, ZG, ZG , ZH, ZJ Columbian Enameling & Stamping Co. + This is the model helmet worn by USMC, Army, and Navy of the A.

In France and the Siberian Expedition as well troops during the interwar years. Aboard USN warships the M1917 H elmet was left in in the flat O. It was worn stateside during the first months of the war as well with the modified Liner and Chinstrap introduced in the mid-1930s.

+ This particular Helmet was never modified, but remains in untouched condition, since the Great War! + ZERO dents or rust! + ZERO paint loss to the crown, only the slightest "rub" marks on the dome from a over a century of Depot (or a veteran's closet shelf) storage! + ZERO cracks or "flaking" of the black rubberized/oilcloth liner.

+ ZERO names, serial number, or markings anywhere! + ZERO breaks, stains, or "rot" to the leather CHINSTRAP. The natural colored leather Chinstrap is embossed "6 7/8" is intact, free or stains or personalized markings. It has never been oiled.

It is DRY and shows superficial'crazing' but is 100% structurally SOLID! + ZERO corrosion to the C/S rivets, the brass loops of the copper rivet and washer holding the gauze-backed paper ADJUSTMENT INSTRUCTION TAG. + The INTERIOR PAINT is PERFECT! + The "Heat/Batch/Lot/Cast Code" number, "ZC202" , stamped on the underside of the rim is clearly visible upon careful inspection beneath the O.

+ The steel TRIM on the Brim is secured at the seam with a single punch mark on the overlapping ends. + The STRING NET , the black RUBBERIZED/ OILCLOTH LINER with LEATHER BACKING , the STRING NET, the gray wool felt CROWN PAD, are entirely INTACT and undamaged. + The original gray WOOL-FELT BAND is still present and free of the typical deterioration. + The white PAPER/CLOTH INSTRUCTION TAG for adjustment is in PERFECT condition and reads. + ZERO corrosion to the bare CAST STEEL CHINSTRAP BUCKLE.

Established Edward Budd Manufacturing Company in 1912 and campaigned for the use of all-steel automobile bodies. Founded the Budd Wheel Company in 1916 and led the United States in the development of wire-spoke wheels. It wasn't a magician who turned wooden auto bodies into steel. From his job as an apprentice machinist at the G.

Taylor Iron works in his native Delaware through the founding of his own manufacturing firms, Budd understood the value and strength of metal, especially for automobile frames. Besides saving time (wood bodies required a 10 to 15-day varnishing process), Budd argued, a sturdy metal frame could save lives. In 1914, after building steel bodies for Packard and Peerless, Budd received an order from America's newest auto barons, the Dodge brothers.

A few years later, Dodge staged a phenomenal promotion by plunging a new Dodge car over a cliff. The steel-bodied car rolled several times before the driver stepped out safely and, miraculously, the car was driven away.

Budd's strength of conviction was as strong as the product he created, and his contributions were summed up in a Philadelphia Record obituary tribute: Edward G. Budd dealt not in words but in the materials that created goods for the masses. Had he been an athlete in the world of pro sports, he would have been a two-game superstar, just as Bo Jackson was and Michael Jordan wasn't. Not only did Edward Budd's advances in manufacturing techniques make the mass creation of durable car bodies an economic possibility, but his accomplishments also transformed the passenger and commuter trains of the world.

Neither mode of transportation was ever the same again. Smyrna was a small shipbuilding community in the central Delaware lowlands when Edward Gowen Budd was born there in late 1870. After apprenticing at a local steelyard, Budd later found himself in Philadelphia at a firm that specialized in railroad supplies, where the dominant material was cast iron slathered in black paint. A benchmark in his life came when a friend started a company producing pulleys made of pressed sheet steel. They worked demonstrably well, to the point where Budd started thinking that pressed steel might reasonably replace castings in other applications.

In 1904, Budd designed the first railroad passenger car with seats made entirely from pressed steel. From that point, his vehicular advances became symbiotic. Budd was directly involved in the design of the first self-propelled McKeen passenger railcar of 1905, running on gasoline power-a very early interpretation of commuter transportation.

The drive system was problematic, but the car body was entirely swathed in sheet steel. Its lightness and simplicity drew the notice of Hupmobile, which incorporated pressed steel into the body of its new Model 32 in 1912.

From there, Budd founded his own firm, the Edward G. Budd Manufacturing Company, in Philadelphia. As was the case with other entrepreneurs of the time, Budd sensed the enormous potential upside of supplying the automotive world.

Budd's first major customer in the car business was Charlie Nash, then the president of General Motors, who placed a big order for Oakland bodies, followed in 1914 by the Dodge brothers. Budd's product was a startling departure from accepted practice. Before Budd came along, it could take weeks for a new car's paint to dry properly-baking it too quickly could set the body's wooden framework ablaze. His process allowed much higher drying temperatures, speeding production enormously. New customers that followed ranged from Buick to Wills Sainte Claire.

In 1916, Budd set up a parallel business to make automotive wheels out of stamped steel, which soon rendered the wooden artillery wheel nearly totally obsolete. While all of this was happening, Budd had cultivated a key assistant, Joseph V. Ledwinka, whose brother, Hans, went on to design the radical rear-engine Tatra in Czechoslovakia. Coachbuilding historian Mark Theobold explained that the Vienna-born Ledwinka held more than 300 patents.

"Initially created by welding together numerous small, single-strike stampings, Budd and his associates soon developed multiple-strike, deep-draw stamping techniques, which allowed auto manufacturers to create complete body shells from as little as four stamped pieces of steel, " he said. The Ledwinka connection didn't hurt in taking his processes global.

Besides setting up a Detroit base from which to service the U. Industry, Budd also formed strong alliances with emerging auto manufacturers in Europe. One of them, Andre Citroën, said that Budd's body-stamping simplicities allowed him to boost his firm's daily production by a factor of 10. That was in 1923, and within the following decade, Budd would also establish strictly defined licensing agreements with Morris, Fiat, Peugeot and Volvo.

The rigidity of the lightweight welded body created at Budd's plants also made the eventual widespread adoption of monocoque or unitized construction possible, led by the redefining Citroën Traction Avant of 1934. Budd was foresighted enough that when licensing his technologies, he almost invariably required that his firm be directly involved in their use by a licensee. Budd deserves most of the direct credit for making the welded all-metal body a standard element of automotive production and design to this day. It's impossible to discuss his full record without also examining his other transportation achievements, which stemmed from his experiments with even lighter materials, led by aluminum and stainless steel.

In 1930, Budd put together a seaplane crafted completely from stainless steel that flew successfully. Yet in the 1930s, neither the car nor the airliner had come close to supplanting the passenger train, although American railroad leaders were clearly alarmed at the potential competition. Following up on the McKeen railcar, Budd had partnered with Michelin to design a railcar that ran on rubber tires, which several American railroads sampled. By the late 1920s, he had worked extensively with high-chromium nickel-alloy steel and patented a new process known as Shotwell welding. It used an electric arc to bond the metal so perfectly that it didn't need grinding. The gleaming metal was corrosion-free and required no paint.

Most of his company's automotive operations have been absorbed by Thyssen of Germany. Its rail businesses, largely involving rapid transit, are primarily operated by Bombardier Corporation of Canada.

++ This recognizable "tin hat-shaped" Helmet Shell was what was worn in the trenches of the Western Front. To rescue the Czechoslovak Legion.

In Vladivostok (at which time the Helmet was painted snow-camouflage white) in the midst of the Russian civil war in support of the'White Russian. ++ This was the Helmet shell worn by the "China Marines" of the 3rd Battalion, 4th Regiment (who had been biding their time aboard the USS Chaumont in the Shanghai estuary) when they marched ashore on Shanghai's waterfront Bund in 1927 in response to the plea for protection issued by Stirling Fessenden , the American chairman of Shanghai's International Settlement's Municipal Council.

Chang Kai Shek's Nationalist Army forces in their Northern Expedition were attacking warlords, communists in Northern China, but also European, Japanese, and American citizens. ++ Photographs exist of U. Marines wearing this M1917 shell (with both the Matte Sawdust finish as well as the glossy finish) with the Leather Chinstrap during clashes with Japanese at Soochow Creek and the Sinza Bridge as late as 1937. ++ This is also the Helmet shell worn by the American Regular Army garrison Infantry, 26th Cavalry, Coast/Harbor Defense of Subic and Manila Bay , etc.

And the Philippine Scouts of the Philippine Department in the 1920s and 1930s before the introduction of this modified M1917A1 "Kelly" Helmet with the improved Liner and Web Chinstrap. Background from Mark A Reynosa's exceptionally well-researched, U. Combat Helmets of the 20th Century. The United States entered into World War I in April 1917, at this time the United States Army did not have a helmet for its troops. The adoption of a helmet by the French, British and German armies convinced the United States Army that a helmet was needed as a standard piece of equipment. In June 1917, the United States Army selected the standard British helmet design for its use.

This was the British Mk. There were three main reasons for the selection of the British Mk. I helmet design: the immediate availability of 400,000 ready-made helmets from England, the simplicity of manufacture from hard metal, and the superior ballistic properties.

I was selected by the United States Army, its United States production version was designated and standardized as the Helmet, M-1917. I helmets in England and issued them to the American Expeditionary Forces already in Europe. Production was begun on the M-1917 helmets in the fall of 1917. By the end of November 1917, large quantities of M-1917 helmets became available for the United States Army. The M-1917 helmet was very similar to the British Mk. The helmet was basically an inverted bowl stamped out of a single piece of manganese alloy, which was made up of 13 percent manganese and was.

This differed from the British helmet, as the Mk. I helmet was made up of 12 percent manganese. Thus ballistically, the M-1917 helmet increased protection for the wearer by 10 percent over the British Mk. I helmet, and could withstand a.

45 caliber pistol bullet traveling at 600 feet per second fired at a distance of 10 feet. A rim was spot welded to the edge of the steel bowl, with the ends butted, as opposed to lapped, which was done on the British Mk. Riveted to the steel bowl were two flexible guiding loops for the chin strap. M-1917 helmet differed from the British Mk. Helmet the loops were secured by solid machined rivets, whereas the British Mk.

I helmet used split rivets. An adjustable leather chin strap was riveted to the steel bowl and consisted of two halves, each joined together by metal loops which were secured to the ends of the leather halves by steel split rivets. Also riveted to the steel bowl was the helmet lining. The lining was also similar to that of the British Mk.

I helmet and consisted of a number of items described below. The lining was woven of cotton twine in meshes three-eighths of an inch square. This web, fitting tightly upon the wearer's head, evenly distributed the weight of the two-pound helmet, and in the same way distributed the force of any blow upon the helmet. The netting, together with the small pieces of rubber around the edge of the lining, kept the helmet away from the head, so that even a relatively large dent could not reach the wearer's skull. The linings of the U. M-1917 helmet were produced by 10 shoe manufacturing companies. The lining, as mentioned above, consisted of cotton twine mesh surrounded by a circular piece of leather that held tubular pieces of rubber, and the mesh was covered by a piece of black oil cloth. Sandwiched between the lining and the steel bowl was also piece of felt. The steel for the M-1917 helmet was rolled by the American Sheet and Tin Plate Company. The steel was then pressed and stamped into its bowl shape by seven companies, which were: Edward G.

Budd Manufacturing Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Sparks, Withington Company, Jackson, Michigan; Crosby Company, Buffalo, New York; Bossett Corporation, Utica, New York; Columbian Enameling & Stamping Company, Terre Haute, Indiana; Worchester Pressed Steel Company, Worchester, Massachusetts; and Benjamin Electric Company, Des Plaines, Illinois. The metal helmets and woven linings were delivered to the plant of the Ford Motor Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, were they were painted and assembled. To make the outside surface of the helmet anti-glare, the helmets were first painted, then fine sawdust was blown on the wet paint, and finally the helmet was painted again.

To increase protective properties the helmets were painted in an olive drab shade. During the fall of 1917 production was begun on the M-1917 helmets.

By the end of November 1917, the first deliveries of large quantities of M-1917 helmets were being made to the United States Army. On 17 February 1918, approximately 700,000 M-1917 helmets had been produced. As United States involvement in World War I increased, the U.

Army placed additional orders for the M-1917 helmet. By July 1918 orders for the M-1917 helmet reached 3,000,000, in August 6,000,000, and in September 7,000,000.

In November 1918, when hostilities ended and American production was ordered to cease, U. Manufacturers had produced a total of 2,707,237 M-1917 helmets.

Production figures for the pressed and stamped steel helmets during World War I, were as follows. Columbian Enameling & Stamping Co. Donovan Webster, from the SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE , May 16, 2017. How the Military Helmet Evolved From a Hazard to a Bullet Shield. No area of military technology might be more indicative of how change has come to war than the American military helmet. " In 1917, " Blazich says, when America entered World War I, we used a variation of the British helmet of the time, called the Brodie Helmet , or Mark 1 helmet.

The American helmet was called the M1917. Effectively an overturned metal dish weighing about 1.3 pounds, with a basic liner to keep a soldier's scalp from chafing against the helmet's manganese-steel alloy shell, plus a solid chinstrap that cinched tight, it was a primitive tool at best. As a protective device, Blazich says, it didn't do much more than keep explosion-driven rocks off the tops of soldier's heads while they were in the trenches of France.

"Though it could also be protective against shrapnel, which was also a big concern in that war, " Blazich adds. Yet with no real face and side-skull coverage, it left troops wide open to facial and cranial injury, and lasting disfigurement from shell fragmentation was an enormous problem in World War I. The Brodie Helmet also had other inherent dangers.

The chinstrap, which once tightened down, was hard to release: so if a Doughboy's helmet got trapped or lodged between objects the situation could prove fatal, as the soldier would have a difficult time getting the helmet off and would therefore be trapped and immobile on the field of battle. Still, despite the M1917's liabilities, innovation remained slow.

In 1936, a slightly more protective version was rolled out, called the M1917A1, or " Kelly" helmet. It had a more comfortable helmet liner and an improved canvas chinstrap. The intent of these changes was to improve the helmet's overall balance and performance. But it still didn't provide the kind of protection from side assault that the War Department desired. Helmets and Body Armor in Modern Warfare by Bashford Dean PH. Curator of Armour, Metropolitan Museum of Art U. And formerly Chairman of the Committee on Helmets and Armor, Engineering Division of the National Research Council U. This test was given to ten helmets in the first thousand, three helmets in the second and third thousand, and two helmets in each succeeding thousand. No requirement was given as to the depth of indentation or the deformation allowed, the decision in this regard having apparently been left to the discretion of the inspecting officer.

So, just what are these heat numbers and how do they work? The internet has the following entry under'Heat Numbers'. A'heat number' is an identification number that is stamped on a material plate after it is removed from the ladle and rolled at a steel mill. The only way to trace a steel plate back to its Mill Sheet is the Heat Number.

A heat number is similar to a lot number, which is used to identify production runs of any other product for quality control purposes. The same article also carries a photograph of a modern day heat number in situ on a steel plate - a long and fairly complex string of information which clearly means something to those inside the industry, but as far as I can tell, this number will be imprinted onto the initial rolling of the sheet of steel concerned.

---