SEE BELOW FOR DESCRIPTION
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C032856 U.S. WWI M1917 COMBAT HELMET.
BACKGROUND:
The first "modern" steel helmets were introduced by the French army in early 1915 and were shortly followed by the British army later that year. The M15 helmet became known as the MK I or "Brodie" after its inventor John Leopold Brodie and by July 1916 over a million of them had been delivered. The design allowed for easy mass production using "Hadfield’s" manganese steel and protected the wearer from shell fragments and air-burst shrapnel. When the U.S. entered the war in April, 1917 the Army had no metal helmets for its troops. The British MK1 helmet was selected due to the availability of 400,000 ready made helmets for purchase. When the U.S. began production of their own helmet based on the MK1 it was designated the M1917. The main differences between the two were the percentage of manganese in the steel, British 12% and U.S. 13%, and machine riveted guiding loops for the chinstrap instead of split rivets. By the end of the war a total of 2,707,237 M-1917 helmets had been produced.PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: A M1917 pattern non-magnetic hardened manganese steel helmet. This 1917 pattern is basin-shaped with a small rivet to the apex of the crown, fixing the internal liner, and two machine rivets along the apron, one over each ear, for the chin strap securing lugs. Its formed mild steel rim is butted and spot-welded at the reverse with some oxidization to its edge and underside. The exterior surface is finished with rough, sand-infused olive drab paint of which about 80% is retained with wear mostly to the crown. The interior is painted in the same color as the exterior but does not have the same sand content being fairly smooth. About 85% of the interior paint remains with some light surface spotting. Hand written to the interior rim is what appears to be "C.M. Harnish" although the "N" in Harnish is backwards. The interior crown of the helmet has a padding constructed of layered felt with the remnants of a paper instruction tag (which would have read: "Tighten Cord and Adjust Net to fit the Head") visible around the central rivet and washer. Proceeding from underneath the rivet and washer at this apex is a brown leather strap which passes over the padding, is normally riveted to either outer edge (one edge has pulled loose) of the otherwise freely-floating headband support, and whose ends then terminate in brass loops which run through the larger brass loops of the chin strap securing lugs. Stamped to the strap is the number "8". Twelve tubular rubber buffers are evenly set into the leather outside of the headband support, whose interior has blackened oilcloth over wool and canvas, forming the headband itself. The leather and rubber of the liner have stiffened slightly with age. Above this tongue less headband may be seen netting and an adjustable drawstring. One end of the brown leather chin strap is looped and riveted to one of the brass loops at the ends of the lining support strap while the other end is looped through the other lining support strap and ends in a nickel-plated steel slide buckle though which the strap has been threaded. To the underside of the rear brim of the helmet body is stamped what appears to be "ZE 74" which would be the steel lot number. The helmet is in very good condition for its age.
GRADE***3/4 PRICE $130.00
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