Great War rimless Brodie

I have acquired a new rimless Brodie. It has just a hint of its interior leather and canvas headgear but is otherwise a very fine example of the early helmet still with its original sand sprinkled paint.

I am curious of one thing, however. There seems to be an indication that there was once a rim attached to the edge of the helmet because there is a paint build-up around the perimeter of the helmet. On the other hand the original paint seems also to touch the edge beyond that line. I'm left wondering if an original rim fell off shortly after issue when the helmet was then painted in the trenches with the sand finish. 

There are no dates but the lot number of the steel used in the pressing is only 22 which must give it a very early dating. Does anyone have any insights into this?

Also of interest is the painting of a date and, possibly, a place, underneath the brim. Too much paint has been lost for me to be able to read the writing.

Great War infantry Mess Tin

I have recently bought a Great War infantry mess tin. This is the standard kidney shaped British mess tin in its First World War incarnation. 

Within two days I had also found a version from 1932. The 1932 tin is much simplified while the Great War version has little lugs on the front and side and back to allow for attachments straps.

 There are no maker's marks on my WWl tin, but there is a small "C" and broad arrow.

I am gradually accumulating a collection of infantry equipment from the Great War. All I am lacking now are the 2 inch webbing braces, the webbing carrier for a water canteen, and the webbing to take the scabbard and the helve. If anyone reading my blog has these items and would like to consider selling them to me please contact me. Here's my email address: timothyjsoper@gmail.com  

I don't presume I shall ever own a tunic, puttees, boots, and trousers, but who knows…

 

Great War mounted mess tin

Amongst the items I received from my grandfather was his "mounted mess tin". It has been well used and is fire scorched. These tins were the cooking and eating dish that were issued to men whose war time work involved riding horses, be the men officers, cavalry men, or artillery soldiers. The tin is shaped like a jam filled doughnut and measures 6 inches across.

Just the other day I chanced upon two of these in an antique shop. I had to buy them. One is in near pristine condition with a very silvered finish. It's almost like chrome on a car from the 1950s though I presume it's a tin or nickel plated process. There is no apparent use and no damage short of the dents made by the stamping process with the numbers 33 and the letters RCA, presumably for Royal Canadian Artillery. There are also the numbers and letters 89 FBCA. On the bottom is stamped "The Sheet Metal Products Company Limited", and the date 1916.

The other is not quite so well preserved as a small amount of rust has started and lifted off a bit of the peeling silvery plate. It is made by the Thomas Davidson Manufacturing Company of Montreal in 1913. This is indicated by a delightful little plate soldered onto the surface around the rim.

I intend to make some leather straps for these as this was how everything was kept together and how they were carried from the saddle. Web searches also show cloth covers similarly strapped.

I'm contemplating selling these as I do not need them for my own collection. If you're interested please contact me by email at this address: timothyjsoper@gmail.com

I'm selling them for $150 each, Plus shipping charges.

WWI French two Litre Bidon

I've just purchased a two litre French Bidon with no cover or stoppers but with a nice leather strap.

I'm intrigued by the construction of it and I'd like to share that here. It seems to be in two principal parts. Each side is directly stamped and shaped with half of the bottom integrated with that pressing. The edges join to each other by overlapping slightly to create the bottle space. 

The flat bottom of the two halves is a simple overlap while the curved edges on the outside I have been pressed with a valley and ridge such that each will snap and inter-lock with its opposite member. 

Then there seems to be a ring put around both the pouring spout and the smaller air spout. These would have the effect of locking the two parts together.

There are also two lugs attached on either side formed with a simple folding of sheet metal to create a wedge shaped brace as a means of holding a trapezoidal "D" ring for the leather strap.

All of these component parts have subsequently been soldered together, presumably by a tinning process that would have lined the inside of the bidon. It seems rather reminiscent of the French helmet pressings that, as far as I can see, use the same interlocking ridges as a way to bring separate pressings together.

Surely the old pressing dies still exist somewhere and these things could be made again? I can think of no better way to carry ones wine on a picnic.

I will fashion a new cork and wooden stopper, as well as stitch on a covering. I also need to replace the strap with a new one as an extra security against damage to the old which could then be safely stored in a drawer. Pictures of this will follow. 

To end here are two photos of the existing strap.

Great War Leather Haversack

This Haversack is from the collection of my friend who lent me the gas mask in the previous post. His grandfather was in the Canadian artillery.

I'm guessing it is a private purchase officer's haversack. It bears some similarities to the canvas Oliver Pattern haversack that was used in 1900 and then at the start of the Great War. The leather is still very supple, though delicate. There have been some repairs made with care, presumably because in usage this leather did not stand up to the task. 

What is curious is the very hand-made addition of two straps with snap hooks onto the body of the haversack. These then clip onto the snap hooks of the shoulder strap. There is no evidence of any previous attachment points and I'm mystified as to why this is so. Was the haversack originally intended to be merely a carrying bag without a strap? There is an internal loop of leather with no apparent purpose, though one might pass a belt through it. However there is no wear indicating that, and it would be rather a strange system to buckle the haversack onto a belt in such a manner.

The inside has a divider made of a stiff oiled canvas. There are no dates or markings.

Once again I am taken by the simple beauty of personal items created for the business of war.

Great War Gas Mask and Carrying Haversack

A friend of mine has lent me some of his grandfather's First World War artifacts to study. I have just begun the job and am most drawn, right now, to the box respirator and carrier, and to a leather haversack which I will describe in the next post.

The gas mask was issued in 1918. It does not seem to have received much service as it is in "pristine" condition, only suffering the aging of 100 years. All the rubber has hardened and become brittle. It is impossible to look inside the fabric of the mask, and the rubber hose has only stayed together because of the cloth covering. The exhalation valve is in fragments and the steel casing of the filter is suffering badly from internal rust.

These pictures will, I hope, be useful to those who may have accurate measurements of other masks but lack such clean and unspoiled details.

The eyepiece is of some orange and man-made material. It's some form of early plastic about which I know nothing.

One can see the nose pinchers through one of the goggles. The internal mouthpiece has been lost but for the extending metal tube and a ring of hard rubber.

Also of interest are some of the rare and ephemeral parts of the pristine package. This card, to record hours of usage, slides into a cardboard envelope. The whole envelope is then held by a string to the bottom of the respirator tube.

I expected some kind of repair kit. There was nothing but some stuck bits of fabric attached to the "hours of usage" envelope. However there was another interesting box full of cleaning compound and a polishing cloth for the eye glass.

The inner box slides into the outer box like a matchbox.

The carrying bag was perfect showing no signs of wear and not having suffered from the rusting of the respirator box. Internally it has its string, used to secure the bag around the body of the wearer, and the spring which is designed to keep the respirator valve off the bottom of the bag.

The rest of these photos show the finer details, especially in the straping system, which are aspects that one cannot study from the average photograph. As a person who makes things for a living I'm a struck by both the attention to details and the decision to be straightforward with assembly methods. The attachment of the stud seems quite intricate being a clever reinforcement by doubling back the strapping followed by a reinforcing stitching circle. The leather tab, which is used to shorten the shoulder strap quickly to bring the whole unit snug to the wearer's chest, is still flexible after 100 years. It shows a broad arrow that is hard to note unless the leather is bent. By contrast, the internal stitching is left with its raw edges.

The adjusting buckle strap is a nice simple levering clamp system.

I hope these photos will be useful to someone.

It's interesting to compare these photographs to my reproduction that I bought from Schipperfabric. Here is a link to my blog "Great War reproductions" which features some photographs of this:

http://greatwarreproductions.blogspot.ca/2014/11/reproduction-wwi-bicycle-and-gas-mask.html