Home Front Helmets

Discussion in 'United Kingdom' started by Dieppe, May 30, 2004.

  1. Robert-w

    Robert-w Banned

    One can date WW1 brodies by the type of steel used which changed during the course of the war. Confusingly you get "magnetic" and "non magnetic" brodies although a magnet will stick to either. Someone did try and explain this to me but it failed to stick (and I studied foundry work at school!) But the point is different steels were used then so there is no reason why something similar may not have occurred in WW2. As collectors of WW1 material can distinguish the two types without having to melt down bits of the helmet there may be a way of detecting any differences.
     
  2. 2 Black Bands

    2 Black Bands Active Member

    Thank you. 'closest I got to "Foundry Work" at school was bashing the living daylights out of a strip of metal to make a garden trowel!
     
  3. brithm

    brithm Senior Member

    upload_2023-9-8_22-45-24.jpeg
    Kennards Factory Fire Guard Cromwell Pattern Helmet, interesting example of a hard fibre ‘Cromwell’ pattern helmet with the added top plate.
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    Fire Guard Sector Captain Helmet, hard bakelite plastic helmet with white painted finish to the exterior and underside of the brim.
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    Fire Guard Sector Captain Steel Helmet Shell, being a Zuckerman pattern steel helmet
     
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  4. brithm

    brithm Senior Member

    upload_2023-9-8_22-55-56.jpeg
    1940 BMB Home Front Helmet dark grey painted external finish with stencilled to front "AS & Co"
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    1939 Home Front Street Fire Party (S.F.P) Steel Helmet, black finished civil defence steel helmet owner ‘G. T. Graggs’
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    1941 Home Front Decontamination Section Helmet, Zuckerman pattern steel helmet with blue finish
     
  5. Uncle Target

    Uncle Target Mist over Dartmoor

    Iron has a higher ferrous content than steel (an alloy).
    Place them in a food industry digital metal detector and you should get different signal readouts.
    It is possible to identify bits of phosphor bronze bearings from the stainless steel mixing bowl in white bread in a bakery but with brown bread is difficult do detect the broken bearing as its signature lies towards non ferrous. a negative or collapsing signal
    Easiest to find are hard steel or iron fragments as they give a magnetic return positive signal.
    Food Industry Digital Metal Detectors have a microprocessor to learn the product signature and reject contaminated products allowing good product to pass.
    Some modern metal detectors used in treasure hunting or archaeology have similar capabilities.
    Gold is highly conductive causing the signal to collapse so easy to detect and opposite to iron which is magnetic.

    Basics of metal detection in the food industry

    X Ray distinguishes differing densities.
    A Chief Engineer in a jam factory once told me that when we could tell a wasp from a Raspberry, give me a ring!

    My background lies in the Aluminium Extrusion Industry (the factory made Spitfire and Hurricane airframe struts).
    It declined in the 1960's. I moved into Commissioning Induction Melting Furnaces, working all over Europe in Foundries which were closing every week in the 80's. I moved into the UK Food Packaging Industry which fell to Japanese, German and Italian competition mainly due to the lack of support from British Banks. I then went into Education "A Job for Life" but no one mentioned the loss of Govt Funding in 2009. I retired from training Maintenance Apprentices in a car factory. Almost full circle.

    Common Denominator Induction, Electronics and Electrical Frequencies.
    This interest began as an Army Cadet in the Signals classes on a Friday night with 267 Field Regiment RA (TA).
     
    Last edited: Sep 9, 2023

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