The stamped marks on the underside of Brodie helmet rims

[Paddy 60th]

I have at last just started to catalogue my collection of Brodies and have noticed that on a few of them the stamps are partly covered by the rim.

I was wondering whether these might have been earlier rimless helmets which had the rims applied later or it is more than possible of course that they were stamped during manufacture before the rims were attached.

Most of my rimless Brodies are stamped close to the edge and the majority of my rimmed ones further away which is why I am pondering !

Maybe someone could give an answer on this ?

Roger

[GRANVILLE]

Interesting question Roger and I wouldn't presume to have an answer as such.

I can't say I have ever seen any which are obscured by the rim. If the degree to which it is obscured renders it hard to be sure what the stamp details actually show then applied common sense suggests (to me) that the manufacturer would hardly have permitted this happen - no matter how much pressure they were under to get them out. If this is the case and the details are difficult to read then I too would speculate that the rim has been applied at a later date and that the helmet started life without a rim. If, on the other hand the detail is not particularly obscured then I would venture to suggest that this is just one of those things and that it would certainly be impossible to say if the helmet started out without a rim or not. Out of interest what sort of stamp marks do you have on those that are partially obscured?

David

[Michael Haselgrove]

Roger,

For what it is worth my opinion is that the flat metal blanks were stamped with the necessary details not only before the rim was fitted but also before the shell was stamped. I do not have any documentary evidence in support. However, I have one helmet where the rim partially obscures about one third of the H.V. stamp and two helmets, both rimless, where the stamp is made partly on the curve where the rim goes into the bowl and it would not have been possible to place the stamp there once the bowl was formed. None of my admittedly small collection of rimless helmets has a stamp that would be obscured if a rim was fitted.

I agree with Granville that the manufacturer would not have been too concerned if the rim partially obscured the stamp as long as the stamp was readily decipherable. I remain to be convinced that rims were fitted retrospectively to rimless helmets after the helmets left the factory. However, I would agree that some shells stamped as rimless shells probably had the new pattern chinstrap attachments and liner and a rim fitted before they left the factory.

Regards,

Michael.

[Paddy 60th]

Thanks Granville and Michael for your replies and suggestions.

In answer to Granville's question, the stamps which are partly obscured on two of the rimmed helmets, are FS 145 and HS 12 ?.

I haven't looked at the others yet as they are in storage at the moment. They both have the later type lining with the rubber 'doughnut' under the felt pad.

Roger

[aef1917]

I would tend to agree that the codes were stamped on the blanks before pressing. I've seen quite a few that are partially under the rim, and plenty that are skewed at strange angles or stretched and distorted.

[Paddy 60th]

Thanks for that aef. I've got some that are like that too.