Pre-WWII M1917A1 "Kelly" Helmet, Leather Liner, Web Chinstrap NEAR

Pre-WWII M1917A1 "Kelly" Helmet, complete with Liner, Chinstrap. Near Mint+++ Condition!! WWI British 'Brodie'  Mark 1 Shell, heat stamped "FSK 17," supplied to the AEF in WWI, and no doubt issued and worn during the Great European War, remaining in the USMC or the Army's supply system through the interwar period, then refitted Ordnance and at Quartermaster Depots at some point between 1936 and 1941.
This is the model helmet worn by USMC, Army,
and Navy
personnel at Pearl Harbor
, on Bataan, Corregidor, Wake Island,
the USMC
contingent to Iceland
, and aboard USN
warships (painted battleship gray). It was worn stateside during the first months of the war as well.
++ This was the Helmet Shell worn in the trenches of the Western Front
as well as during the Siberian Intervention of 1918-1919
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'
forces.
++ This was the Helmet 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.S. Marines
wearing this M1917 (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 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 the modified M1917A1 "Kelly" Helmet
with the improved Liner and Web Chinstrap.
+ This clean, interwar Depot-refitted example appears to be UNISSUED
, with no signs of wear or prior MARINE
or soldier ownership! This "Brodie" Mark 1 shell is made of the lighter British 21 Gauge Steel (versus
the heavier American M1917
model made of heavier 19 GAUGE non-magnetic Manganese Steel
) .
+ The Chinstrap Bails are made of the lighter wire British "Brodie" bails (versus the
heavier 12 Gauge Iron Wire used by American contractors. Also the bails are attached with British "Split" Rivets
instead and being secured with Steel Harness Rivets. ***** PARTICULARS OF CONDITION:
+ ZERO
dents or rust!!
+ The original, depot-applied, rough-textured "SAWDUST" EXTERIOR PAINT
is virtually UNBLEMISHED! There is
only ONE
scuff
+ The INTERIOR PAINT
is PERFECT!
+  The Heat/Batch/Cast Code, "FKS 17"
stamped  on the underside of the rim is that of a British MK 1 helmet, that is somewhat cryptic, but is believed to denote both the steel supplier and the 'presser' of the original helmet shell in 1916 and which eventually made its ways to the troops and Marines of the A.E.F. (American Expeditionary Force)
and remained in the USMC and the Army's supply system throughout the inter-war period. 'FKS'
is the legendary steel industry of Thomas Firth and Sons
of Sheffield, UK, founded in 1846 and a major contractor for Britain's War Department
, supplying cannon tubes, projectiles, armor since the Crimean War.
+ The circular leather, horsehair-filled CROWN/ DOME PAD is INTACT
and undamaged, unstained from perspiration and is perfectly laced to the steel-spring Frame.
+ The original gray WOOL-FELT BAND
is still present beneath the Leather Liner!
+ The four-tongued leather LINER
is intact, stunningly clean, entirely free of perspiration stains, stenciled, stamped, or handwritten name/rank/unit/serial number. Only the with only the typical 'patina' of DRY
aging on the underside of the leather. There is some minor, superficial FLAKING
on the leather where it folds over the steel head band as is common. The TONGUE LACE
has never been threaded through the four steel EYELETS
and adjusted for wear!
+ The original hemispherical NUT
and its LOCK WASHER
(that secure the steel liner frame to the shell
+ ZERO
wear, fraying, staining,or damage on the distinctive mustard-khaki WEB CHINSTRAP
with the 'box stitching' for the J-Hooks.
None of the usual rust stains from the Steel Keeper!
+  The unique brass CAST CHINSTRAP BUCKLE
retains its finish and is in perfect condition.
This one appears to have gone straight from a USMC
or Army QM Depot
shelf to an attic over at the outbreak of WWII.
*****
Background:
The artillery and small arms fire of World War I caused disproportionate head wounds that awakened the need for a steel helmet for Allied troops. The first to issue helmets were the French forces followed by the British and Americans. The first US Army protective helmet was the British Mk I, the shallow-dome British helmet designed by John L Brodie and issued in 1915 to British forces. The Mk I was adopted by the U.S. since the British could furnish helmets while the U. S. was still setting up production.
The Mk I,
with an American modification to the suspension system and a different metal alloy, was designated as the US Model M1917
steel helmet, issued to U.S. Soldiers and Marines serving in France as the AEF.
The M1917
helmet was made of manganese steel with a fixed liner and leather chinstrap with sliding buckle. The leather/felt/netting liner had an integral suspension that separated the wearer's head from the steel dome but did not provide much comfort. The M1917
was painted lustlerless olive drab, with a sawdust anti-reflective texture. Individual units permitted other color schemes, paint and markings, although drilling the helmet to attach insigina was prohibited after drilling was found to weaken it.
By February 1918. 700.000 American made M1917s
had been delivered. By the end of WW I, on 11 November 1918, more than 2,700,000 American M1917
helmets had been produced.
In 1936, the M1917A Transition Helmet
was produced by refurbishment and retrofit of M1917
models. The M1917A
used the M1917
steel shell and incorporated suspension and chin strap changes that were later standardized as the M1917A1
.
*****
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.D. Curator of Armour, Metropolitan Museum of Art
U.S.A. and formerly Chairman of the Committee on Helmets and Armor, Engineering Division of the National Research Council U.S.A., page 130,
"The manufacturer was required to demonstrate that his product was proof to shrapnel ball, forty-one to a pound with a striking velocity of 700 foot seconds. 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. All helmets, however, were to bear the initial of the manufacturer
and the heat number of the steel.
.."
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.
Industry quality standards require materials to be tested at the manufacturer and the results of these tests be submitted through a report, also called a Mill Sheet, Mill Certificate
or Mill Test Certificate (MTC)
. 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.
*****
Regarding the origin of the descriptive adjective 'Kelly'
applied to the M1917A1 Helmet
, two possibilities have been suggested:
(1) Director of the Infantry School's Department of Experiment
, where the bulk of interwar helmet evaluation took place, was Lt. Col. R.H. Kelley.
(research courtesy of aef1917,
June 9, 2022)
(2) One thesaurus lists a 'kelly' as a slang for "a man's stiff hat, as a derby or straw skimmer."
(research courtesy of PHANTOMFIXER,
also June 9, 2022)
*****
research and compilation done by "RETIRED SARGE,"
Mar. 22, 2012
Known steel suppliers of the WWI British helmets: FS = T. Firth & Sons Ltd Sept 1916 – 1918
BS = W. Beardmore & Co Ltd Jan. 1916 – 1919
HS = Hadfield Ltd Jan. 1916 – 1919
V = Vickers Ltd 1916 – 1917
MS = Miris Steel Co. Ltd 1916 – 1917
A = Edgar Allen and Co. Ltd 1916 – 1918 F = Thomas Firth and Sons 1916 – 1918
O = Samuel Osborne & Co Ltd. 1916 – 1918
B = Bury's & Co. 1916 – 1918
Known makers of the WWI British helmets:
D = James Dixon & Sons Dec. 1915
HW = Hutton & Sons Dec. 1915
HH = Harrison Bros. & Howson Ltd. Dec. 1915
M = J&J Maxfield & sons Dec. 1915
R = John Round & Sons 1916
V = W&E Viener Dec. 1915
MLS = ? FKS =
Possibly Thomas Firth & Son
M&S = Possibly Maxfield & Sons.
*****
from Grace's Guide to British Industrial History:
Thomas Firth and Sons
of Norfolk Works, Sheffield.
1842 Company founded by Mark Firth and his brother Thomas Firth, Jr. who left Sanderson Brothers and Co.,
smelting steel at Portobello
works, Charlotte Street, Sheffield.
Their father, Thomas Firth, Sr., joined them shortly afterwards, together with head smelter  Joseph Bridden, and the business became .
Mark took the lead on sales.
1849 A new works covering 13 acres was begun in Savile Street, this was to become Norfolk
works. They also leased Claywheels
forges at Wadsley Bridge (1849–58).
1850 By this time the company had expanded and had 25 workers. Thomas Firth, Senior, died. Mark Firth took over the running of the business, helped by Thomas Firth, Junior, and a third brother,  John Firth, who joined the partnership.
By September 1851 the Norfolk
works consisted of file works, crucible furnaces, rolling mill, and Sheffield's biggest steam engine.
After 1856 the company developed the 22 acre site at Whittington Moor, Chesterfield, complete with forge, rolling mills, iron refining, foundry facilities, air melting furnaces, and pattern and fitting shops. Tee sections and angles were rolled from Puddled Steel.
By 1857 the business employed 500 men and joined the other major steel works in moving eastwards in Sheffield. Crucible steel was still based on Swedish bar iron, landed at a wharf at Norfolk works.
Sales of file and edge tools to Russia weakened in the Crimean War,
so Firths increased American sales, secured orders for crinoline hoops, then switched to armaments, specializing in gun tubes and projectiles, whilst their Sheffield neighbors focused on armor plate.
By 1860 Armstrongs, Vavasseurs,
and Woolrich Arsenal
were major customers; Whittington Moor
sent steel telegraph poles to India, made other steel fabrications, and supplied plant for Sheffield.
1863 A new West Gun
works was established in Sheffield which produced larger guns and shells, using two 25 ton Nasmyth 
steam hammers, on anvil blocks of 160 tons. Manufacture of edge tools and files was subsequently moved to Windsor Street, Sheffield, and rifle barrel production began with a few American machines. Forty or fifty new boring machines from Whittington Moor
subsequently replaced them with capacity to make 300 barrels a day.
1871 Projectile and gun sizes grew, from 68 lb shot in 1860 to 700 lb in 1871, which required investment in much new plant.
1871 The company cast the thirty five ton "Woolwich Infant"
gun. This was said to have required 1000 crucibles to cast its outer and four inner tubes. Naval guns were manufactured for the British and French navies. Land guns reached 100 tons, with 16 in. gun blocks and 2000 lb projectiles. In addition, Firths
led the way in attempts to manufacture compound armor plate.
1874 "Immense Casting at Messrs. Firth and Sons.
— The first step towards the production of the 81-ton gun has just been taken. All the built-up guns made at the Royal Arsenal,
Woolwich, are lined with a steel tube. This tube is derived from a solid cylinder or ingot, supplied from the works of Messrs. Firth and Sons
, of Sheffield. The casting of the tube for the enormous gun now designed was carried out at these works on Friday week in the most successful manner. The ingot is made of crucible steel, and required for its construction 628 crucibles, each containing 70 pounds of metal, the total weight being thus very nearly 20 tons. The casting occupied 42 minutes, and employed 194 men. The ingot measures 42 inches in diameter and 13 feet in length."
1875 they produced an eighty ton gun.
1876 The company produced an eighty ton gun.
1876-78 Despite being one of the worlds' leading gun forgers, the company suffered during the depression of this time.
1880 Mark Firth, whilst at his Norfolk Works
, suffered a stroke on 16 November and died 12 days later.
1881 Incorporated as a private limited company. The company was registered on 15 June, to acquire the business of steel, file and edge tool manufacturers of the firm of the same name.
1891 Advert. Listed as Thomas Firth and Sons 
1900 Built huge crankshafts for engines .
c.1900 Tools department established (which eventually grew so much that it was floated as a separate company Firth, Brown Tools
in 1946).
1901 Thomas Firth and Sons
of Sheffield were Railway Tyre Manufacturers
1902 John Brown and Co.
acquired seven-eighths of the ordinary shares of
by exchange of shares, the two companies continuing under separate management.
1912 Harry Brearley invented stainless steel, although Firths
did not recognize the potential.
1914 Steel manufacturers. Specialties: Firth's
rendable capped Armour-piercing projectiles, gun forgings, marine engines, steel forgings and castings of every description, locomotive tires and axles, shoes and dies for mining batteries, rifle barrel blanks and steel for component parts of rifles, special steels for motor car work etc., saws, edge tools and files, sheet steel for cylinder laggings and other purposes, crucible cast steel for all descriptions of tools, Firth's "Speedicut"
high-speed steel and twist drills and Firth's special steel parts for ore crushers, stone breakers, ball mills etc. Employees 5,500.
1920 Metal forgers
1924 Stainless steel for turbines. Also armor piercing shells.
1927 Advert for high-speed steels ( Thomas Firth and Sons
) .
1927 See Aberconway
for information on the company and its history.
1930 Merger of the steel making interests of John Brown and Co.
and the neighboring company Thomas Firth and Sons
to form Thomas Firth and John Brown
, otherwise known as Firth Brown. ***** NOTE: Any overage in postage will be refunded.