Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Ralph Long on January 19, 2009 at 2:02pm

Are these from your fire company? I seen old helmets like this that ranged from late 50's to late 70's.

Permalink Reply by Chief 29 on January 19, 2009 at 9:50pm

Yes they are from my company. Unfortunately there are no members around any longer that can give any input on when these were being used. We found 1 white and 3 black . They are cairns helmets.

Permalink Reply by SMOKEnPipesJim on January 21, 2009 at 11:19am

well, chief Cairns made several types of helmets (as we know) The "New Yorker" was leather . The "volunteer" was also leather, but the rear brim was shorter then the New Yorker but longer then these hard hat style helmets
The "WarBaby" was a cheeper version of a leather made during the war years (ww2) thatwas configured along this helmets general look . but didnt have the combs of a NY'r The "Senator" was aluminum and worn in DCFD as well as other places and ran from theat least Post WW2 into the late 70's when they weretaken off the shelf due to electricution hazards and the Fiberglass Model, which was definately post ww2 and ran well into the 70's and when polycarbinate materials began to replace fiberglass... I m NOT sure but looking at the "style" of the buckets I am thinking and may be wrong, that these are early versions of the fiberglass models ie: late40's early 50's
because later models took the shape/generally of the classic long rear brim Firefighters rather then hardhat look of the war years ..

Permalink Reply by SMOKEnPipesJim on January 21, 2009 at 11:35am

In fact here are hopefully some adverts from 1949 ( NY'r and warbaby) NY'rs in like 54 and 57.. BUT READ each of them andit explains theline up like I just did..above including yours. Hope theyall go well..
:)

Attachments:

• Cairns47.jpg, 52 KB
• CairnsNYrad.jpg, 110 KB
• Cairns NY'r57.jpg, 103 KB

Permalink Reply by SMOKEnPipesJim on January 21, 2009 at 11:49am

some more pics of styles . the aluminum senator

a Newer version of your style from above and below showing the fiberglass wrap and brim ridge, possibly with a polycarbinate (Plastic) dip as mentioned in the later advert above...... The frontpiece holder "could" have been added at the factory or later But I recall this helmet typically advertised 50's/60's with a Full frontshield ( the black paint at the front holder seems typical of Cairns/factory even the 5a's came through this way ...so I think its factory, also maybe making it a "newer" version "flintflex"
It just so happened these pics were all items on ebay this week..lol , the senator isnt active but everything else is up for sale as we speak... I say late post war 40's early 1950's...(48-54)

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• senator.jpg, 8 KB
• aa119f.jpg, 34 KB
• LaterCairnsfiberglass.jpg, 20 KB

Permalink Reply by Chief 29 on January 22, 2009 at 11:21am

Thanks for your help. What I'm taking it as is you best estimate is 40's - 50's correct?
I guess the only way to get a definite answer would be to contact Cairn's themselves and see what their answer would be. I will work on it.

Permalink Reply by SMOKEnPipesJim on February 1, 2009 at 11:16am

Though I am not sure/positive, Cairns moved from New York to Clifton NJ in the Post war 49 or 50 (?) on The New Yorkers The metal ID reflected the move.. (this interior sticker shows NY so I would sumise YES its an earlier model, BUT I dont know that they didn't "continue Fiberglass fabrication in a NY location" Just not sure.. and Iam not sure since they are now part of MSA , how involved in corporate history they are ..... so that would be a question you could begin with... ON the later Fiberglass model I posted the front piece holder (brass) was attached which leads me to believe It was Later 50's or 60's while yours without was prollycloser to the war years when Brass wasnt so available but thats just speculation on my part as far as finishes goes plain old Fiberglass Resin varies too some is very smooth some is, rough due to the type of cloth used, seems like earlier fine cloth wasnt as available.. but again, I am not a fiberglass cloth historian...lol

2 clues That help in Dating some of the Cairns helmets are the medalion (which these have the sticker instead) and the front piece holder, The newer ones are all red paint the older vintage ones have black highlights and the maltese is red.. I also know for many years Boston had a customized front piece holder it was also in black and red... I did a google search for Cairns & bro and came up with one good page on ebay, some historical value, but limited, in that it didn't have every style listed didn't mark the styles and didnt mark the date of the move from NYC to Clifton, NJ. I'll continue looking... below is a "new" medalion see whatelse I can find for ya,,

Attachments:

• Cairns Clifton tag.jpg, 29 KB

Permalink Reply by SMOKEnPipesJim on September 25, 2010 at 12:56am

Asst 29 Its prolly mute by Now , But I sorta feel late 50's say 56 - 67 ish? thats was the same period that MSA had the Fiberglass "TopGuard" and the late 60's 66 -68 that they came out with the polycarbonate Topguards Made famous BY Johnny and Roy on squad 51 (Emergency) which was around 1971-73 by the time production and viewing happened That shape was definately after the warbaby but is fiberglassed not leather

Permalink Reply by Louise Thornton on October 7, 2010 at 3:37pm

We have a couple of these helment at the museum that date back to the 1921's and they were used for wildland fires.