Tag Archives: grommets

Pith Helmet with Radiator Grill

Extravagant shape & technical innovation: Barnard´s Patent from 1899. (Author´s collection)

In 1899, London hat maker Walter Barnard of Jermyn Street, St. James’s, patented a fashionable helmet with a metal grill between sweatband and hat to allow ventilation. Here is an example of this helmet and later a variation whose ventilation strip was produced in rubber. Continue reading