Ssh-39 Slight Dimension Change in Mid-1940?

[pupapup]

Hey everyone, I have a theory about Ssh39s, that the rounded part over the ear became slightly smaller in mid-1940. Dr. Clawson's book, in the Ssh39 section, page 45 in the caption under the picture states "Some early models featured higher front brims than what eventually became standard. These early models are relatively rare today"

I don't think it was some early models, I believe it was all early models. I also believe that the rim dimensions stayed the same, but the part over the ear changed, and I believe that change happened in mid-1940, and I'll try to prove all of those things now. First, here's a row of Ssh39s. They are dated (left to right) 1939, 1940, 1940, and 1941. They are all made by Lysva. The first three are all size 2, the '41 is size 3. The first three all have the fingered black gralex liner, the '41 has the circular cloth liner. The back of all of them is resting on the same flat surface.



Hopefully you can see the difference in the space between the desk and the brim. If not, here's a side-by-side of the two helmets dated 1940. The 1940 on the left with the star and the 1939 have 4.0 centimeters between the desk and the brim, the 1940 on the right without the star and the 1941 have 2.5 centimeters between the desk and the brim.



Here's the no-star 1940-dated Ssh39 and a 1943-dated Ssh40 next to each other, they're the same.



When I compare the bottom of the ear to the top of the rivet, the 1940 high-brim with a star is about 12.3 centimeters, and the 1940 low-brim without a star is 12.0 centimeters. Seems like a very small difference until you take into account the fact that the ear part is the fulcrum on which the helmet sits when it is resting, hence the more noticeable 1.5 centimeter difference in distance from desk to brim. Sorry for the sideways pictures, I'm old and can't figure things out.



For my final point on why I believe this difference is true of all early Ssh39s, I'm going to quote Ivan Karabanov's new book, page 407, "from mid-1940 onwards the red star was no longer applied to steel helmets at the factory level". Since there are two 1940-dated helmets pictured above, both with original paint, the one with the star was made in the early part of 1940, the one without the star was made in the latter part of 1940. Since their construction is different, I'm also concluding that helmets made in the early part of 1940 had the higher brim (or longer ear covers, whichever you prefer), and the ones made in late 1940 had the lower brim.

Any support or objections to my theory? I'm basing it on a handful of helmets out of millions made, so I was wondering if anyone with a '39 dated helmet got the same 4.0 centimeter measurement from desk to rim to back me up. Thanks for reading.

Kevin Robinson

[real steel]

Interesting thread...never noticed this. I have handled only a few of these, the example I own is 1941 dated & is the lower brim design. Measures the 2.5 cm as yours does

Your collection of these is nice...Thanks for posting

[Dom]

Hi Kevin ,

Yes well observed it is a detail that we easily notice.
ZKO production is similar to the latest LMZ .