I noticed part of this clip on the "World at War series" and found it on Youtube. What is interesting is how labour intensive the manufacture of the shell is.
Also interesting is the hardening of the shell which is included in this 2nd clip. Not shown is any tempering of the shell, after hardening, which is a normal process after hardening steel to make the steel less brittle. Notice the quenching of the helmet shells into an oil quench, as one would expect, indicated by the "flaming on the surface of the liquid, rather than a water quench. One does see a number of relic WW2 German helmets for sale on eBay that have sustained battle damage in which the shell appears to have "shattered" and failed. This could be the result of the shells being hardened during manufacture but not tempered, i.e. over-hard.
I have seen it stated that the type of steel used for the M42 helmet shell changed but I do not know if this was the time that heat treatment was introduced or changed for the shells.
Last edited by Flying10uk; 11-19-2020 at 09:12 PM.
What is interesting is how labour intensive the manufacture of the shell is.
What I saw in the first video was a kettle factory. Then they removed the handles and spun them on a lathe to make helmets out of them. Is that accurate? - Bob
What I saw in the first video was a kettle factory. Then they removed the handles and spun them on a lathe to make helmets out of them. Is that accurate? - Bob
I think that it is helmets being made in a kettle factory rather than out of kettles. Either way it appears labour intensive.
What I saw in the first video was a kettle factory.
The first part was of a factory that made kettles from helmets. Later it also described repairs. I'd seen this one before, back in Germany, as part of a report on postwar reemployment and recovery jobs.
The first part was of a factory that made kettles from helmets.
I looked at it again. Still looks like a kettle went on the lathe and came off as a helmet. I'll have to have my son-in-law take a look at it. He understands German. - Bob
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Originally Posted by Flying10uk
- Bob
- Bob
