Broad arrow : canadian?

Hello,

I have a VERO liner dated from 1938 in a shell with a typical canadian chinstrap and net.
There is a strange broad arrow on the liner, have you ever seen one like that? British fabrication with canadian control reception?





Clément

Unfortunately that is not a 'C Broad Arrow' marking, plus the date is too early for Canadian helmet production.

Hi edstorey,

Thanks for your reply, maybe a variant of the GB broad arrow?

Clément

I suspect that is likely a company trade mark.

Gentlemen the stamp as seen above is the British Equivalent to the Canadian C-/I\ and is a quality control / Government acceptance stamp as found on the early production Mk I liners.
It will be found on the rexene fiber cross strips if memory serves me correct this particular mark will only be found on liners with production dates commencing in 1937 and ending in early 1940 and this type of stamp was eliminated when the MOD adopted the new Mk II type liner.

Regards Mark

Do you have a reference for the use of this mark?

Would you also have any information as to why the British Government would introduce this particular mark when they had been using the "Broad Arrow" mark for decades prior to 1937.

Thanks for any further information.

Well, that demonstrates when the mark was used but still doesn't answer the question about why it was used. Can this c arrow mark be found on any other items?

Only speculation of course but I think that the mark represents a government quality control inspector stamp much like the numbers found below the Canadian C-/l\ why they would choose this particular type of stamp over the regular /l\ is indeed still a question that needs to be answered.

Regards Mark

I have one on a 49 dated liner, the style of the stamp has changed.  

Very interesting information Mark.

My British Mk II has a 1938 dated liner made by Helmets Ltd. and it has the /I\ C mark with 316 under it. This is the same number as the one you showed above and I am wondering if it was an in house inspectors mark.

If each plant had a distinct number it would add a little credence to this theory.

In the meantime I will wait and see what else comes out of this thread. Looking forward to any other views.

The same early mark is found on the Bren lensatic sight and the wooden holder they come in. It can also be found on early bren tripods.

An example of the mark can be found in this thread over on milsurps: http://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=28229&page=1

Thanks for the link cmpman. That's an interesting mark.