This is the story of how one product called Tri-don launched the industry leader in car care appearance products. Move over, light bulb. But luckily for all of us car lovers, in a local auto shop owner convinced Joe to bottle and sell his formula. But that was just the beginning — and for the next three decades, the innovations kept rolling out. Tires are meant to be dirty, and nobody pays attention to them, right?
Wrong, because you do. A car is not clean until the rims shine. For most of that period, it allowed horsemen to fight while being the targets of defending arquebuseers without being easily killed. Full suits of armour were worn by generals and princely commanders right up to the second decade of the 18th century. It was the only way they could be mounted and survey the overall battlefield with safety from distant musket fire.
The horse was afforded protection from lances and infantry weapons by steel plate barding. This gave the horse protection and enhanced the visual impression of a mounted knight. Late in the era, elaborate barding was used in parade armour. Gradually starting in the mid 16th century, one plate element after another was discarded to save weight for foot soldiers.
Back and breast plates continued to be used throughout the entire period of the 18th century and through Napoleonic times, in many European heavy cavalry units, until the early 20th century. From their introduction, muskets could pierce plate armour, so cavalry had to be far more mindful of the fire. Though the age of the knight was over, armour continued to be used in many capacities. Soldiers in the American Civil War bought iron and steel vests from peddlers both sides had considered but rejected body armour for standard issue.
The effectiveness of the vests varied widely- some successfully deflected bullets and saved lives but others were poorly made and resulted in tragedy for the soldiers.
In any case the vests were abandoned by many soldiers due to their weight on long marches as well as the stigma they got for being cowards from their fellow troops.
At the start of World War I, thousands of the French Cuirassiers rode out to engage the German Cavalry who likewise used helmets and armour. Great helm, Heaume, Topfhelm, 14th century. Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg. Mail or chain mail is a type of armour consisting of small metal rings linked together in a pattern to form a mesh.
The word chainmail is of relatively recent coinage, having been in use only since the s; prior to this it was referred to simply as mail. The word itself refers to the armour material, not the garment made from it.
A shirt made from mail is a hauberk if knee-length, haubergeon if mid-thigh length, and byrnie if waist-length. Mail leggings are called chausses, mail hoods coif and mail mittens mitons.
A mail collar hanging from a helmet is camail or aventail. A mail collar worn strapped around the neck was called a pixane or standard. In the Dark Ages chain mail was often referred to as "ring maille" to distinguish it from other types of mail, such as lamellar and splinted mail. In the Middle Ages scale mail died out, but chain mail remained, and people called it "maille" or "mayle.
The word maille comes from the French, meaning mesh or net. The use of mail was prominent throughout the Dark Ages, High Middle Ages and Renaissance, and reached its apex in Europe, in terms of coverage, during the 13th century, when mail covered the whole body. By the 14th century, plate armour was commonly used to supplement mail. Eventually mail was supplanted by plate for the most part. However, mail was still widely used by many soldiers as well as brigandines and padded jacks.
These three types of armour made up the bulk of the equipment used by soldiers with mail being the most expensive. It was quite often more expensive than plate armour. A mail shirt interwoven between two layers of fabric is called jazzeraint, and can be worn as protective clothing.
It was We Who taught him the making of coats of mail for your benefit, to guard you from each other's violence: will ye then be grateful?
Mail armour provided an effective defence against slashing blows by an edged weapon and penetration by thrusting and piercing weapons; in fact The Royal Armoury at Leeds concluded that " Mail, if a warrior could afford it, could provide a significant advantage to him when combined with competent fighting techniques. However, a good sword blow arriving in exactly perpendicular angle to surface could cut through the links; when the mail was not riveted, a well placed thrust from a spear or thin sword could penetrate, and a poleaxe or halberd blow could break through the armour.
Special arrows, known as bodkins, were later made that were able to penetrate light mail through the loops of the chain. Some evidence indicates that during armoured combat the intention was to actually get around the armour rather than through it—according to a study of skeletons found in Visby, Sweden, a majority of the skeletons showed wounds on less well protected legs. The flexibility of mail meant that a blow would often injure the wearer, potentially causing serious bruising or fractures, and it was a poor defence against head trauma.
Mail-clad warriors typically wore separate rigid, helms over their mail coifs for head protection. Likewise, blunt weapons such as maces and warhammers could harm the wearer by their impact without penetrating the armour; usually a soft armour, such as gambeson, was worn under the hauberk. Mail, however, had importance in that it reduced the risk of cuts and infection that could often be life threatening to a soldier.
Several patterns of linking the rings together have been known since ancient times, with the most common being the 4-to-1 pattern where each ring is linked with four others.
In Europe, the 4-to-1 pattern was completely dominant. Historically, in Europe, from the pre-Roman period on, the rings composing a piece of mail would be riveted closed to reduce the chance of the rings splitting open when subjected to a thrusting attack or a hit by an arrow. Up until the 14th century European mail was made of alternating rows of both riveted rings and solid rings. After that it was almost all made from riveted rings only. Both would have been made using wrought iron. Some later pieces were made of wrought steel with an appreciable carbon content that allowed the piece to be heat treated.
Wire for the riveted rings was formed by either of two methods. One was to hammer out wrought iron into plates and cut or slit the plates. These thin pieces were then pulled through a draw-plate repeatedly until the desired diameter was achieved. Waterwheel powered drawing mills are pictured in several period manuscripts. Another method was to simply forge down an iron billet into a rod and then proceed to draw it out into wire.
The solid links would have been made by punching from a sheet. Hauberk or Haubergeon? The hauberk is typically a type of mail armour constructed of loops of metal woven into a tunic or shirt. The sleeves sometimes only went to the elbow, but often were full arm length, with some covering the hands with a supple glove leather face on the palm of the hand, or even full mail gloves.
It was usually thigh or knee length, with a split in the front and back to the crotch so the wearer could ride a horse. It sometimes incorporated a hood, or coif. The term Haubergeon "little hauberk" refers to a shorter variant with partial sleeves, but the terms are often used interchangeably. Slits to accommodate horseback-riding are often incorporated below the waist.
Most are put on over the head. Hauberk can also refer to a similar garment of scale armour. Roman armies adopted similar technology after encountering it. Mail armour spread throughout the Mediterranean Basin with the expansion of the Romans.
It was quickly adopted by virtually every iron-using culture in the world, with the exception of the Chinese. The Chinese used it rarely, despite being heavily exposed to it from other cultures. The short-hemmed, short-sleeved hauberk may have originated from the medieval Islamic world. The Bayeux Tapestry illustrates Norman soldiers wearing a knee-length version of the hauberk, with three-quarter length sleeves and a split from hem to crotch.
In Europe, use of mail hauberks continued up through the 14th century, when plate armour began to supplant it. Pixane A mail collar. It is a circle with a hole for the neck to fit through. It covers the shoulders, breast and upper back.
Gousset 14th C. Mail that protects areas not covered by plate. Chausses Mail hose, either knee-high or cover the whole leg. Mail is still used as protective clothing by butchers, woodcarvers, police and Scuba divers and as decoration on some military uniforms.
Mail coif This example is a modern reproduction, courtesy "Swords and Armor". A Knight removing his mail hauberk. Detail from the Morgan Bible f28r. An aventail or camail is a flexible curtain of chainmail that covers the neck and shoulders. Plate armour, which protected the chest and the lower limbs, was used by the ancient Greeks and Romans, but it fell into disuse after the collapse of the Roman Empire because of the cost and work involved in producing a lorica segmentata or comparable plate armour.
Single plates of metal armour were again used from the late 13th century on, to protect joints and shins, and these were worn over a mail hauberk. By the end of the 14th century, larger and complete full plates of armour had been developed. European leaders in armouring techniques were northern Italians and southern Germans. England produced armour in Greenwich and they both developed their own unique style.
Maximilian style armour immediately followed this, in the early 16th century. Maximilian armour was typically denoted by fluting and decorative etching, as opposed to the plainer finish on 15th century white armour.
This era also saw the use of Close helms, as opposed to the 15th century style sallets and barbutes. Turkey also made wide use of plate armour but incorporated large amounts of mail into their armour, which was widely used by shock troops such as the Janissary Corps.
In the rest of the world, though, the general trend was towards mail, scale, or lamellar armour. Full plate armour was expensive to produce and remained therefore restricted to the upper strata of society; lavishly decorated suits of armour remained the fashion with 18th century nobles and generals long after they had ceased to be militarily useful on the battlefield due to the advent of powerful muskets. Reduced plate armour, typically consisting of a breastplate, a burgonet, morion or cabasset and gauntlets, however, also became popular among 16th century mercenaries and there are many references to so-called munition armour being ordered for infantrymen at a fraction of the cost of full plate armour.
This mass-produced armour was often heavier and made of lower quality metal than knight armour. From the 15th century on, armour specifically designed for jousting rather than for battle and parade armour also became popular. Many of the latter were decorated with biblical or mythological motifs. Armour was not confined to the Middle Ages, and in fact was widely used by most armies until the end of the 17th century for both foot and mounted troops. It was only the development of powerful rifled firearms which made all but the finest and heaviest armour obsolete.
The increasing power and availability of firearms and the nature of large, state-supported infantry led to more portions of plate armour being cast off in favour of cheaper, more mobile troops. Leg protection was the first part to go, replaced by tall leather boots. By the early part of the 18th century, only field marshals, commanders and royalty remained in full armour on the battlefield as they were tempting targets for musket fire.
Cavalry units, especially cuirassiers, continued to use front and back plates that could protect them from distanced fire and either helmets or "secrets", a steel protection they wore under a floppy hat. Other armour was hidden under decorative uniforms.
The cavalry armour of Napoleon, and the French, German, and British empires heavy cavalry known as cuirassiers were actively used through the 19th century right up to the first year of World War I, when French cuirassiers went to meet the enemy in armour outside of Paris.
Plate armour could have consisted of a helmet, a gorget or bevor , pauldrons or spaulders , couters, vambraces, gauntlets, a cuirass back and breastplate with a fauld, tassets and a culet, a mail skirt, cuisses, poleyns, greaves, and sabatons.
While it looks heavy, a full plate armour set could be as light as only 20 kg 45 pounds if well made of tempered steel. This is less than the weight of modern combat gear of an infantry soldier usually 25 to 35 kg , and the weight is more evenly distributed. The weight was so well spread over the body that a fit man could run, or jump into his saddle. Modern re-enactment activity has proven it is even possible to swim in armour, though it is difficult. It is possible for a fit and trained man in armour to run after and catch an unarmoured archer, as witnessed in re-enactment combat.
The notion that it was necessary to lift a fully armed knight onto his horse with the help of pulleys is a myth originating in Victorian times. Even knights in heavy jousting armour were not winched onto their horses. This type of "sporting" armour was meant only for ceremonial lancing matches and its design was deliberately made extremely thick to protect the wearer from severe accidents, such as the one which caused the death of King Henry II of France.
Tournament armour is always heavier, clumsier and more protective than combat armour. Combat armour is a compromise between protection and mobility, while tournament armour stresses protection on cost of mobility. Plate armour was virtually sword-proof. It also protects the wearer well against spear or pike thrusts and provides decent defence against blunt trauma.
The evolution of plate armour also triggered developments in the design of offensive weapons. While this armour was effective against cuts or blows, their weak points could be exploited by long tapered swords or other weapons designed for the purpose, such as poleaxes and halberds.
The effect of arrows and bolts is still a point of contention in regards to plate armour. Fluted plate was not only decorations, but also reinforced the plate against bending under slashing or blunt impact. This offsets against the fact that flutes could sometimes catch piercing blows.
In armoured techniques taught in the German school of swordsmanship, the attacker concentrates on these "weak spots", resulting in a fighting style very different from unarmored sword-fighting. Because of this weakness most warriors wore a mail shirt haubergeon or hauberk beneath their plate armour or coat-of-plates. Later, full mail shirts were replaced with mail patches, called goussets, sewn onto a gambeson or arming jacket.
Further protection for plate armour was the use of small round plates called besagews that covered the armpit area and couters and poleyns with "wings" to protect the inside of the joint. The evolution of the 14th century plate armour also triggered the development of various polearms.
They were designed to deliver a strong impact and concentrate energy on a small area and cause damage through the plate. Maces, war hammers and the hammer-heads of pollaxes poleaxes were used to inflict blunt trauma through armour. Tournament Helm made of steel, possibly English, c , for tournaments fought on foot.
Tournament Helm, steel, possibly English, c , This helm was made for tournaments fought on foot. The evolution of head armour from the Dark Age Spangel Helm to the seventeenth century. They have never fallen out of use but have evolved not only for military use, but for many other spheres of live where there is a danger of head injury - mines, horse and motor cycle riding, building sites and so on.
The medieval version - or rather upwards of a dozen medieval versions - are also preserved in coats of arms where they form an essential part of the crest. Indeed crests were originally bird-like crests on the helmet. Mantling or lambrequin is drapery tied to the helmet above the shield. It forms a backdrop for the shield. It is a depiction of the protective cloth covering often of linen worn by knights from their helmets to stave off the elements, and, secondarily, to decrease the effects of sword-blows against the helmet in battle, from which it is usually shown tattered or cut to shreds as if damaged in combat, though the edges of most are simply decorated at the emblazoner's discretion.
The nasal helmet was a form of helmet with a domed or raised centre, usually formed around a basic skull-cap design, with a single protruding strip that extended down over the nose to provide additional facial protection.
The helmet appeared throughout Europe late in the 9th century, and became the predominant form of head protection, replacing the previous pudding-bowl design, and the Vendel-style spectical helm. One of the earliest versions of the nasal helm is the Vasgaard Helmet. The Bayeux Tapestry features many such helmets, it being the most popular form of protection at the time.
The helmet began to lose popularity at the end of the 12th century to helmets that provided more facial protection, and although the nasal helm lost popularity amongst the higher classes of knights and men-at-arms, they were still seen amongst archers to whom a wide field of vision was crucial. The helmet can also be viewed throughout the Maciejowski Bible as a minority item for cavalrymen, giving the impression that it had become uncommon though not unknown by the mid-thirteenth century.
Nasal helmets have been found of both one-piece and Spangenhelm construction, with the later period helmets being made of a single, smooth raised dome to allow weapons to glance off with ease. The name is of German origin. Spangen refers to the metal strips that form the framework for the helmet and could be translated as clips. The strips connect three to six steel or bronze plates. The frame takes a conical design that curves with the shape of the head and culminates in a point.
The front of the helmet may include a nose protector a nasal. Older spangenhelms often include cheek flaps made from metal or leather. Spangenhelms may incorporate mail as neck protection, thus forming a partial aventail.
Some spangenhelms include eye protection in a shape that resembles modern eyeglass frames. Other spangenhelms include a full face mask. The spangenhelm originated in Central Asia and Ancient Persia, arriving in Europe by way of what is now southern Russia and Ukraine, spread by nomadic Iranian tribes such as the Scythians and Sarmatians who lived among the the Eursian steppes.
By the 6th century it was the most common helmet design in Europe and in popular use throughout the Middle East. It remained in use at least as late as the 9th century. The spangenhelm was an effective protection that was relatively easy to produce. Weakness of the design were its partial head protection and its jointed construction. It was replaced by similarly shaped helmets made with one-piece skulls nasal helms , kettle hats and eventually the Great helm or casque.
The great helm or heaume, also called pot helm, bucket helm and barrel helm, of the High Middle Ages arose in the late twelfth century in the context of the crusades and remained in use until the fourteenth century. They were used by knights and heavy infantry in most European armies between about to AD.
In its simplest form, the great helm was a flat-topped cylinder of steel that completely covered the head and had only very small openings for the eyes and mouth. Later designs gained more of a curved design, particularly on the top, to deflect or lessen the impact of blows.
The style is sometimes referred to as a 'crusader helmet', but also as a 'pot helm', and a later variant with a more conical top is known as a 'sugarloaf helm'. In Spanish they are called yelmo de Zaragoza, referring to Saragossa where they were introduced for the first time in the Iberian peninsula.
Although the great helm offered greater protection than previous helmets, such as the nasal helm and spangenhelm, it limited the wearer's vision to some extent, and provided poor ventilation. A knight might wear the close-fitting steel skull cap known as a cervelliere, or its later development the bascinet beneath the great helm.
A great helm may have also an attached mail collar, or camail, to protect the wearer's neck, throat, and shoulders. The bascinet evolved from its early skull cap form to supersede the great helm for combat.
The great helm fell into disuse during the 15th century, however it was used commonly in tournaments where a version of the great helm, the a frog-mouthed tilting helm, evolved.
Frog-mouthed great helm - commonly in tournaments during the 15th century. This is a modern reproduction. The earliest versions of the bascinet, at the beginning of the 14th century, had no visors, and were worn underneath larger "great helms. Thus, having a smaller helmet underneath was a real advantage.
Small "nasals" were developed to protect the nose and part of the face after the great helm was discarded. By the middle of the 14th century, most knights discarded the great helm altogether in favour of a fully visored bascinet. The visor was often conical, giving the appearance of a muzzle or a beak.
They were sometimes called "dog faced" medievally known as a hounskull or "pig faced" a common modern term. The early versions sometimes had a neck defence of mail called a camail or aventail, while later versions at the end of the 14th century often protected the neck with a separate but attached plate assembly, the gorget.
It was there where many new body armor types were implemented and tested in centuries-long warfare, including of course and development of new weapons that could be used against soldiers who wore chain, mail, scale, ring, plate, enhanced leather and even full suit of armor that enabled knights to wear around 30 kg of metal from their heads to toes sometimes even more in case of fully armored cavalry.
Incredible history of Medieval and Renaissance warfare in Europe and warfare in Asia where elaborate armors were created everywhere from China, Korea to Japan came almost to the complete end with the introduction of the modern and high-powered gunpowder warfare.
Simple gunpowder hand cannons, crossbows and Arbalest put some pressure to heavy armors, but guns made all those armors totally obsolete. It was only with World War 1 that regular use of metal helmets was standardized as integral part of soldier gear, and during WW2 metal bulletproof vests were used only in very limited situations and by small amount of units.
Before WW2, many types of silk armor were tested both officially and unofficially mostly by gangsters in the US , but they were not effective against stronger bullet cartridges. After World War II, much more advanced and durable industrial materials such as ceramic plates, plastic and of course Kevlar which today represent the basis of almost all modern armor gear.
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