New Britain herald. [microfilm reel] (New Britain, Conn.) 1890-1976, 1918-08-05
MODEL ARMOR FOR
YANKEE SOLDIERS


Washington, Aug so ficial an
nounCement was made by the War
Department last night that armOr for
use by American soldiers in France
Was being modelled by experts in the
armorers' workshop Of the MetroDoli-
tan Museum Of Art in New York CITY
The armOr being modelled there in
cludos helmets, shields and breast
plates. The work Is being done for
the Ordnance Department, which has
been seeking to give the American
soldier the best armOTcd protection in
the word
The official announcement issued
by the War Department revealed this
interesting story Of what is being
done:
"Gomprising all that. was best in
the types Of armor used in the days
of the ancients, this armor in some
instances, is being wrought into shape
on ancient anvils and by hammers
that were actually used centuries ago,
In direct charge of the workshop
is 81 French artisan whose skill has
been known to collectors the WGrld
over and whose forebears, for gener-,
atoms back, have kept alive the dying
trade of the armorer.
Medieval Weapons in Favor.
This war in Europe. which has
brought back into. use many dis
carded weapons and practices Of
medieval warfare. has. found use for
armor as we'll. This is shown in the
adoption Of steel helmets by all the
warning powers; il the use of heavy
breast plates by the Germans and
lighter breastp1atcs for attack by The
English; in the armored waistcoats
shields, which all the armies are
using.
because of this it has become de-
sirabe to review the entire study Of
ancient armor, to which for centuries
some of the greatest artists and scion
lists gave their best efforts. To such
masters of the science of armOr de
sign as Leonardo, Giuio Romano.
Cellini, Holbein, Duerer, Michael
Angelo and others are ordnance eE-
perts Of today turning for guidance
and inspiration. In fact it can be
stated that so completely were ar-
mored defenses studied in the past
| that today there is scarcely a tech
| nical feature brought forward that
was not worked out in elaborate de
| tail by the old-time armor makers.
Great Collection in New York.
fortunately for the Ordnance De-
partment one of the greatest collec-
| tons of ancient armor in the world,
| accessible to study by the American
| armor designers, is. in the Metropoli-
| tan Museum Of Art IL New York
| City. This collection, ranking prob
! ably seventh in the world, now in
| cludes the famous Riggs collection,
which represents the life work of a
: "a r IIrG of i've cJ1h
! cludes some of tbs richest and rarest
| pieces that have been in the market
| since 1850.
.It was an accident to this co1leo-
| ton that there was established at the
! museum an arm 1splf'> worl1sIo PIX SO
| far as it is known, it is unique, It
was established for, the purpose of
cleaning, repairing or. IN rare cases,
| for restoring pieces that were defec-'
| tive. To this end that museum has
! studied cXhaustively the processes Of
making armOr and has collected from
! all parts of the world the tools of the
| ancient armOrers' art. Included
| among these are about ninety kinds
! Of anviIs and 'stakes,' several hundred
| different types of hammers, curious
shears and Instruments e the very
| knowledge Of which has today almost
| disapp eared-almost because there
still exist arnorers who have inheri-
ted the skill of their ancestors At
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