Cairns Senator fire helmet aluminum

Description

Vintage Cairns And Bros Senator Aluminum Fire Helmet.
This helmet is small. Give it a good cleaning and new paint job and it'll look awesome. Or hang it on the wall in the man cave of firefighter bar as is. Size is missing. Son wears a 7 3/8" and it is snug, so guessing 7 1/2?. Front holder is in good shape, no holes. Helmet has nice character and an Cairns sanitary liner, sweat band and ear flaps, in very good condition. Black and reflective white stripe painted on like many fire departments did. Sold as an antique, not for use.
The New Yorker style fire helmet has remained virtually unchanged through approximately 168 years of faithful and steadfast service.  The New Yorker helmet retains the same look and quality that generations after generations of firefighters have relied upon.  They are made of stout tanned Western cowhide, a quarter of an inch thick, reinforced with leather strips which rise like Gothic arches inside the crown.  The long duckbill, or beavertail, which sticks out at the rear, is to keep water from running down firemen's necks.  Originally, these helmets were sometimes worn backwards so the beavertail would protect its wearer from the intense heat of firefighting.  Additionally, some tillermen (a name for the driver of the rear section of a tractor drawn aerial truck) would also wear them backwards to protect their faces from rain and snow.
During this time, two brothers named Cairns were operating a metal badge button and insignia business in New York City.  The Cairns Brothers are credited with the idea of mounting an identification badge to the front of Gratacap’s helmets; today these are known as front pieces.
The two companies operated cooperatively until Gratacap’s retirement sometime in the 1850s, when the Cairns & Brother legacy was born; Cairns & Brother has pioneered firefighter helmet technology ever since.