Cairns Firefighter Helmets – The Story Behind The Most Famous Fire Gear Manufacturer
If you’re a fire fighter then you have heard of the name Cairns Firefighter Helmets as being among the most broadly acclaimed brands of helmets dating back to the 1850’s.
The New Yorker is the first known fire helmet, created by H.T. Gratacap, a producer of leather luggage.Later the Cairn brothers would take over the business adding their signature front ID shield to the original helmet configuration, the Cairn family has commited to insuring firemen as safe as possible and have earned the reputation of being the most saftety conscious fire equipment manufacturer.
The original helmet was straightforward device, a rugged head protecting helmet constructed from leather with the detailed on the front piece that became the signature of the original Cairn family.
The first helmet was well received and provided inspiration for the company to grow their product line. Not long after manufacturing and selling that first helmet, the Cairns decided to branch out. By the late 1800’s the Cairns were putting out an extensive line of fire equipment including boots, hoses, fire lines, belts, firefighter clothing and more.
The Cairns Firefighter Helmets were improved in the early 1920’s with the most popular new metal, aluminum. This finding led to the manfacture of a helmet that was lighter in weight and helped keep the company in the top of the fire gear industry. These new Cairns Fire helmets that were fashioned from aluminum created a turning point for the industry.
By the 1960’s the Cairns reverted to focusing soley on head protection. In 1974, they developed a new, lighter helmet to adhere to with OSHA requirements, called the 770 Philadelphian.
With each improvement, the Cairns fire helmet has been modified and evolved. The Cairns Fire Helmet, as we know it today, is a fair superior product, yet it is still one of the safest and most preferred helmet on the market
In the 70’s new items incorporated the understanding of impact and spawned patented safety standards to the manufacturing of fire helmets. By 1981 the helmets were being produced from fiberglass with high tech safety glass in the faceshield.
By 1985, the Cairns had found the usefulness of Kevlar and were making the 990 Intruder, a superior helmet with multiple layers of ballistic grade Kevlar.
Today you can get Cairns helmets in 8 different colors of front panels, in either standard leather or patent leather and Scotchlite panels for more reflective qualities. There are 27 million possible variations available. Their dedication to quality and safety is still as the Cairn family intended.
This entry was posted on Friday, February 25th, 2011 at 5:05 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.