The L'Eplattenier helmet was a prototype military helmet designed for the

Swiss Army The Swiss Armed Forces (; ; ; ; ) are the military and security force of Switzerland, consisting of land and air service branches. Under the country's militia system, regular soldiers constitute a small part of the military and the rest are ...

by Charles L'Eplattenier in 1916. Deemed too expensive to produce en masse, it was shunned in favour of a simpler design.

Development

The outbreak of World War I was deemed important enough for

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

to enact a general mobilization on 3 August, 1914. Three divisions were raised, reinforcing the border defense in order to prevent a possible spillover of the fighting into Swiss territory. The introduction of the steel

Stahlhelm The ''Stahlhelm'' (German for "''steel helmet''") is a term used to refer to a series of German steel combat helmet designs intended to protect the wearer from common battlefield hazards such as shrapnel. The armies of the great powers began ...

and Adrian helmets by Germany and France respectively, prompted the

to commission Charles L'Eplattenier, a patriotic sculptor, to develop a suitable counterpart. By 1916, Swiss entry into the war was becoming increasingly improbable, enabling L'Eplattenier to draw upon romantic paintings of Swiss battles. The Swiss War Department was concerned with obtaining a steel helmet comparable to foreign models in function, while also distinguishing it from the rest of the world by achieving aesthetic superiority. The end result resembled the 1916, Franco-American, Dunand helmet, being however deeper on the sides and longer on the brow, while also bearing the characteristic Swiss cross which is embossed on the forehead. The detachable lining, is held on a carrier made of

rattan Rattan, also spelled ratan (from Malay language, Malay: ''rotan''), is the name for roughly 600 species of Old World climbing palms belonging to subfamily Calamoideae. The greatest diversity of rattan palm species and genera are in the clos ...

, above it, two intersecting arches house a small cushion, which supports the main weight of the helmet. The helmet was first presented to the public on 15 September 1917, when divisional commander Tretoyens de Loys posed with it, in an unauthorized photo shoot which was included in an issue of

Schweizer Illustrierte ''Schweizer Illustrierte'' is a weekly illustrated news magazine owned by Swiss media company Ringier. History and profile ''Schweizer Illustrierte'' was established in 1911 as ''Schweizer Illustrierte Zeitung (SIZ)'', and adopted its current n ...

. The helmet was praised for its beauty, originality and Swiss character. A second version of the helmet was produced in 1918, reducing the visor's size. It was rejected due to its difficult manufacturing process and replaced with a simpler model, designed by First Lieutenant Paul Boesch. The new helmet removed the visor (deemed redundant) and the embossed cross, making it possible to manufacture it from a single plate of nickel-steel. L'Eplattenier renounced the new model as a poor imitation of the Stahlhelm, while also filing a lawsuit against the Swiss government which brought him 30,000

swiss franc The Swiss franc, or simply the franc, is the currency and legal tender of Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It is also legal tender in the Italian exclave of Campione d'Italia which is surrounded by Swiss territory. The Swiss National Bank (SNB) iss ...

s. The helmet's only deployment came on the day of the

Armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from t ...

, when troops oversaw the progress of a general strike organized by

revolutionary socialists The Revolutionary Socialists (; ) (RS) are a Trotskyist organisation in Egypt originating in the tradition of ' Socialism from Below'. Leading RS members include sociologist Sameh Naguib. The organisation produces a newspaper called ''The Social ...

. A second lawsuit was filed in 1930, by the German company Tarfwerke, which alleged that the Swiss had illegally infringed a patent they owned. The lawsuit was dismissed by the

Swiss Federal Court The federal judiciary of Switzerland consists of four federal courts: the Federal Supreme Court in Lausanne and Lucerne; the Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona; the Federal Patent Court in St. Gallen; and the Federal Administrative Cou ...

, however Tarfwerke pressed on, filing for violation of cultural properties and eventually winning 5,000

reichsmark The (; sign: ℛ︁ℳ︁; abbreviation: RM) was the currency of Germany from 1924 until the fall of Nazi Germany in 1945, and in the American, British and French occupied zones of Germany, until 20 June 1948. The Reichsmark was then replace ...

Notes

;Citations

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:L'Eplattenier helmet Combat helmets of Switzerland 1910s fashion Intellectual property infringement