Casimir Zeglen, CR (Polish: Kazimierz Żegleń; 4 March 1869 – before 1927) was a
Polish Catholic priest who invented a silk
bulletproof vest
A bulletproof vest, also known as a ballistic vest or bullet-resistant vest, is a type of body armor designed to absorb impact and prevent the penetration of firearm projectiles and explosion fragments to the torso. The vest can be either soft ...
in the late 19th century. He was a vowed member of the
Resurrectionists.
Life and career
Born in 1869 in
Kaczanówka near
Tarnopol
Ternopil, known until 1944 mostly as Tarnopol, is a city in western Ukraine, located on the banks of the Seret (river), Seret River. Ternopil is one of the major cities of Western Ukraine and the historical regions of Galicia (Central Europe ...
, at the age of 18 he entered the
Resurrectionist Order in
Lwów
Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...
(today Lviv). In 1890, he moved to the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
.
In 1893, after
the assassination of
Carter Harrison Sr., the
mayor of Chicago
The mayor of Chicago is the Chief executive officer, chief executive of city Government of Chicago, government in Chicago, Illinois, the List of United States cities by population, third-largest city in the United States. The mayor is responsib ...
, he worked on an improved silk bulletproof vest. In 1897, he worked on it with
Jan Szczepanik
Jan Szczepanik (June 13, 1872 – April 18, 1926) was a Polish inventor, with several hundred patents and over 50 discoveries to his name, many of which are still applied today, especially in the motion picture industry, as well as in photography ...
. It saved the life of
Alfonso XIII
Alfonso XIII (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Alfonso León Fernando María Jaime Isidro Pascual Antonio de Borbón y Habsburgo-Lorena''; French language, French: ''Alphonse Léon Ferdinand Marie Jacques Isidore Pascal Antoine de Bourbon''; 17 May ...
, the
King of Spain
The monarchy of Spain or Spanish monarchy () is the constitutional form of government of Spain. It consists of a Hereditary monarchy, hereditary monarch who reigns as the head of state, being the highest office of the country.
The Spanish ...
—his carriage was covered with Szczepanik's bulletproof armour when a bomb exploded near it.
He was the pastor of
St. Stanislaus Kostka Catholic Church in
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
, then the largest Polish church in the country, with 40,000 in the parish. In his early twenties, he began experimenting with the cloth, using steel shavings,
moss
Mosses are small, non-vascular plant, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic phylum, division Bryophyta (, ) ''sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Wilhelm Philippe Schimper, Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryo ...
, and hair. In his research, he came upon the work of Dr.
George E. Goodfellow
George Emory Goodfellow (December 23, 1855 – December 7, 1910) was a physician and naturalist in the 19th- and early 20th-century American Old West who developed a reputation as the United States' foremost expert in treating ...
, who had written about the bullet-resistive properties of
silk
Silk is a natural fiber, natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be weaving, woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is most commonly produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoon (silk), c ...
.
In his mid-thirties he discovered a way to weave the silk, to enable it to capture the bullet, while visiting weaving mills in
Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
, Austria and
Aachen
Aachen is the List of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia by population, 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants.
Aachen is locat ...
, Germany. A thick, four-ply bulletproof vest produced there was able to protect the wearer from the lower velocity pistol bullets of that era.
He died in 1927.
See also
*
List of Poles
This is a partial list of notable Polish people, Polish or Polish language, Polish-speaking or -writing people. People of partial Polish heritage have their respective ancestries credited.
Physics
*Miedziak Antal
* Czesław Białobrzesk ...
*
Timeline of Polish science and technology
Education has been of prime interest to Poland's rulers since the early 12th century. The catalog of the library of the Cathedral Chapter in Kraków dating from 1110 shows that Polish scholars already then had access to western European literature ...
Sources
*"
Three Grades of Fabric", ''
Brooklyn Eagle
The ''Brooklyn Eagle'' (originally joint name ''The Brooklyn Eagle'' and ''Kings County Democrat'', later ''The Brooklyn Daily Eagle'' before shortening title further to ''Brooklyn Eagle'') was an afternoon daily newspaper published in the city ...
'', 9 October 1902
* Łotysz, Sławomir. "Mnich wynalazca" (Monk-inventor). Polonia (Chicago) Vol. 13, No. 1-2 (2007) pp. 68–71, and Vol. 14, No. 3-4 (2007) pp. 64–67.
* Articles in Nowy Dziennik (a Polish Daily News) published in New York City): Kuloodporny ksiądz (''Bulletproof priest''), 5 May 2006; Polski ksiądz i Polski Edison (''A Polish priest and the Polish Edison''), 13 May 2006; Od habitu do opony (''From a
Religious habit
A religious habit is a distinctive set of clothing worn by members of a religious order. Traditionally, some plain garb recognizable as a religious habit has also been worn by those leading the religious Hermit, eremitic and Anchorite, anchorit ...
to a tire''), 20 May 2006.
External links
The Monk Who Stopped Bullets with Silk: Inventing the Bulletproof Vest article from Culture.pl
BULLETPROOF podcast episode about Żegleń from Stories From The Eastern West
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zeglen, Casimir
1869 births
American inventors
Emigrants from Austria-Hungary to the United States
Year of death missing
American Roman Catholic priests
19th-century Polish Roman Catholic priests