Helmet

Helmet, protective covering for the head, generally made of metal, leather, or plastic, used in warfare, certain occupations, and sports. Military helmets have been worn from the earliest times and have been made in many different forms. The simplest form, a close-fitting skullcap, apparently made of iron, leather, and bronze, is represented on Assyrian reliefs. Elaborations of this form were used by the Greeks, Etruscans, and the late Romans and included protective devices for the neck and face, and plumes or carved figures that surmounted the crown.

From the beginning of the 15th century until about 1650, types of helmets proliferated throughout Europe. Certain important types, diverse in size and shape and more or less elaborately decorated, were called the sallet, the armet, the burgonet, and the morion. As the use of firearms in warfare became more general, helmets lost their utility, especially as protection for the face. Modern military helmets, such as those worn in World Wars I and II, afford no protection for the face; they are usually steel coverings designed for maximum protection of the head against shrapnel and ricocheted bullets.

The basin-shaped type used by British and United States forces in World War I was widely adopted in construction industries, with strong lightweight plastic later often substituted for steel.