SOLAR HELMET - MISHAWAKA RUBBER - USA

Solar Helmet, by Mishawaka Rubber & Woolen Manufacturing Co., Mishawaka, Indiana. Solar also produced matching boots. The soft helmet is lined with a foamy coating that Mishawaka advertised as Thermo-Lite; it came with a fabric chin strap that affixed to each side with a metal snap, and it incorporated a vinyl and Thermo-Lite lined chin guard. The Solar Helmet was made in three Junior sizes that I know of, Small, Medium and Large. The size is indicated with a single character imprint in the rear (located at the center point of the lower edge and indicating its size with either S, M or L). While it's clearly a copy of an early 1950's Buck helmet from the newspaper strip it was never released with any mention of the character. Mishawaka made a pair of Junior "Solar Boots", as well, which they marketed as "Insulated Weatherproofs". Those boots also appear to have been released in various Junior sizes. The boxes for the two items are almost identical. Various colors: "metallic" (silver), red, grey and black. On sale in November 1954.