Sunday 27 March 2011

Low-Tech No-Tech

The sweet old biddy that lived next door to me just passed away. Her son said we could come around and take a token, before the rest was cleared for charity. Her long-gone husband used to work as an engineer for Britsh Aerospace on Concord, and previous to that on the wonderful white elephant of the Bristol Brabazon. In his DIY tool kit I found these wonderful sheet-steel goggles. The cross eye-covers swing open. Anybody know what they are for? BPUPDATE:
Thanks to Jeremy Melling for sending in this photo - my goggles are exactly the same. Both he and Chris EXIF recognized what they were. It makes perfect sense too as Filton in the North of Bristol was the heart of Britain's aerospace industry and was consequently heavily bombed by the the Nazzers in WWII.

10 comments:

Unknown said...

Yep,I know exactly what they are for. They are snow goggles and prevent too much light being reflected off the snow, which can cause serious pain. Mel Mac,Kinnon

Mick P said...

I think mel is correct. And were you wearing them when you created that funky new haircut, BP?

Nick said...

Cool Dude

Anders said...

The inuits invented those, but with slits not crosses.

Jeremy Melling said...

I'm guessing that they are anti flash goggles, either for someone in a workshop where there is a lot of welding activity (but not actually welding themselves) or for someone who may be exposed to the flash of a nuclear explosion, like maybe RAF groundcrew.

Chris said...

They're air raid goggles. Issued during WW2 to protect the eyes of civilians from splinters and shrapnel.

Jeremy Melling said...

Chris, how did you know this? I've emailed a pic to Ben so he might post it here.

Diplomate said...

These are obviously early AMA issue flat track goggles for beginners - you fix the target bike ahead of you in the crosshairs and open the throttle. I believe Slammin Sammy still uses them for racing.

The 9/16ths said...

surely they are for seeing the positive in everything

Unknown said...

Well,.....She looks a bit eskimo