WWII USMC Army TOURNIQUET “M-S-A” with INSTRUCTIONS

Description

WWII USMC Army TOURNIQUET “M-S-A” with sewn Instructions Tag.
1/2” x 33”
Cotton Web
has a
NICKELED
Spring
BUCKLE
stamped with the “
Anchor
” logos of the “
NORTH
&
JUDD COMPANY
” of New Britain, Connecticut.
This smaller TOURNIQUET was included in the Airborne/
Paratrooper
/
Parachutist
FIRST-AID PACKET)
both the early “
Zippered
” model and the later Packet with the 2
Tape Ties,
as well by USMC
CORPSMEN
and Army
MEDICS
in the First-Aid Satchels.
Scarce item!
Made by “
MINE SAFETY APPLIANCES
” of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
*****
HISTORY OF MINE SAFETY APPLIANCES COMPANY:
A DEFINING MOMENT
It was a horrific workplace tragedy that led to the creation of
MSA
, the worldwide leader in worker protection and safety product innovation. On the morning of March 26, 1912, the Jed Mine in West Virginia exploded. In a flash, methane gas ignited and more than 80 miners lost their lives. From this tragedy, mine engineer John T. Ryan Sr. had an epiphany: “If I could spend my life doing what I can to lessen the likelihood of the occurrence of such terrible disasters, I shall feel in the end that my life had been well spent.”
Ryan recruited colleague George H. Deike to help realize his vision for a new company. Recognizing the critical importance of dependable, safe mining equipment, they went straight to one of the country’s great thinkers: Thomas Edison. The brilliant inventor helped Ryan and Deike create the electric cap lamp which, over the next 25 years, reduced mine explosions by an astounding 75 percent. Of all his inventions, this was the one that did the most for humanity, Edison would later say in life.
In the decades that have come and gone,
MSA
has continued to lead the charge for workplace safety. We’ve led the way with small first-aid kits and portable methane detectors, and harnessed new technologies to produce state-of-the-art thermal imaging cameras, ballistic helmets, and leading edge systems for gas and flame detection.
But we’ve never forgotten where we came from, or why we’re here. We’re called
The Safety Company
for a reason – a very important reason: Our goal, every single day, is to provide our customers with dependable, high-quality products, instruments, and service to help ensure a safe return home at the end of each work day.
******
Company History:
Mine Safety Appliances Company
(
MSA
) is one of the world's largest designers and manufacturers of equipment that protects both the safety and the health of workers in a variety of hazardous occupations around the world, including such industries as general manufacturing, fire service, construction, power generation, transportation, aerospace, asbestos abatement, petroleum, hazardous materials and waste cleanup, and mining. Personal protective equipment includes such items as eye and face, head, and body protectors, and respiratory protective equipment such as air-supplied, air-purifying containers. The company also designs and makes a wide range of instruments that monitor and analyze industrial processes and workplace environments. From its beginnings in the early part of the 20th century to the turn of the new millennium,
MSA
has expanded from a small local firm into an organization that markets its products in over 140 countries around the world.
Early History
Mine Safety Appliances
was founded in 1914 by the Deike Family in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to provide helmets and other safety devices to the men who worked in the coal mines of Pennsylvania and beyond. The company remained quite small for nearly 20 years, and was built from nothing into a solid concern within a generation of the firm's first day of business. As with most company histories, however, it is the person who takes the initial product or business idea and develops it into a worldwide success story that deserves the focus of attention. The person at Mine Safety who fits this description is John T. Ryan, Jr.
John T. Ryan, Jr., was born in 1912 in the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His father, John T. Ryan, attended the School of Mines at Pennsylvania State University, concentrating in the Mining Engineering, Metallurgy, and Geology programs, one of the best programs in the entire area. When he was old enough, John, Jr., was sent to the same school where he studied the same subjects. While he was attending the School of Mines, however, John, Jr., had already become acquainted with the
Mine Safety company
since his father worked there for a number of years. After he graduated in 1934 with a degree in mining engineering, John, Jr., saved his money and then applied to and was accepted in the M.B.A. program at Harvard University.
After Ryan graduated from Harvard in 1936 with an M.B.A., he began to work as an employee at
Mine Safety Appliances Company
. Luckily, the Ryan family was not hard hit by the economic hardships of the Great Depression, which drove numerous individuals into bankruptcy, and signaled the collapse of what many people regarded as stable businesses and corporations. Throughout the latter half of the 1930s, John, Jr., found steady employment in the midst of economic insecurity, and was able to focus on learning all of the company's operations, from the design and manufacture of protective mining helmets to the accounting methods used in the annual financial reports. As he became more familiar with the firm, he was promoted quickly, and proved himself an energetic and talented manager.
When he was promoted to
General Manager of Mine Safety Appliances
in 1940, the company was at a crossroads in its historical development. Many of the upper management executives at the firm remained committed to the product line that had brought Mine Safety to the secure and stable financial position it found itself in at the time. But some of the more influential individuals of the upper management at the company, and the founding members of the Deike family itself, clearly recognized the changing nature of the mining industry, and the potential effects that a war would have on the manufacturing industry in the United States. This view was shared by Ryan and many of his coworkers. Amid acrimonious and sometimes bitter disagreement, Ryan was promoted to general manager of the company with the imperative to expand its product line and its operations. Rather than focusing on the word '
Mine
' in the company name, Ryan focused on the word '
Safety
' and set a new course for the firm that would ultimately make it one of the most successful multinational corporations within the personal safety products industry.
World War II and the Postwar Era
During World War II, as General Manager Ryan directed the company into a broader product line. No longer an exclusive manufacturer of
mining helmets,
the company began to design and make firemen helmets, construction helmets, and a wide array of protective headgear for different manufacturing sectors in the U.S. economy, such as the steel and the paper and pulp industries. Orders from companies who had received government contracts for the production of tanks, aircraft, and battleships, and that needed protective helmets and eyewear for their employees, streamed into the firm. Revenues increased, more employees were hired, and the product line continued to expand. By the end of World War II in the summer of 1945,
Mine Safety Appliances Company
was looking forward to a very lucrative postwar era.
Ryan was made executive vice-president of the company in 1948, and from that time onward he virtually traveled the globe to expand his firm's presence. Ryan was committed to an aggressive expansion strategy that included extensive personal travel to developing countries. Wherever his journey led him, he tried to position his organization not only as a supplier of high quality products, but of products that would enable men and women to work in safety whatever their chosen profession. Immediately before World War II, Ryan had personally directed and arranged for
Mine Safety Appliances Company
to expand into Canada, Australia, and South Africa. Although his plans to continue the firm's strategic expansion program were delayed during the war, the first initiative he undertook after the war's end was the establishment of
Mine Safety Appliances Company
(Britain) in Glasgow, Scotland. The formation of this operation in the United Kingdom gave the company its initial foothold in Europe, a move that would become enormously important in the future.
*****
North & Judd Company
“FROM EQUESTRIAN HARDWARE AND TROUSER CLASPS TO FASTENERS FOR MILITARY GEAR AND SEAT BELTS, AMERICANS BUCKLE UP WITH NORTH & JUDD”
The oldest manufacturer in New Britain, and one of the oldest in CT,
North & Judd’s
business and identity evolved over decades before incorporating in 1863. In 1812, a company was started by Alvin North, H.C. Whipple and Seth North to make plated wire and articles from that wire such as hooks and eyes. The business was partially suspended during the cholera outbreak of 1832 and when it resumed the company began to manufacture brass items and plated saddlery hardware. In 1855 the firm became
H.F North
&
Co.
, incorporating as
North & Judd
in 1863 when Lorin F. Judd bought out the interests of one of the partners.
North & Judd
became prominent in the manufacture of saddlery and harness hardware including bits and spurs. This business led to a close and friendly relationship with
William F. (Buffalo Bill) Cody
who would write letters to the company commending the quality of their spurs, and who would visit the company whenever he was in the area. When Buffalo Bill visited North & Judd, workers could bring their children into work to meet the famous westerner and have their pictures taken with him.
As life in America became more mechanized and the need for saddlery and harness hardware decreased,
North & Judd
expanded production and development of other lines until they were manufacturing and selling over
46,000 items
under the name “
Anchor Brand”.
These products included belt buckles, shoe trimmings, clothing accessories, upholstery nails, thumb tacks, and many others. Web strap hardware was added to the line in the 1930s and, in addition to commercial applications, a
considerable amount of this hardware was used by the military.
The company was one of the first to produce automobile seat belt buckles and with the purchase of the
Wilcox-Crittenden Company
of Middletown they added a full line of marine and boat hardware.
In the 1970s the company was merged into Gulf and Western, and then passed through the ownership of several other companies until 1998 when it was acquired by
Buckles International
who continues to sell
Anchor
Brand Hardware
from their home office in Meriden.