Comfo Caps

ohiominer · **Posted:** Wed Oct 24, 2007 9:51 am

The old style hats were made from fibreglass. They are lower than the new standard MSA Comfocap. The one I wear everyday is 4.5" High inside whereas a new style plastic cap is around 6" High.

As miner Greg pointed out about leather suspension. MSHA has ruled that old style comfo caps are allowed to be worn as long as they use a new liner(lace in liners are not allowed) held in by rivets(not leather or shoe string) The cap can have no visible cracks. It is a very easy conversion. Hardware stores have rivets that work very nicely to hold new suspension firmly in place. I personally use the new rachet style in mine. MSA currently sells a new style suspension that functions just like the old style leather band.

The hats came in 2 varieties. The Type A, has no lip around the edge, and type B which has a lip around the rim. I've made it a hobby to restore broken down hats and selling them to other miners. I've sold 30 to 40 hats in the last 2 years.

The one I currently wear is a mint condition Type A I bought for 35 dollars at an estate sale :-D

Also if anyone is wanting to buy these, you have to be careful about the size. They came in a variety of "fitted" sizes. Most of the ones you see on ebay seem to mostly be 7-1/4 size. If you are like me and have a huge head I wear a 7-5/8 hat so I lucked into my 8" wide hat.

Chris · **Posted:** Wed Oct 24, 2007 10:12 am

i was wondering if you can convert one! this is good news. i have a real nice one that i could put a new liner in and wear. the helmet with the leather liner almost fits perfectly now. a little tight, after about an hour it hurts my forehead. however if i droped in one of the new liners it would be great as the helmet is definatly big enough. i have 2 modern comfo caps that i got the ratchet suspention for so i have the one that came with them that would work. however a part of me wants to keep it original for display. i think a 5100 wheat lamp looks too big on a low vein hat though, the 5200 looks better. we have all 5100 stuff. oh well. guess i can fire up the edison lamp and use that :wink:

ohiominer · **Posted:** Wed Oct 24, 2007 11:15 am

Chris, just go to a true value or lowes and look at their selection of Rivets. They will have something very close to whats in your modern Comfo Cap. You drill 4 holes to mount the rivents inbetween the holes where the lace in liner goes. Take some black paint and cover up the rivets, then take a new piece of leather or boot lace and run it through the old holes. It will Cover up the rivets and it wil look like it was made that way.

I'm looking for a few more hats to restore, if anyone has any 7.5-8" hats I'd be happy to buy em :-D

Chris · **Posted:** Wed Oct 24, 2007 12:06 pm

i think i just may do this. sounds like it will work real well and will be alot more comfortable. also, have you ever seen brackets on one under the brim for a face shield? mine has them and it looks like it was made that way, not something added later on.

ohiominer · **Posted:** Wed Oct 24, 2007 1:26 pm

I believe they were user added. There are guys here that have newer style comfo caps from the 70s that have this face shield bracket on it. I think that was a kit you purchased to install. I'm not entirely sure on this one. I have a bracket, and shield new in the bag though...

Miner Greg · **Posted:** Thu Oct 25, 2007 10:51 pm

I'll have to look into finding those rivets. I have a rivet gun, but I don't have rivets that would work for mounting in the new liner into an older ComfoCap. My only thing is that I don't mind beating up my newer ComfoCap. I'd hate to beat up a hat which is 50 years old if you know what I mean.

Chris · **Posted:** Mon Nov 12, 2007 10:06 pm

hey ohiominer, do you have any close up pics of the outside of the rivet and inside of rivet without and with liner installed. i decieded im going to do this and just want to see what it looks like that im heading out to buy. i stretched out the leather liner in mine and it fits good now, however id feel safer with a modern liner even though this one is in perfect shape. i guess the leather liner is no longer legal either. this way ill wear this helmet when we are working the low vein and the regular one when working in the larger seam.

John · **Posted:** Mon Nov 12, 2007 10:48 pm

hey that's right, i found a low vein comfo in good shape for sale at a local antique shop for $70 and it comes with an autolite. anyone interested?

UGMiner Banks · **Posted:** Mon Nov 12, 2007 11:21 pm

I would consider it but I don't really have the money to spend on many .."unnecessary" items, although thats a good buy! I was kindof thinking about asking the woman for one of the new ones a guy is offering on Ebay. That way I can trash it and not feel bad. He's molding comfo caps to the specs of the older style ones. The ones the industry has dubbed "low vein."

Chris · **Posted:** Mon Nov 12, 2007 11:23 pm

i thought about that too, but upon reading on his FAQ page, i found this which is not really good.......

Q:Are Low-Pro hats MSA or MSHA approved and do they have a serial?
A:No, not at the moment. They are in the lab awaiting approval though.

Chris · **Posted:** Mon Nov 12, 2007 11:25 pm

however with the 5 year helmet replacement law i doubt that would make the old low vein helmets legal either, although they are not plastic. i really wonder how well they enforce this law anyways, i never heard of a violation for old helmets.

UGMiner Banks · **Posted:** Mon Nov 12, 2007 11:25 pm

Yeahhhh.... i don't think any of them are though except the modern ones, but guys still use them in the bit. fields i think. OhioMiner would probably know...

ohiominer · **Posted:** Tue Nov 13, 2007 2:53 pm

In 10 years I have NEVER seen an inspector ask to look at someones cap. There are guys here with plastic MSA caps from the late 70s early 80s, there are old fibreglass caps and there were some cut downs but they are gone now.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Low-Pro-Black-Low-Vein-Low-Profile-Mining-Helmet-Hat_W0QQitemZ180168828958QQihZ008QQcategoryZ92152QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem Is this what you are talking about? These are not legal. I seen a guy here wearing one and our saftey director told him to take it home. It was not approved.

Chris · **Posted:** Tue Nov 13, 2007 4:15 pm

yes thats the one. i posted one of the questions on his FAQ page a few posts up. at least he doesnt try to hide that its not approved.

UGMiner Banks · **Posted:** Tue Nov 13, 2007 9:03 pm

thats funny that they made him take the new helmit home even though they let the other guys with the old ones go... I guess they figure the old helmits will eventually decome extinct and they let the "old timers" go, but don't bring any new ones.

Comfo Caps

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