Wide shield Dallas wing - Eisenstadt?

[rustywings]

Nicely done Marty! Now we need to confirm that old hallmark and the name(s) Marty has dug up with the Patent Office for a possible match...

 

[cwnorma]

Seastrunk did have US Patent 1,340,465 which was the prior art that invalidated Semans' and Heiligman's US Patent 1,282,471

 

The orange patent numbers above are clickable and bring up the patents for review. Some pretty cool clues being revealed here!

 

Chris

[skypilot6670]

Great research. My compliments. Here are a set of the small wings without Paten Applied For . Bought these here awhile ago.

[blind pew]

That looks pretty conclusive. Great detective work!

 

Seastrunk wings? Looks like another maker to add to the list of WW1 wings.

Seastrunk did have US Patent 1,340,465 which was the prior art that invalidated Semans' and Heiligman's US Patent 1,282,471

 

The orange patent numbers above are clickable and bring up the patents for review. Some pretty cool clues being revealed here!

 

Chris

 

[5thwingmarty]

Patrick was the one that posted "Roy" Seastrunk's gravestone in the other thread that tied the two names together. I was just able to find a couple more clues.

 

When I first saw the wing Russ posted I thought the O was a small g, but in the other photos of these wings it looks clearly like ROY S.

 

Marty

[blind pew]

Yes- looks like a team effort between you, Pat, and Chris.

 

It's pretty amazing that a "new" maker can be identified, 100 years later.

Patrick was the one that posted "Roy" Seastrunk's gravestone in the other thread that tied the two names together. I was just able to find a couple more clues.

 

When I first saw the wing Russ posted I thought the O was a small g, but in the other photos of these wings it looks clearly like ROY S.

 

Marty

 

[5thwingmarty]

I found another reference to Thomas P. Seastrunk having been a jeweler in Dallas as early as 1905. His company was Seastrunk & McDill, and his partner was Robert H. McDill. I don't know if it was the same man, but a Robert H. McDill from Dallas was a Brig. General in 1918 in the National Guard Reserve.

[blind pew]

So is this style of wing officially known as a "Seastrunk" wing now?

 

Seems like all the stars are aligned here- right name, right time, right city.

I found another reference to Thomas P. Seastrunk having been a jeweler in Dallas as early as 1905. His company was Seastrunk & McDill, and his partner was Robert H. McDill. I don't know if it was the same man, but a Robert H. McDill from Dallas was a Brig. General in 1918 in the National Guard Reserve.

 

[bschwartz]

Picture from the Dallas City Directory from 1918 listing Roy Seastrunk at 105 Field. Show in upper right hand corner. Right near Linz Bros!

 

 

[pfrost]

Based on Chris's original research, I repeated his steps and found the EXACT same information (he was the first, as far as I can find).

 

But to recap, In October, 22, 1918, Clare L Semans & Edward Heiligman of Dallas Texas submitted and were awarded a patent (1,282,471) for military pilot insignia, which demonstrate the "classic" three feather Dallas wing style. However, in August of 1919, the Official Gazette of the US Patent Office determined that Semans and Heilgman were NOT the first ones to invent the style of military pilot wings described in the patent. From Chris "If you pull up the Official US Patent Gazette you find that patent US1,340,465, by Thomas Seastrunk (also of Dallas) was submitted 9 May 1918, a mere 50 days before Semans and Heligman filed for their patent (29 June 1918). Strangely, Seastrunk's application took longer to process and award. Thomas Seastrunk was awarded US1,340,465 on 18 May 1920 while Semans and Heligman were awarded theirs 22 Oct 1918.

 

Interestingly, neither Semans or Helligman were manufactures of anything. Both acted as salesmen for the E.M. Kahn Company in Dallas Texas in 1918. E.M. Kahn's was a retailer of classy (i.e. expensive) menswear, and thrived for 92 years as a family owned business. It was the oldest retail store in Dallas. It is easy to see how this company may have been supplying officer's uniforms and accoutrements to pilots. On the other hand, Thomas Seastrunk was a Dallas manufacturing jeweler/wholesaler who had a retail store only two blocks away from Kahn's Department Store. As well as the Linz company.

 

I think that it is likely that Seamans and Heiligman were probably involved in buying wholesale from small manufacturers (like Seastrunk) and selling retail via the various Dallas located Department stores (like EM Kahn, Sangers Brothers, and the Harris Company). No doubt that these retail stores had a Men's Department where they would sell military uniforms and accoutrements (like wings and insignia). I have been combing the internet for adverts from these companies but haven't found anything yet. They may have also had mail order catalogs, and probably sent salesmen/representatives out to Love field and surrounding uniform shops to peddle their wares. One has to wonder if there isn't a salesman sample board with examples of these wings out there! Like the Link sample board that Cliff found some years ago. That would be nice!

 

During the course of their job, they may have very likely interacted with Seastrunk (who was a jewelry manufacturer) and approached him (or he approached Seamans/Hilligman) about a product (The Dallas style wings). Clearly, there were basically two patents for the same item that were submitted to the US Patent Office in 1918. One can think up a number of various scenarios why there were two competing patents, but it seems to me that it is unlikely that Seamans/Helligman were actually the original manufactures as they were salesman, whilst Seastrunk was a jeweler who probably had all the equipment and skills. The close proximity to Love Field, Linz Bros, Durham and various Dallas area retail stores suggests that this was a hot spot for insignia manufacturing, including the Dallas-style of wings.

 

That may also explain the M Eisenstadt EAGLE badge (which is VERY similar to the 3-wing Dallas badge, but not the same). I couldn't find evidence that M Eisenstadt actually tried to trademark the Eagle name, but it is easy to see that they may have intended to do so. Thus, perhaps the hand carved Eisenstadt badges were made first (and some hallmarked with the LE mark), and only later did they start to come up with a "Dallas-style" wing that they were willing to give a line name to--(EAGLE Pilot badges). They did trademark a fair number of different product lines in the teens and 20s.

 

I think I am going to stop calling the previously-thought 3 feather Dallas wings as "Eisenstadt-wings" and start calling them the SHS-Dallas wings!

[cwnorma]

There is an amazing amount of crowd-sourced research being done here. What a great hobby and what a great group of fellows!

 

Chris

[rustywings]

A hardy tip-of-the-hat to both Chris and Patrick for their in-depth research efforts and willingness to share their findings with us! My fingers are crossed, when the "nameless-one" reprints these new findings in his next hallmark identification publication, proper recognition will be given to the "US Militaria Forum" and its members, Chris and Patrick, rather than claiming those efforts as his own!

 

(Enough said...)

 

Russ

 

[pfrost]

Thanks Russ,

 

Well said. I enjoy the hunt. Learning new things and seeing new wings, and keeping it fun with the other collector wing-dingers. Stealing (wings, ideas, information) is a sad way to spend ones life. It must be sad to wake up and think "what did some one else do that I can take the credit for and maybe make a buck or two". Seems like a small and petty life if that is what you face each day. But, to each his own, I guess. These threads are a blast. We may be wrong, we may be right, but we (at least I did) have fun doing it. Actually, Chris is the one who did the lion's share of the research. He is another giant in the field, including Bob and his website, Cliff and his collection, Duncan for his early work... too many others to name.

[blind pew]

Indeed- It is amazing the stuff that you guys came up with.

 

So...……………………………. what do we call these wings then? Seastrunk? SHS? Roy? Chris & Co.?

Thanks Russ,

 

Well said. I enjoy the hunt. Learning new things and seeing new wings, and keeping it fun with the other collector wing-dingers. Stealing (wings, ideas, information) is a sad way to spend ones life. It must be sad to wake up and think "what did some one else do that I can take the credit for and maybe make a buck or two". Seems like a small and petty life if that is what you face each day. But, to each his own, I guess. These threads are a blast. We may be wrong, we may be right, but we (at least I did) have fun doing it. Actually, Chris is the one who did the lion's share of the research. He is another giant in the field, including Bob and his website, Cliff and his collection, Duncan for his early work... too many others to name.

 

[blind pew]

Got those wings today. Those suckers are HEAVY. They are of really high quality, like a Haltom wing. Certainly more detail than BB&B Dallas wings. The cuts on the peripheral feathers are really deep, like a buzzard or turkey vulture.

Thanks Russ,

 

Well said. I enjoy the hunt. Learning new things and seeing new wings, and keeping it fun with the other collector wing-dingers. Stealing (wings, ideas, information) is a sad way to spend ones life. It must be sad to wake up and think "what did some one else do that I can take the credit for and maybe make a buck or two". Seems like a small and petty life if that is what you face each day. But, to each his own, I guess. These threads are a blast. We may be wrong, we may be right, but we (at least I did) have fun doing it. Actually, Chris is the one who did the lion's share of the research. He is another giant in the field, including Bob and his website, Cliff and his collection, Duncan for his early work... too many others to name.