Hello, everyone. I'm new here and need some help with a couple of questions about visor caps. I've been trying to find this out for awhile now with little luck. I'll take my chances here.
Ok, so I've a couple of surplus Soviet visor caps, both of them have a cardboard strip behind the sweatband, tucked under the visor.
However, I have one used cap from the 50s and it doesn't have the strip. My question is, were the strips removed upon use or were the strips not yet around at all/standard practice to be inserted in the caps during the 50s?
Also, what was it's use? I realized that the shape of the visors of my unissued caps (with the strips) are more ummm "refined" and consistent in shape especially seen at the area where it's connected to the rest of the cap.
As for the 50s cap without the strip...
My theory is that the strip is to maintain it's shape but then again, how much can a cardboard strip affect a fiberboard/plastic visor? It's prolly a coincidence (my 50s cap is used after all) but I had to bring it up.
So, to recap:
What are the strips for?
Were they removed at any point in time?
When did the strips first started appearing in visor caps?
Sorry if TL;DR. Thanks!