Casimir Zeglen

Casimir Zeglen (Polish: Kazimierz Żegleń; 4 March 1869 Kaczanówka near Tarnopol – before 1927) was a Polish priest who invented a silk bulletproof vest.[1][2][3] At the age of 18 he entered the Resurrectionist Order in Lwów (today Lviv, Ukraine). In 1890, he moved to the United States.

Casimir Zeglen
Born
Kazimierz Żegleń

(1869-03-04)March 4, 1869
Kaczanówka, Congress Poland
Died1927(1927-00-00) (aged 57–58)
unknown
NationalityPolish
Alma materWarsaw University of Technology
Occupationpriest
Known forinvention of bulletproof vest

Life and career

In 1893, after the assassination of Carter Harrison Sr., the mayor of Chicago, he worked on an improved silk bulletproof vest. In 1897, he worked on it with Jan Szczepanik. It saved the life of Alfonso XIII, the King of Spain—his carriage was covered with Szczepanik's bulletproof armour when a bomb exploded near it.

He was a Catholic priest of St. Stanislaus Kostka Roman Catholic Church in Chicago, then the largest Polish church in the country, with 40,000 in the parish. In his early twenties, he began experimenting with the cloth, using steel shavings, moss, and hair. In his research, he came upon the work of Dr. George E. Goodfellow, who had written about the bullet-resistive properties of silk.[4] In his mid-thirties he discovered a way to weave the silk, to enable it to capture the bullet, while visiting weaving mills in Vienna, Austria and Aachen, Germany. A 1⁄8 in (3.175 mm) thick, four-ply bulletproof vest produced there was able to protect the wearer from the lower velocity pistol bullets of that era.

Tests of the bulletproof vest by Jan Szczepanik and Zeglen in 1901—Mr. Borzykowski (friend of Szczepanik) shoots his servant

See also

Sources
  • "Three Grades of Fabric", Brooklyn Eagle, 9 October 1902
  • Łotysz, Sławomir. "Mnich wynalazca" (Monk-inventor). Polonia (Chicago) Vol. 13, No. 1-2 (2007) pp. 68–71, and Vol. 14, No. 3-4 (2007) pp. 64–67.
  • Articles in Nowy Dziennik (a Polish Daily News) published in New York City): Kuloodporny ksiądz (Bulletproof priest), 5 May 2006; Polski ksiądz i Polski Edison (A Polish priest and the Polish Edison), 13 May 2006; Od habitu do opony (From a Religious habit to a tire), 20 May 2006.

References
  1. Łotysz, Sławomir (1 October 2014). "Tailored to the Times: The Story of Casimir Zeglen's Silk Bullet-Proof Vest". Arms & Armour. pp. 164–186.
  2. David Goldenberg (31 March 2016). "The Story Behind the Bulletproof Photo Craze". atlasobscura.com. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  3. Maev Kennedy (29 July 2014). "Tests prove that a bulletproof silk vest could have stopped the first world war". theguardian.com. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  4. Edwards, Josh (2 May 1980). "George Goodfellow's Medical Treatment of Stomach Wounds Became Legendary". The Prescott Courier. pp. 3–5.
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