A short history.
In the post-Renaissance era, our favorite crustacean was the inspiration behind a new life-saving design of cavalry armor and helmets. This revolutionary design forever changed the way humans were protected in war and beyond, by emulating the exoskeleton of a lobster.
It is believed to have all begun around 1630 when the Ottoman Turkish army, using an oriental concept, developed and employed a newly designed armory helmet called the chickhak. The basic concept behind this helmet was to protect the skull, face and neck of the wearer with hinged plates of hammered, contoured metal that overlapped and allowed for movement as the pieces slid over on top of one another.
This design is much like the segments of shell along a lobster’s head, carapace and tail. These were impenetrable to swords and arrows and protected the wearer during battle.
Soon it was adopted by the European Christians and during the Thirty Years War and was known as a Zischagge, to evolve yet again and become better know as the lobster tail pot. The ‘pot’ or the Capeline cavalry helmet was worn and evolved extensively in the English Civil War from 1641 to 1651.
The tell tale design features of this helmet began at the top with a projecting peak that was hinged and had three bars that came down and around the face of the soldier. Another version had a fixed peak with articulating cheek pieces.
The helmet also had a sliding, protective ‘nasal bar’ that rested in the front broad brim. This bar could be pushed up and out of the way of the wearer, or could also slide down between the eyes during battle, further protecting the face. The most obvious lobster-inspired piece was the articulated ‘tail’ that 
came down the back of the helmet laid along the back of the neck and spine.
An historical famous cavalry group from the English Civil War was the London lobsters. Named and funded by Sir Arthur Haselrig, he outfitted his troops as cuirassiers, or men armed with firearms and successors to classic medieval knights. They were mostly covered with extensive lobster-inspired armor and on horseback fought for Haselrig in opposition to King Charles; they were probably the last to fight on English soil wearing full armor.
The legacy of the London lobsters lives on is now a more common reference to the red coat of British soldiers.
Today we see can easily see examples of the influence of medieval soldier ‘lobster’ armor in any state of the art protective gear. While not made of hammered metal now, but instead of engineered materials such as Kevlar, examples include: football pads, motorcycle protective equipment, bullet-resistant vests used by police officers, and a wide assortment of applications for the military.
Thanks to the tasty live lobster, mankind gained inspiration to find innovative ways to protect the body from harm.
