Patent Application
20170224120
The invention relates generally to benches, and more particularly to a bench having metal plates and providing at least National Institute of Justice (NIJ) Type IIA ballistic protection.
Benches in public places such as parks, shopping malls, schools, plazas, post offices, court rooms, etc. are well known. Typically these benches are made out of plastic, metal or wood but are not designed to provide protection in case of an attack such as gunfire, grenades, etc. Particularly for military recruiting stations and other military installations and facilities, there is a need for a metal bench which provides ballistic protection and which is easy to assemble and disassemble with unskilled labor with few or no tools required.
A bench comprising a first support, a second support, a seat, and a first protective metal plate, the seat extending between the first support and the second support, the first protective metal plate extending above the seat or below the seat or both, the first protective metal plate providing at least NIJ Level IIA ballistic protection. A method of assembling the bench is also provided.
In the description that follows, when a preferred range, such as 5 to 25 (or 5-25) is given, this means preferably at least 5 and, separately and independently, preferably not more than 25. As used herein and in the claims, NIJ Levels IIA, II, IIIA, III or IV means National Institute of Justice Levels IIA, II, IIA, III or IV as of December 2014.
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The back plates are preferably flat and are preferably 10-30, 15-25, 17-23 or 18-22 or 19-21 or about 20, inches wide and 20-38, 23-35, 26-32 or 28-30 or about 29, inches high. The bottom plates are preferably flat and are preferably 10-30, 15-25, 17-23 or 18-22 or 19-21 or about 20, inches wide and 12-26, 16-24, 18-22 or 19-21 or about 20, inches high. The brackets are preferably 3/16-¼ inch thick hot rolled steel. The seat is preferably 12 gauge hot rolled steel. All of the elements described herein of the bench are preferably metal, preferably steel. The side panels are preferably 30-64, 40-56, 44-52, 46-50, or about 48, inches high and 26-15, 24-19, 23-20 or 22-21, inches wide (at the widest point).
The side panels, back plates and bottom plates are preferably ¼ to ¾, more preferably ⅜ to ⅝, more preferably about ½, inch thick steel, preferably hardened or martensitic steel, such as AR 500 or having a Brinell value of at least 500, providing at least National Institute of Justice (NIJ)(December 2014) Level IIA, II, IIIA, III or IV ballistic protection.
The side panels preferably weigh at least 40, 50, 60, 80 or 100 lbs. and not more than 70, 80, 90, 100, 110, 120, 130, 140, 150, 170 or 190 lbs.
The back and bottom plates preferably weigh at least 20, 22, 26, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 80, 90 or 100 lbs. and not more than 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 80, 90, 100, 110, 120, 130, 140, 150, 160, 170, 180 or 190 lbs.
Preferably, looking at the bench from a front elevational point of view, there is no gap beneath the back plates but above the bottom plates, so that a bullet could not be shot horizontally beneath the back plates but above the bottom plates; less preferably there is such a gap, such as less than 3, 2, 1 or % inches.
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The bench 2 is preferably assembled as follows. First, headed studs 47, 48 of first bottom plate 18 are inserted in slotted holes 24a, 24b of bottom panel bracket 24 of left side panel 4. Headed studs 52, 53 of second bottom plate 19 are inserted in slotted holes 50, 51 of first bottom plate 18. Then (see
Next, the headed studs 28, 28a near the left end 8a of seat 8 are inserted in slotted holes 22b and 22a, respectively, of seat bracket 22 of left side panel 4. The right side of the bench 2 is symmetrical to the left side of the bench, so that the pair of headed studs (1 is shown at 70) near the right end 8b of seat 8 are inserted in the pair of slotted holes (one of which is shown at 71) in seat bracket 72 of right side panel 6 (see
Next, (see
A toolless connection is a connection whereby a first element is attached to a second element without having to use a tool, ie, by hand. A reversible toolless connection is a connection whereby a first element is attached to, and disattached from, a second element without having to use a tool, le, by hand. In the present Invention, plates or panels attached to the bench via a headed stud and slotted hole are attached via a reversible toolless connection. Less preferably, in the present invention other reversible toolless connections can be used instead of a headed stud and slotted hole, for example, (1) a pin with a hole, along with a cotter pin or hairpin cotter pin (R-clip) through the hole; (2) a pin with a hole, along with a linchpin or pipe linchpin or circle cotter or cotter ring or kickout ring through the hole; (3) a pin with a groove, along with a hairpin dip fixed in the groove; (4) a threaded bolt and wingnut; (5) thumbscrew; (6) a slot (having a lateral cross section with a length greater than its width) through a piece of metal, and a pin extending through the slot and coming out the far side, the pin having a lateral cross section corresponding to the lateral cross section of the slot, the pin having, attached at its tip (which comes out the far side or end of the slot) a bar which can rotate 90° in the plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the pin, so the pin can be reversibly locked in place; (7) a U-shaped groove or narrow tray is formed near where the bottom of a panel will be located and the heavy panel is simply dropped in the tray; (8) a hole or aperture or opening is provided on one element and an extending finger or sliding finger or sliding bolt or clip is fixed to the other element and the finger or bolt is inserted in or slid into the hole or aperture or opening; (9) a sliding latch which can slide down and latch or hold a plate in position; other reversible toolless connections known in the art can be used. A nut tightened by hand only is a reversible toolless connection.
Alternatively, (A) reversible toolless connections (such as slotted hole and headed stud (or others described herein)) or (B) screws or bolts with nuts, can be used in place of the carriage bolts at locations 69, 68, 67, 66. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, all the connections are reversible toolless connections.
The metal bench can then be attached to the ground or floor with fasteners going through holes 13, 13 of right floor bracket 12 and holes 9, 9 of left floor bracket 11.
For shorter or longer benches, there can be 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10 back plates and/or bottom plates.
Alternatively, one or more of the back plates and bottom plates can extend from below the seat to above the seat or vice versa; alternatively a single plate can function as both a back plate and bottom plate.
The bench can be used to provide protection at military recruiting stations, safe houses, storm shelters, parks, schools, shopping malls, plazas, bus stations and shelters, military and law enforcement buildings, bases and facilities, postal facilities, government and educational (eg, college, high school, elementary school) and public buildings and facilities, community and recreational centers, banks, courtrooms, corporate offices, embassies, hotels, stores and gas stations.
One of the benefits of the present invention is that the bench can be assembled and disassembled (for moving to a new location) in the field by unskilled labor without tools, or with simple tools such as screwdriver (including slotted and Phillips head) or wrench (including adjustable, socket, and Allen). The plates are preferably light enough that they can be assembled into, and disassembled from, the bench by hand.
While the invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments, it is understood that various changes can be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope of the invention.
