Patent Application
20220412690
Ballistic shields for law enforcement are known, such as disclosed in US Published Patent Application 2017/0038001; 2013/0098234; 2016/0187106, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 10,555,596; 10,788,295 and 10,213,008, all herein incorporated by reference to the extent the references are not contrary to the present disclosure.
The present inventor has recognized that it would be advantageous to provide a body-carried carrier system that is effective to support front loads, such as ballistic shields, and that was easily adjusted for a variety of different-size wearers.
The present inventor has recognized that it would be advantageous to provide an effective body-carried ballistic shield that included a guide and aiming arrangement for a shouldered weapon.
An exemplary embodiment of the invention provides a carry harness system, comprising:
The exemplary embodiment of the invention can comprise:
An embodiment carry harness system enables a person to carry a heavy object without the use of the hands. This system allows a person to carry heavy objects while allowing the person to handle other objects. The embodiment includes the benefit of allowing the user fast movements by transitioning the carried weight into the strongest load bearing muscle groups and skeletal structure, the legs and hips. The embodiment is easily fitted for deployment to the user by the user alone.
The system can include multiple straps that go over and around the user's shoulders and back in addition to a belt harness. The belt harness has plural upright posts that mount into vertically adjustable mounts to accommodate heights of different users. The system can include two upright posts extend upward from mounts supported on the support belt and are retained laterally in an adjustable lateral mount of which the adjustability is to accommodate a variety of widths to fit a particular user's shoulder width. The upper portion of the upright posts can extend above the user's shoulders to varying degrees of height adjustability, having end mounts that can accommodate a variety of fastener types, which may allow rapid detachment and attachment of the carried heavy object, such as a ballistic shield.
An exemplary embodiment carry harness system includes a support belt arranged to encircle a user's waist; a shoulder harness arranged to lay over the user's shoulders on opposite sides of the user's head; at least one front belt support strap arranged to be on a front side of the user and extending between the shoulder harness and the support belt; at least one rear belt support strap arranged to be on a rear side of the user and extending between the shoulder harness and the support belt; and two post receivers supported on the support belt on the rear side; and two posts. The posts are arranged spaced-apart on the rear side, fit into the receivers and extending vertically between the post receivers and a vertical elevation above the shoulder harness. The two posts are fixed to the shoulder harness and have strap connections at tops of the posts. Two object support straps extend between the strap connections forwardly and obliquely to attachments on a rear side of the object to be carried.
The attachments can each comprise a ring attached to the object to be carried. An anchor can be attached to the object below the ring, wherein each object support strap is threaded through the ring and extens downward to be attached to the anchor.
The object can be a ballistic shield.
The receiver can be a tube having a pin extending into a central channel of the tube, wherein the post extends into the tube and includes vertically spaced-apart adjustment holes. The adjustment holes are vertically positionable to align a select one adjustment hole to receive the pin to set an elevation of the post.
A horizontal member can be connected between the two posts at a vertical position above the receivers to set a spacing of the posts at a shoulder region of the user.
Advantageously, the vertical elevation of the top of the posts is located vertically between a top of a user's head and a top of a user's shoulders.
Each post can be surrounded by padding along a substantial portion of its length.
The shoulder harness can include a mat on a front side thereof and spaced-apart shoulder straps on a rear side thereof, the rear belt support straps can be connected at top ends thereof to bottom ends of the shoulder straps. The rear belt support straps can be connected together by a lateral strap.
One exemplary embodiment of the invention provides that the top ends of the posts extend above the user's shoulders but below the user's head. With this configuration an effective elevation is achieved to support a ballistic shield, for example, but the elevation is not so high as to be vulnerable to projectiles, i.e., the top of the posts can be below the uppermost extent of the shield.
From the foregoing, it will be observed that numerous variations and modifications may be effected without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. It is to be understood that no limitation with respect to the specific apparatus illustrated herein is intended or should be inferred.
While this invention is susceptible of embodiment in many different forms, there are shown in the drawings, and will be described herein in detail, specific embodiments thereof with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the invention to the specific embodiments illustrated.
This application incorporates by reference U.S. Pat. No. 8,584,571 in its entirety, and also particularly for descriptions of the ballistic shield and straps, strap attachments, strap adjusters and buckles, to the extent that it is not contrary to the present disclosure.
The support straps 14a, 14b can be directly sewn to the shoulder harness 31 (to a front mat 31a), or the shoulder harness 31 can have first buckle parts sewn thereto and the straps 14a, 14b can have cooperating second buckle parts sewn thereto to snap connect to the first buckle parts. The support belt 2 can be sewn to the waist band 2a in a few places 2b, 2c (
One or more mounting provisions, such as a post mount receiver 3 as shown in
The waist band 2a as shown in
The post mount receiver 3 can be a substantially rectangular tube with top and bottom openings 29a, 29b, which receives a post adjustment adapter 4 therein which includes vertically spaced-apart adjustment holes 23 located in a side portion of the adapter as shown in
A shoulder harness 31 is supported by the user's shoulders as shown in
Above the width adjuster 7 is a shoulder pad 6a that can be a cylindrical shaped foam, surrounding each carry post, providing protection for the user's rear-of-shoulder area. Below the width adjuster 7 is a shoulder pad 6b that can be a cylindrical shaped foam, surrounding each carry post providing protection for the user's back area. On top of each carry post is a suspending connector 8a which contains a D-shaped opening permitting the attachment of object support straps 10, and a strap adjuster 8b as shown in
Each object support strap 10 extends downward obliquely and passes through a mounting ring 12 that is fixed to a back side of the ballistic shield by a combination strap-and-fastener 12a. The combined strap-and-fastener 12a includes a short strap attached to the ring and a fastener attached to the shield 27. From the ring 12, the object support strap 10 extends down to a combination strap-and-fastener 12b fastened to a backside of the ballistic shield. The combined strap-and-fastener 12b includes a short strap attached to the strap 10 and a fastener attached to the shield 27.
Alternatively, two spaced-apart object support straps 10 can extend obliquely down to be clipped to a transversely arranged suspending coupler (not shown), which then couples to a pair of spaced-apart device straps which then pass obliquely down through spaced apart rings 12 fixed to a back side of the ballistic shield by combination strap-and-fasteners 12a. The object support straps 10 then extend down to combination strap-and-fasteners 12b fastened to a backside of the shield. This type of assembly is described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,584,571 herein incorporated by reference.
The shield also includes a handle 27d and pads 27e as described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,584,571, herein incorporated by reference.
From the foregoing, it will be observed that numerous variations and modifications may be effected without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. It is to be understood that no limitation with respect to the specific apparatus illustrated herein is intended or should be inferred.
