Patent Application
20130133130
The present invention relates to armored vests, and more particularly to concealable armored vests worn under the wearer's outer garments.
Armored vests are items of personal body armor that slow or stop the movement of high velocity projectiles. These vests are commonly formed from a woven nylon shell including a combination of pliable ballistic panels and rigid ballistic plates. The pliable ballistic panels include woven or laminated high-tensile strength fibers to protect the wearer against small caliber rounds and some forms of shrapnel and fragmentation. The rigid ballistic plates include ceramic or metal plates to provide an added degree of protection against high velocity rifle rounds and stab wounds.
In many instances, an armored vest is sized to be worn beneath an outer garment to conceal the vest from view. However, the armored vest can become visible through the wearer's outer garments when the vest shifts from the desired position on the wearer, particularly as a result of bending, twisting and entering and exiting vehicles. While various shirt tails have been added in an attempt to retain the armored vest in the desired position on the wearer, these shirt tails tend to slide upwardly out of the wearer's lower body garment. In addition, the outline of the ballistic plate is in many instances visible through both the outer nylon shell and the wearer's outer garments.
A concealable armored vest is provided. The concealable armored vest includes a ballistic insert and a contoured member adjacent the ballistic insert to visually obscure the outline of the ballistic insert. The concealable armored vest further includes a downwardly extending retention panel having a retention member limiting vertical movement of the vest while being free from attachment to a lower garment.
In one embodiment, the contoured member includes an intermediate portion extending between left and right end portions. The intermediate portion can be coextensive with the ballistic insert strike surface or the ballistic insert rear surface, and the left and right end portions can angle rearwardly toward the wearer to conceal the periphery of the ballistic insert from view. The left and right end portions can each define a tapered cross-section that gradually reduces in thickness as the end portions extend outwardly.
In another embodiment, the armored vest includes a front portion having first and second spaced apart panels to define a pocket for a ballistic insert. The contoured member can be interposed between the ballistic insert and the first panel, and can include first and second end portions that flatten as they extend outwardly from the ballistic insert. The pocket can define first and second transition regions outwardly of the ballistic insert that define a gradual reduction in pocket depth.
In still another embodiment, the armored vest can include first and second retention panels extending downwardly from the armored vest. The retention panels can each include a retention member to limit vertical movement of the armored vest when worn by a user. The retention panel can be adapted to be tucked into a lower body garment, and the retention member can be oversized to inhibit the sliding retraction of the retention panel from the lower body garment. The retention member can include a longitudinal foam element generally parallel to the waistline and generally coextensive with the lowermost portion of the retention panel.
Embodiments of the invention can therefore provide an improved armored vest that maintains a continuous, unbroken outer surface while also remaining in the proper position on the wearer. The improved armored vest can remain concealed under lighter garments by obscuring the outline of one or more ballistic inserts. In addition, the improved armored vest can remain concealed by remaining in close alignment with the wearer's torso after a wide range of upper body movements.
These and other advantages and features of the invention will be more fully understood and appreciated by reference to the description of the current embodiments and the drawings.
The current embodiments relate to a concealable armored vest. In some embodiments, the armored vest includes a downwardly extending retention panel having a retention member to limit vertical movement of the vest while being free from attachment to a lower garment. In other embodiments, the armored vest includes a contoured member adjacent a ballistic insert to obscure the outline of the ballistic insert from view.
More specifically, and with reference to
The concealable armored vest 10 can include relatively soft or pliant body armor, including for example a non-woven ballistic resistant material, such as SPECTRA® ballistic resistant material by Honeywell of Colonial Heights, Va., or a woven ballistic resistant material, such as KEVLAR® ballistic resistant material by DuPont of Wilmington, Del. For added comfort, the front and back protective portions 12, 14 can include a lining material adjacent the wearer. The pliant body armor can be supplemented with one or more ballistic inserts 50 including, but not limited to, a soft ballistic insert, such as SPECTRA® or KEVLAR® ballistic inserts, or a rigid ballistic insert formed of ceramic or metal. The ballistic insert 50 can include chamfered corner regions 34 and can be curved about a vertical axis 36 to approximate the torso contour of the wearer. The ballistic insert 50 can be secured to the vest 10 in one or more exterior pockets 38 to permit the wearer to add or remove the ballistic insert 50 as desired. For example, one or more ballistic inserts 50 may be inserted in the front protective portion 12 through a horizontal opening 40. Alternatively, the opening 40 may instead be positioned along a peripheral region of the front portion 12 to conceal the opening 40 from view. Additional ballistic inserts may be inserted in corresponding pockets on other portions of the vest 10, including for example the back protective portion 14.
As the armored vest 10 is worn, the vest 10 will normally shift relative to the wearer to afford the wearer a range of motion. When the wearer returns to an upright position from a bending position or an upward reaching motion, for example, the armored vest 10 can sit higher on the torso, leaving the wearer's abdomen exposed to possible injury while also promoting the appearance of the vest 10 through the wearer's outerwear. In order to restrain upward movement of the armored vest 10 relative to the wearer's waist, the vest 10 can include first and second retention panels 42, 44 extending downwardly from respective front and back protective portions 12, 14. The retention panels 42, 44 can be sewn to the lower edge 30 of the front and back protective portions 12, 14, and can each include a retention member 46 being free from attachment to a lower body garment. The retention panels 42, 44 can be formed of an elastic fabric which can be tucked into a lower body garment. While shown as including a single panel, one or both of the retention panels 42, 44 can include a split shirt-tail configuration, in which two or more panels extend downwardly from the front protective portion 12 and/or the back protective portion 14. The retention panels 42, 44 can be sized to extend to just below the wearer's belt, or can extend further into the wearer's lower body garment as desired.
As noted above, the retention panels 42, 44 include a retention member 46 being generally free from attachment to the lower body garment. The retention member 46 can include a lightweight flexible foam element being generally coextensive with the lowermost portion of the corresponding retention panel 42, 44. The retention member 46 can be secured to the respective retention panel 42, 44 according to any suitable method. In some embodiments the retention member 46 can be glued to the respective retention panel 42, 44, while in other embodiments the retention member 46 can be sewed to the respective retention panel 42, 44. The retention member 46 can include a front-to-back thickness that is dimensioned to impede movement of the retention member 46 between the wearer's belt and the wearer's waist. As the wearer flexes about the waist, the retention member 46 can remain loosely anchored in the lower body garment in elastic communication with the front and back protective portions 12, 14. As the wearer returns to an upright posture, the elastic retention members 42, 44 tend to return the vest 10 into close registration with the wearer's torso. The retention panels 42, 44 can therefore assist in retaining the proper protective positions of the ballistic insert 50. The front and back retention panels 42, 44 can be tucked into the pants, or other lower body garment, when the vest is worn in an attempt to keep the vest in position. When the wearer assumes a position of stretching forward or rearward, the retention panels 42, 44 similarly extend upward, but tend to pull the vest bottom edge 30 to the position nearest the waistline. The elastic retention panels 42, 44 therefore permit the vest 10 to move away from the waist with the body movements of the wearer, while also returning the vest 10 to the desired position with respect to the wearer's waist.
Referring now to
As optionally shown in
While left and right peripheral portions of the ballistic insert 50 are shown as being obscured by the contoured member 60, it should be noted that the contoured member 60 can extend entirely around the ballistic insert periphery to obscure or conceal substantially the entire outline of the ballistic insert 50 from view. The contoured member 60 can be formed of a low-density closed cellular foam, for example polyurethane foam, and the contoured member 60 and the ballistic insert 50 can be bonded to each other or held in position by the nylon shell pocket 38. The contoured member 60 can in some embodiments be free of an intermediate portion 62, and can include spaced apart end portions 64 as generally illustrated in
While described above as being formed of a foam material, the contoured member 60 can alternatively be formed from a low-density plastic or other generally rigid material. As shown in
The above descriptions are those of the current embodiments of the invention. Various alterations and changes can be made without departing from the spirit and broader aspects of the invention as defined in the appended claims, which are to be interpreted in accordance with the principles of patent law including the doctrine of equivalents. Any reference to elements in the singular, for example, using the articles “a,” “an,” “the,” or “said,” is not to be construed as limiting the element to the singular.
