The invention relates to protective garments, and in particular, to protective garments having embedded tourniquet members, such as over garment protective shorts having embedded tourniquet members.
Military personnel often work in hazardous environments and are frequently exposed to ballistic threats such as bullets and fragments from explosive devices such as bombs and roadside IEDs (improvised explosive devices). Personnel operating in these environments may be issued with a sleeveless protective jacket for wearing in combination with standard military uniform. The protective jacket comprises front and rear pockets each extending over the front and rear torso regions for receiving a ballistic resistant plate, typically composed of hard armor, as in a ceramic, with a composite of multiple layers of ballistic resistant fabric such as an aramid material and embedded epoxy resin which are heat pressed together. The front and rear protective plates assist in preventing bullets and fragments from damaging vital organs.
In more dangerous conditions, typically geared towards explosive device and bomb disposal applications, military personnel may be provided with suits including full body protective armour. These suits typically include a ballistic resistant plate that extends to cover the pelvic region of a wearer. These suits also typically include multiple layers of high strength fabric that provides protection below the groin region.
It has been discovered by the applicant, that the sleeveless protective jacket worn in combination with the standard military uniform does not provide sufficient protection below the pelvis and groin region of a wearer from projectiles, such as sand and other fragmentation debris resulting from the detonation of an explosive. This has caused serious injury to the pelvic and groin regions of armoured personnel. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a protective garment that can be worn in combination with a sleeveless protective jacket ,and that provides protection to the pelvic and/or groin regions of a wearer from projectiles
While some prior art solutions have extended the ballistic resistant plate lower, this tends to impede movement. Other prior art solutions have provided for protective pants that attach directly to the bullet resistant plate or other underlying garments; this creates a barrier for the mobility of the wearer. Accordingly, there is a further need in the art for a protective garment that can be easily donned and doffed in combination with other protective military suits.
Prior art protective garments also suffer from the disadvantage of becoming effectively useless following an incident causing a leg injury. In this situation, it may be more critical to be able to doff the pants in a quick time to apply treatment options or otherwise manage blood loss. Accordingly, there is a further need in the art for protective pants that can facilitate post-incident injury treatment.
In accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention there is provided a protective garment, such as an over garment protective shorts including at least one pocket sized and otherwise dimensioned to removeably receive a ballistic protection panel therein and at least one ballistic protection panel configured to fit within each of the at least one pockets. The shorts are configured to be worn over existing pants and extend from a position covering the pelvic region of a wearer to a position proximate the knee region of the wearer.
According to an aspect of the invention, one or both of the leg portions of the protective shorts have incorporated therewith tourniquet members on an interior surface thereof. The one or more tourniquet members preferably include an inner webbing strap interwoven with an outer webbing strap that permits the tourniquet member to be tightened by reducing the circumference of the inner webbing strap with respect to the outer webbing strap.
Other advantages, features and characteristics of the present invention, as well as methods of operation and functions of the related elements of the structure, and the combination of parts and economies of manufacture, will become more apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description and the appended claims with reference to the accompanying drawings, the latter of which is briefly described hereinbelow.
The novel features which are believed to be characteristic according to the present invention, as to its structure, organization, use and method of operation, together with further objectives and advantages thereof, will be better understood from the following drawings in which a presently preferred embodiment of the invention will now be illustrated by way of example. It is expressly understood, however, that the drawings are for the purpose of illustration and description only, and are not intended as a definition of the limits of the invention. In the accompanying drawings:
The invention provides for an over garment protective shorts designed to be used in combination with a protective vest or other tactical personnel protection system for protecting against a variety of threats. The over garment protective shorts according to the invention is designed to be worn on top of standard combat pants, but may also be worn underneath other protective garments as well. In particular, the over garment protective shorts according to the invention are provided to protect a wearer from blast fragments such as sand, soil or other debris, resulting from an indirect hazardous event occurring in a region surrounding the wearer. These hazardous events include, but are not limited to, explosive hazards, fragments from explosions, and other operational hazards that occur during the course of military, police and other emergency service personnel missions. When sand or other fragments are projected off the ground from indirect impacts, the pants according to the invention provides protection from these fragments that may hit the wearer below the bullet resistant plate. Unlike prior art systems, the protective garment of the present invention provides an over garment shorts that can be worn on top of, or underneath, other protective garments and further, provides a continuous level of ballistic protection to the groin and pelvic regions of a wearer by providing ballistic panels in direct contact with these regions so that protection may be provided irrespective of the angle at which a harmful fragment approaches the wearer. For clarity, the term over garment shorts as are used throughout the description denotes a garment that may be worn over an underlying base layer and does not preclude the possibility of additional layers of protection being worn on top of the over garment shorts. The over garment shorts of the invention may be used with an emergency suit, a tactical suit and other protective garments that may or may not incorporate a bullet resistant plate.
Ballistic panels as incorporated into the invention in the manner described are not limited to particular forms of the ballistic panels. Materials for such panels are generally known in the art and the ballistic panels may be formed from any number of materials, including fabrics such as Aramid, ballistic resistant plastics, impact resistant materials and similar materials, such as Kevlar, and any combinations thereof that allow for ballistic resistance.
Referring now to
As shown in
The shorts according to the invention include at least one pocket, sized and otherwise dimensioned to removeably receive a ballistic protection panel there and at least one ballistic protection panel configured to fit within each of these pockets. Various arrangements of these pockets are contemplated by the invention, and are exemplified in the description that follows.
The set of pockets may further include at least one inner thigh pocket 306 configured to overlap an inner thigh region of the wearer, and preferably two inner thigh pockets 306. There may further be provided at least one, and preferably two, outer thigh pockets 310 configured to overlap a region on the outer thigh of the wearer. Each of these pockets are also configured to receive ballistic panels 312, 314, 316, 318 and 320, respectively.
Generally, the set of pockets, and corresponding ballistic panels, are configured to cover each of the pelvic and groin regions of the wearer as it has been discovered that these regions are the most susceptible to damage from fragmentary impacts, such as from sand.
While it is contemplated that the pockets may be provided on either the interior or on the exterior surfaces of the pants, it is preferred that each of the pockets, and the ballistic panels provided therein are provided on the inside of the pants, as illustrated in
The level of protection is provided by the ballistic resistant panels used in the shorts of the invention is predetermined by a contracting agency or wearer, and may be based on government guidelines and certification tests for different ballistic materials.
The shorts according to the invention may further include a closing means provided on an outer seam of the shorts from a rear upper thing?? region through a bottom of the shorts to permit the wearer to don and/or doff the shorts while wearing boots; wherein said closing means is selected from the group consisting of a zipper, snap connectors, and hook and loop fasteners. In the embodiment of
Referring now to
Over garment protective shorts 110 according to this embodiment includes a first pocket 112 and a second pocket 114 for receiving ballistic panels therein. First pocket 112 preferably extends from a position below the waistband 116 of the shorts 110 to below the groin region 118. Second pocket 114 is positioned on an underside 120 of the groin region between the inner thigh portions 122 of the shorts 110. This is shown clearly in
In this embodiment, the second ballistic panel 130 may optionally be provided with a profiled, cut-out section 134 that corresponds with the opening 136 in the rear of the shorts (shown in
The second ballistic panel 130 may take on variations in shape compared to that as illustrated, but in general, is understood to be a generally flexible ballistic panel that can be positioned within the interior of the second pocket to cover any one of the inner thigh region, the groin region, the pelvic region, the front leg region, the back leg region or any combination of same. It will also be understood that the second ballistic panel 130 is removeable from the shorts 110 via the second pocket 114.
Referring now to
Each of the inner 147 and outer 149 straps are preferably formed from a webbing material that has predetermined elastic properties that can fit snuggly over a user's leg. The tourniquet members 140 are preferably attached onto an inside lining, or other inner surface, of the protective shorts above a portion of the shorts that would rest proximate the knee of the user. That is, the tourniquet members 140 are fixed to the shorts at an upper leg portion 163. Each of the tourniquet members 140 may be attached to the shorts by stitching the outer strap 149 to inner material on the shorts. Alternatively, hook and loop fasteners may be used to attach the outer strap 149 to the inside of the shorts, where one of the hook and loop fastener portion is attached to the outer strap 149 and the other of the hook and loop fastener portion is attached to the shorts. It should be noted that the outer strap 149 may be fixed to the shorts, but the inner strap 147 is unrestricted in its movement, except insofar as the inner strap 147 is looped through the outer strap 149 as described above.
In use, following the onset of an event causing an injury to the wearer's leg, the wearer (or another person assisting the wearer) twists the handle 161 whereby the circumference of the inner strap 147 is reduced with respect to the circumference of the outer strap 149 by virtue of the interwoven arrangement between the two straps that is described above. Accordingly, the inner strap 147 tightens around the lower thigh region of the wearer as the circumference of the inner strap 147 is reduced. The general operation of mitigating the damage from an injury using a tourniquet is known in the art, and not described in further detail herein. The wearer may access the handle 161 through either the interior of the shorts proximate the waist portion, or by having the handle extend close to the bottom of the shorts, whereby it is reachable proximate the knee region of the wearer.
In embodiments where the outer strap 149 is connected in a removable manner to the shorts, for example by using a hook and loop fastener, the outer strap 149 may also be adapted to detach from the shorts as the inner strap 147 is tightened. In this manner, if the shorts have to be removed from the wearer, this can be done without affecting the operation of the tourniquet members. In embodiments where the tourniquet members are attached to the shorts by stitching the outer strap 149 to an inner surface of the shorts, it is also possible to implement a relatively weak stitch that is designed to break upon tightening of the inner strap 147. In this manner, the shorts also become detachable from the tourniquet members altogether, particularly when the inner strap 147 has been tightened to mitigate the damage of an injury.
Furthermore, it is also contemplated that embodiments of the invention making use of the integrated tourniquet members may further be extended to an application where full length protective pants are used, rather than the protective shorts as described in the representative examples above. In this embodiment, the handle of the tourniquet members will generally only be accessible via the interior of the pants from the waist portion. In any event, the operation and benefits as described are directly analogous.
Other modifications and alterations may be used in the design and manufacture of other embodiments according to the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, which is limited only by the accompanying claims.
This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/414,591, filed Mar. 7, 2012.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 13414591 | Mar 2012 | US |
Child | 13591542 | US |