This invention relates to garments affording protection from ballistic impacts.
It is known to form armor from strong woven fabrics, for example of Aramid ® fibers. Such fabrics are stiff and when garments are formed of a thickness giving useful ballistic protection, the wearer can find it extremely difficult to flex his or her joints, particularly the elbows and knees.
It is an object of the invention to provide armor having a high degree of flexibility.
Accordingly, the invention comprises a protective garment comprising at least two tubular sections of strong fabric, the sections overlapping such that said sections can telescope to allow flexing of a body part enclosed thereby.
Preferably there is always a minimum overlap of at least one inch between adjacent sections around their entire circumference.
The tubular sections may form a sleeve, a body and/or a pant leg of the garment.
As telescoping is generally only required at one side of a body part, e.g. the backs of the elbows or the fronts of the knees, the tubular sections may be directly attached together at a side intended to flex inwardly, for example by sewing. Alternatively or additionally, the tubular sections are attached together by means of a flexible web, for example of bias tape.
In an embodiment of the invention, the tubular sections are covered with an outer layer of strong fabric.
The invention also provides a set of protective clothing comprising a protective garment as defined above and an outer garment of heat and blast protective material. The outer garment ensures that a blast wave does not penetrate between the overlapping sections of the inner protective garment.
In order that the invention may be more readily understood, a particular embodiment thereof will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
The sections are sewn together along only that part of their circumference which lies on the inside of the wearer's elbow when the jacket is worn. As shown in
The inner and outer layers of
A further advantage of the greater flexibility of the garments of the invention is that they can be rolled up tightly for storage.
For effective protection against ballistic fragments and the like both a jacket and a pair of pants formed in the manner just described are worn.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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0326144.3 | Nov 2003 | GB | national |