Patent Application
20130061362
Not applicable.
The present invention relates to ballistic body armor in general, and to body armor for protecting the lower back in particular from projectile threats such as rifle and handgun bullets, and shrapnel.
Persons exposed to projectile threats, such as police officers and soldiers, may seek a certain level of protection by wearing armored clothing. Low velocity projectiles such as handgun rounds, fragmentation rounds from a grenade or mortar, and miscellaneous shrapnel may be countered by so-called “soft armor.” Soft armor is worn in the form of jackets, vests, etc. which are composed of assemblies of ballistic fabric such as those formed from DuPont Kevlar ® fibers or of Spectra ® ultra high molecular weight polyethylene fibers from Honeywell. The soft armor is often fabricated as flexible panels which are received within pockets or pouches formed in fabric vests or jackets. In more serious threat situations, where higher velocity rifle rounds and fragments must be countered, soft armor has typically been supplemented with hard armor fabricated of rigid plates of ceramic, polymer, or metal.
Some conventional body armor vests have a gap or separation in the armor material on each side under the wearer's arms. These gaps allow for adjustment of the vest to fit different sized wearers. However, this gap can allow the front of the vest to be pulled down, for example by accessories or other loads attached to the front of the vest. This downward displacement of the vest front can result in the rear of the vest moving upwardly, thus exposing a large area of the wearer's lower back and sides.
What is needed is a component to protect this vulnerable area which does not excessively compromise the wearer's mobility.
The lower back and side protecting body armor component of the present invention mounts to the waist of a wearer by attachment to a waist encircling belt. The component has a flexible fabric carrier with a front sheet which faces the wearer, and two rear sheets sewn to the front sheet to define two pockets opening towards each other and joined by a connecting segment. A flexible soft ballistic armor element has a first wing connected by a center segment to a second wing, the ballistic armor element being concave and opening toward the wearer, and the first wing being received within the flexible carrier first pocket and the second wing being received within the carrier second pocket. A covering flap is pivotable on the fabric carrier to cover the gap between the pockets. A belt loop is defined by an accessory segment fixed to the covering flap, and other belt loops may be secured to the two rear sheets. A hard armor element may be received within a pocket formed on the interior of the covering flap.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a ballistic armor component for the protection of the lower back and sides of a wearer that has minimal interference with the wearer's mobility.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a lower back protective ballistic armor component that is economical to produce.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a lower back protective ballistic armor component that may be readily modified to have protection against different levels of threat.
Further objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
Referring more particularly to
As shown in
The armor carrier 26 is narrower than it is long and wraps around the waist of the wearer 22 to provide protection in the rear and on the sides, and will usually not extend to the front of the wearer, where typically the armor vest will provide protection, although depending on user preference, the carrier may wrap around to the wearer's front side. Although the dimensions will vary depending on the size of the intended user, an example carrier is about 30 inches long and about six inches tall. The armor carrier 26 has a front sheet 28 which may be of a soft material with a loop like surface which permits it to act as the loop portion of a hook and loop fastener, such as VELCRO ® fastener manufactured by Velcro Industries B.V. A first rear sheet 34 and a second rear sheet 36 are sewn to the front sheet 28 to define a first pocket 38 and a second pocket 40. The rear sheets may be a heavy duty nylon, pack-cloth, Invista's CORDURA ® nylon material, or any suitable fabric or flexible material. The rear sheets may have a camouflage pattern applied thereto.
The pockets 38, 40 open towards each other, and are spaced from one another by a connecting segment 42 of the first sheet 28. The connecting segment may be about four inches wide. It should be noted that, in order to provide a finished sewn seam on the exterior of the armor carrier 26, the front sheet 28 and the rear sheets 34, 36 are sewn together in an inverted condition, and then turned inside out. The connecting segment 42 permits the armor carrier to be readily inverted.
Two belt loops 44 are sewn to each of the first rear sheet 34 and the second rear sheet 36, the loops being sized to receive a conventional belt 46 therethrough. As shown in
The soft armor ballistic element 30, best shown in
A fabric covering flap 56 is sewn to the top edge of the front sheet 28 of the carrier 26. The flap 56 is tall enough to fully overlap the rear surface of the connecting segment and portions of the two pockets 38, 40 when it is folded down. The flap 56 is about three times as wide as the connecting segment 42.
A closure tab 58 extends from the covering flap 56 and has a patch 59 of a part of a hook and loop fastener attached thereto, in the illustrated example the hook part, to allow the closure tab to be folded upwardly and secured to the loop like material of the front sheet 28. The closure tab 58 thus engages with the carrier to retain the covering flap in a closed position. The covering flap 56 is preferably formed of an outside sheet 60 which is sewn to the front sheet 28 of the carrier, and an inside sheet 62 which is sewn to the outside sheet to define an armor pocket 64 therebetween. The armor pocket 64 faces downwardly when the flap is open, and upwardly when the flap is secured in its closed position. As shown in
The hard armor ballistic elements 32, may be formed having a slight curvature about a vertical axis to better conform to the wearer. The hard armor ballistic elements 32 are generally stiff, and may be about three-eighths of an inch thick and about 3½ inches on a side. Two or three hard armor ballistic elements 32 may be inserted within each of the first pocket 38 and the second pocket 40, the number may vary depending on the size of the component 20.
A support sheet 66 of fabric is sewn to the outside sheet 60 of the covering flap. The support sheet 66 is sewn only along its top margin and its bottom margin, to form a sleeve which is open to the sides and which serves as a long belt loop through which the belt 46 may extend. Two strips of webbing 68 are sewn with parallel vertical seams 70 to define an array of accessory loops 72 which can receive conventional accessory attachment belts and fasteners. The component 20 thus allows a user to carry additional items on the belt 46 while simultaneously providing ballistic protection.
Once the soft armor ballistic element 30 is installed within the carrier 26, and the hard armor plates 32 have been installed, if desired, the covering flap 56 is folded into a position which overlies the carrier connecting segment 42 and the soft armor ballistic element 30 installed within the pockets, as shown in
It is understood that the invention is not limited to the particular construction and arrangement of parts herein illustrated and described, but embraces all such modified forms thereof as come within the scope of the following claims.
This applications claims benefit from U.S. provisional app. 60/778,566, filed Mar. 2, 2006, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60778566 | Mar 2006 | US |
