Apparel – Guard or protector – Penetration resistant
Patent
1997-02-05
1998-06-30
Lewis, Paul C.
Apparel
Guard or protector
Penetration resistant
2102, A41D 1300
Patent
active
057714886
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to an impact-resistant protective garment comprising closed rings joined together to form a layer inside the garment to afford protection against impacts. The protective structures of this kind are commonly known, and reference is made especially to European Patent Application no. 119406 showing a typical protective layer consisting of rings. These structures are used for instance in butcher's aprons to prevent sharp objects from penetrating through the garment, because closed rings attached to each other prevent the passage of such objects where the part penetrating through the garment would be a long cutting edge.
The above-mentioned structure is, however, insufficient if the passage of objects with a sharp point acting as a part penetrating through the garment is to be prevented. The point of a spike can manage to get through a ring, and depending on the convergence of the point, the depth of penetration in one single ring can be quite considerable and results in damage to the wearer of the protective garment. The rings are joined together in such protective layers in a manner that the rings are interlaced, that is, they are joined together in a chain-like manner to form a two-dimensional protective layer. One possible solution to this problem would be a sufficiently small size of the rings, but because of the special manufacturing technique the manufacturing costs may rise high and as for the manufacturing technique, it may prove even impossible to provide so closed a structure as is desired. The material of the rings (metal wire) must possess certain thickness to afford sufficient tensile strength to the layer, but on the other hand, forming of rings having sufficiently small diameters from a thick material may be difficult in the manufacturing technique. The ratio inner diameter/material thickness must have a certain minimum value.
The purpose of the invention is to eliminate the above-described drawbacks and to present a protective garment of the kind that prevents efficiently the penetration of sharp pointed objects through the garment, being thus particularly well suitable for persons that may in their duty be exposed to an attack performed with a sharp spike-shaped object, for example for policemen and prison guards. For achieving this purpose the protective garment according to the invention is mainly characterized in that elongate filling elements of limited flexibility are threaded through the rings to prevent the penetration of spike-shaped objects through the rings. One filling element can thus decrease the free area of the surrounding rings as seen in the direction of the impact, and although there remains some free space between an individual ring and the filling element extending therethrough, it is so small that, at the latest, the section widening after the point of the spike-shaped object will become stuck therein. The filling elements have sufficient strength and limited flexibility, which means that they are rigid to such extent that they maintain their positions when the object is penetrating into the ring and do not form a bend next to the object.
Furthermore, the invention has some advantageous embodiments presented in accompanying dependent claims 2 to 10 and in the description hereinbelow. Metal or metal alloy is preferably used as material for the filling elements so that at least the outer layer thereof is of metal, for example twisted metal wire braided on a lighter core consisting of another material.
The invention will be described in the following more closely with reference to the appended drawing wherein
FIG. 1 shows the construction and attachment of the protective layer of the protective garment according to the invention in front view,
FIG. 2 shows the filling elements to be used in the invention in perspective view, and
FIG. 3 shows the upper part of the protective garment according to the invention in vertical section.
In FIG. 1 is shown a protective layer 1 against impacts seen in the front, that is, in the direction of impacts. The ba
REFERENCES:
patent: 4356569 (1982-11-01), Sullivan
patent: 4493865 (1985-01-01), Kuhlmann et al.
patent: 4507353 (1985-03-01), Kuhlmann et al.
patent: 4802242 (1989-02-01), Lars-Jos
patent: 4841577 (1989-06-01), Lars-Jos
patent: 5511241 (1996-04-01), Ziegler
Lewis Paul C.
Valtion teknillinen tutkimuskeskus
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