GB2081852A - Protective shields - Google Patents

Abstract

A missile-proof shield is formed from a rigid enclosure (5) of generally flat form containing one or more layers (9) of a penetration resisting fabric such as a closely woven aramid fabric. The enclosure has at least one outer wall in the form of a rigid board and handles may be provided for carrying purposes. A paper-retaining clip may be attached to the enclosure so that the shield can also be used as a clipboard, or the shield may be incorporated into a case. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Protective shields This invention relates to a protective shield, particularly although not exclusively a bullet-proof shield.

In my earlier Patent No. 1,556,245 there is disclosed a protective shield to be used in front of a person's body to protect such person against injury by a bullet or other missile or moving object, said shield having one or more layers of a closely woven fabric which is made from aramid fibres of high tensile strength and high stretch resistance such as to be capable of resisting penetration by a bullet, and one or more sheets formed from an impact absorbing plastics material arranged on that side of said fabric which in use faces the person's body.

With this arrangement, effective protection can be afforded against low velocity missiles.

In my co-pending U.K. PatentApplication No.

7937705 there is disclosed a protective shield suitable for use in front of a person's body to protect such person against injury by a high velocity rifle bullet or other missile, said shield comprising a supported layer of a rigid, brittle material having a high degree of hardness, and a penetration resisting and impact absorbing backing structure on that side of the said supported layer which in use faces the person's body.

The above-mentioned prior protective shields, as described in the respective Patent Specifications, are particularly suitable for use as protective garments, such as vests, and when so used can afford effective protection for the wearer's body respectively against low velocity and high velocity missiles. There are however circumstances in which effective protection is required but the wearing of a bullet-proof vest or like garment is not wholly convenient or appropriate, as for example in the case where protection is only required on an occasional temporary basis, or where protection is required for a person's face or otherwise in a manner inappropriate to the use of a protective vest.

An object of the present invention is to provide a protective screen which can be conveniently arranged as required on an occasional temporary basis in relation to any desired region of a person's body such as to afford effective protection thereto.

According to the invention therefore, there is provided a protective shield to be used in front of a person's body to protect such person against injury by a bullet or other missile or moving object, said shield comprising one or more layers of a fabric of high tensile strength and high stretch resistance such as to be capable of resisting penetration by a bullet, said layer or layers being contained within an enclosure of generally flat form having at least one outer wall thereto which is defined by a rigid board.

With this arrangement, the shield can afford effective protection against bullets or other missiles or moving objects such as a knife blade as a consequence of the properties of the said fabric, and such shield can be readily and conveniently moved into a desired protective position as and when required. Whilst the shield may be of any suitable size and shape most preferably it is suitable for use as a personal hand-held shield and in such case a handle or handles of any suitable form is preferably provided to facilitate manual support and manoeuvrability thereof.

The use of a rigid board for at least one said outer wall of the enclosure of the shield can act to hold the or each said fabric layer securely in position within the shield thereby ensuring effective protection despite movement of even rough handling of the shield. Such rigid board also facilitates manual support and manoeuvring and also storage of the shield, and further enables the shield to be used additionally or alternatively for purposes other than personal body protection. For example, the shield may be used for protection purposes within a vehicle as by insertion into a door pocket or the like; the shield may be positioned in front of an article or at a fixed location on the ground or elsewhere where local temporarily fixed protection is required.The shield may even be adapted for use additionally other than for protection purposes and, in particular, may be adapted for use as a support surface for writing purposes. In this latter respect, conveniently the shield may be in the form of a clipboard in which case a paper-retaining spring clip or the like will be provided thereon.

With regard to the said enclosure, preferably this has two opposed outer walls each of which is defined by a rigid board and between which the fabric layer or layers are sandwiched. The enclosure may be formed from any suitable material or materials and the or each said rigid board may entirely form or alternatively constitute only part of the respective outer wall. The or each rigid board may be formed from any suitable material including cardboard, fibreboard, plastics, fibre reinforced resin and the like. Most suitably a light strong material which does not readily shatter into fragments on impact is used and vulcanised fibreboard is particularly suitable in this respect. The enclosure is preferably treated and/or formed to be weatherproof and in particular should be sealed against ingress of moisture.

The fabric layer or layers may be contained within a strong bag, such as a sealed waterproof nylon or other plastics bag or a fabric bag, within the enclosure. The fabric of the said layer or layers is preferably a closely woven fabric made from aramid fibres, particularly the aramid material sold by Du Pont under the Trade Name Kevlar. Multiple layers would normally be provided (say 20 to 50 layers) and these should be secured in position relative to each other preferably by stitching.

Within the said enclosure, and also within the aforesaid bag where this is provided, there may be one or more further layers of material to improve penetration resistance and/orto reduce impact shock transmission through the shield. In this respect, as mentioned in Patent No. 1,556,245 and to which reference is hereby made for further details, there may be one or more backing layers of an impact absorbing plastics material comprising for example one or more thin flexible polycarbonate sheets and/or one or more sheets of a foamed plastics material. Also, as mentioned in co-pending Application No. 7937705 and to which reference is hereby made for further details, a layer of a rigid, brittle material having a high degree of hardness, such as a glass or ceramic material, may be incorporated. Other materials such as steel facing plates may be used as appropriate.

The invention will now be described further by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figures 1 and 2 are respectively front and back views of one form of a protective shield according to the invention; and Figure 3 is a sectional view of the shield to an exaggerated scale.

The shield comprises a generally flat rectangular enclosure 1 (say 30cm by 45cm outside dimensions) formed from two like sheets 2,3 of semi-rigid vulcanised fibre board each of which is pressed to define a shallowtray structure with a peripheral rim 4 lying in a plane parallel to and slightly spaced from a plane containing the main central region 5 thereof (which is say 25cm by 38cm). The two sheets 2,3 are secured together rim-to-rim with rivets 6 or otherwise thereby to define a cavity 7 therebetween.

Within the cavity there is a peripherally sealed waterproof nylon bag 8 which contains a plurality of sheets of fabric 9 woven from Kevlar (say 25 sheets of Kevlar 29 or 49 woven with 31-31 warp and weft picks per inch (2.54cm) from 1000 or 1500 denier yarn) such sheets 9 being stitched together and/or bonded together in pairs; one or more thin flexible polycarbonate sheets 10 (such as the transparent polycarbonatesold under the Trade Name LEXAN in sheets of 0.75mm thickness); and one or more resiliently compressible sheets 11 of a foamed plastics material particularly a closed cell crosslinked polyethylene foam such as that sold under the Trade Name Plastazote or Evazote, to a total thickness (for the foamed plastics material) of 0.5mm to 12mm.

The bag 8 has a marking on the front side thereof, that is the side adjacent the Kevlar layers 9, to facilitate correct insertion of the bag 8 into the enclosure 1.

The enclosure 1 has a front side which has a flat, smooth outer surface (which is the outer surface of the central region 5 of the sheet 2) which has at the top thereof a fixed spring clip 12 of the kind used on clipboards for retaining papers. The opposite back side of the enclosure 1 (which is the outer surface of the central region 5 of the sheet 3) has thereon two handles 13, 14 defined by plastics straps which extend longitudinally of the enclosure 1 in spaced parallel disposition.

The total weight of the shield may be of the order of 31b. (1.36 kg).

The shield can be held by a person and may be used in conventional manner as a clipboard. In the even that protection against injury by a bullet or other missile or moving object is required, the person need only turn the shield so that the front side thereof faces away from the person in line with the missile or moving object and the shield is heid with one or both hands using the handles 13, 14.

This can be effected quickly and conveniently. The Kevlav layers 9 afford effective protection against penetration and the polycarbonate and foam layers 10, 11 absorb impact shock. In particular the foam 11 is positioned to limit shock transmission to the hand and wrist of the person holding the shield. In this latter respect, the foam 11 need only be provided in the region ofthe handles 13, 14.

The shield may be made weatherproof by application of a suitable glue or sealing material between the rims 4 and also by coating the enclosure 1 with a plastics layer or lacquer or the like. The shield may be suitably coloured and/or decorated and/or provided with a reflective coating or tape or the like so that it has the appearance of a clipboard as used outdoors, for example by traffic police and is not readily recognisable as a bullet-proof shield.

It is of course to be understood that the invention is not intended to be restricted to the details of the above embodiment which are described by way of example only.

Thus the shield may have larger dimensions than those described above so as to be suitable for use as a riot shield capable of providing cover for a substantial part of a person's body. In this case the form of construction would be as described above although the paper-retaining clip would be omitted.

Also, and especially in the case of a riot shield, a viewing hole or region of transparency may be provided in the shield.

Further, additionally or alternatively to the strap handles, it is possible to provide a rigid supporting structure which can be used as a stand to support the shield in generally upright disposition on a ground surface so that a person can lie behind same.

Such supporting structure may comprise one or more retractable legs, foldable handles or the like.

If desired the shield can be attached to or incorporated in a lid or wall of a document case, briefcase of the like.

Claims (17)

1. A protective shield to be used in front of a person's body to protect such person against injury by a bullet or other missile or moving object, said shield comprising one or more layers of a fabric of high tensile strength and high stretch resistance such as to be capable of resisting penetration by a bullet, said layer or layers being contained within an enclosure of generally flat form having at least one outer wall thereto which is defined buy a rigid board.

2. A shield according to claim 1, wherein at least one handle is attached to said enclosure.

3. A shield according to claim 2, wherein there are two handles defined by spaced-apart parallel straps.

4. A shield according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein said enclosure has two opposed outer walls each of which is defined by a rigid board and between which the fabric layer or layers are sandwiched.

5. A shield according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the or each board is formed from fibreboard.

6. A shield according to claim 5, wherein the fibreboard is vulcanised fibreboard.

7. A shield according to any one of claims 1 to 6 wherein the enclosure is waterproof.

8. A shield according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein said fabric layer or layers are contained within a bag in the enclosure.

9. A shield according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the or each said fabric layer comprises a closely woven fabric made from aramid fibres.

10. A shield according to any one of claims 1 to 9.

wherein there are multiple said fabric layers and these are secured in position relative to each other.

11. A shield according to claim 10, wherein said layers are secured to each other by stitching.

12. A shield according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein said enclosure also contains one or more further layers.

13. A shield according to claim 12, wherein at least one said further layer comprises a backing layer of impact-absorbing plastics material.

14. A shield according to claim 12, wherein said plastics material comprises polycarbonate sheeting.

15. A shield according to any one of claims 12 to 14, wherein at least one said further layer comprises a layer of rigid, brittle material.

16. A shield according to any one of claims 1 to 15, which is a clipboard and has a paper-retaining clip thereon.

17. A protective shield substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as iliustrated in the accompanying drawings.