GB2433192A

GB2433192A - Reinforcing material for body armour

Info

Publication number: GB2433192A
Application number: GB0525394A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Ivan Williams
Original assignee: Big Oak Sports & Survival Ltd
Current assignee: Big Oak Sports & Survival Ltd
Priority date: 2005-12-14
Filing date: 2005-12-14
Publication date: 2007-06-20
Also published as: GB0525394D0

Abstract

A reinforcing material for body armour comprises two layers of tessellated metal plates 1, 2 of which each plate has a centre portion and is slightly dished towards that centre portion. The tessellated plates 1, 2 of each layer are located side by side in a close but not overlapping relationship. The plates 1 of the first layer are in a concave orientation and the plates 2 of the second layer are in a convex orientation overlying the first layer. Each corner between adjacent edges of individual plates of one layer lies immediately over or under a centre portion of a plate of the other layer. Securing means 3 pass through aligned holes in the plates 1, 2 of the first and second layers, securing both layers loosely together. Also claimed are body armour, a garment and a stab-resistant vest comprising the reinforcing material already described.

Description

TITLE

BODY ARMOUR

DESCRIPTION

Field of the Invention

The invention relates to a reinforcing material for body armour, and for body armour incorporating such reinforcing material, including garments such as stab-resistant vests.

Background Art

Protective body armour has been known for many centuries for protection of the wearer in armed combat. One of the early materials used in the manufacture of body armour was chain mail, in which links of wire were connected to other links or to small metal plates, to build up a garment panel or even a complete garment that was resistant to penetration by a stab or a slash of a sword. It then became apparent that chain mail was not sufficiently resistant to penetration by sharp pointed arrows, and it became common for chain mail garments to be worn beneath full body armour consisting of rigid metal body panels intended to defect a knife or projectile such as a spear or arrow.

In modern martial art sports, chain mail tends to be used to protect the body and limbs of combatants, with protection against stab wounds being the major desideratum.

Police and security forces also use body armour when protection against stab wounds and protection against gun shot wounds is of importance. There is a need for body armour to be made as lightweight as possible, to maintain a proper flexibility of the garment on the wearer so as not to interfere with the wearer's freedom of movement and to provide a good security against injury arising from a knife attack. The light weight and flexibility should not, however, detract from the garment's resistance to penetration by a knife in a knife attack, and also preferably to penetration by a bullet in a gun attack.

The Invention The invention provides a reinforcing material for body armour, as described in the claims herein. The reinforcing material is made up of two layers, each of which is layer of tessellated slightly dished plates in close side-by-side relationship. The first of the two layers comprises tessellated plates in a concave orientation, and the second of the two layers which immediately overlies the first comprises tessellated plates in a convex orientation. The securing together of the two layers is sufficiently loose that the reinforcing material can be draped over the body or over a limb of a user or incorporated into a garment to protect against a knife attack. Tests have shown extremely high resistance to penetration by a knife blade. Samples of the reinforcing material of the invention have also been tested for potential penetration by low velocity bullets, and the ballistic tests have been very promising.

The unique protection provided by the reinforcing material according to the invention is best illustrated by considering the stab resistance of the material. When a point or edge of a knife blade strikes an outermost one of the two layers, then the panel of reinforcing material tends to fold slightly at the point of impact, this folding action directing the knife point or blade towards a junction between two side-by-side plates of the outermost layer. That junction lies directly over a mid portion of a plate of the underlying layer, so that the knife blade is directed towards the centre portion of that underlying plate, through which it cannot pass.

identical plates may be used for the plates of either one or of both layers. For example, the plates may be rectangular, preferably square. Using rectangular or square plates, the slightly dished shape of each plate is preferably the result of bending the plate along four generally straight end lines, each bend line extending from a mid-point at one side of the rectangular square to the centre portion of the plate. That makes it possible for all of the edges of the plates of each of the two layers directly to overlie or underlie the bend lines of the plates of the other of the two layers. Preferably the plates are made of a strong but light metal such as a titanium alloy.

Drawings Figure 1 is a plan view of a portion of a panel of reinforcing material according to the invention; Figure 2 is a section through the panel of material of claim 1, taken along a line of rivets; Figure 3 is a close-up section through of a panel of material of claim I, taken along a line of rivets and illustrating the direction of a possible knife attack; Figure 4 is a close-up section through a panel of material of claim 1, taken along a line of rivets and illustrating the material's response to the knife attack shown in the previous Figure; Figure 5 is a large perspective view of a single plate as used in the reinforcing material of Figure 1; Figure 6 is a vertical section through a rivet as used in Figure 2; Figure 7 is a perspective view showing how the plates in each layer of the material overlap; The panel of reinforcing material shown in Figure 1 comprises a first layer of metal plates I which is located over a second layer of identical metal plates 2. For ease of identification, the metal plates I of the underlying layer are shown slightly darker shaded in Figure 1. The two layers are shown in Figure 2 riveted together loosely by rivets 3. Each plate is approximately two centimetres square.

The shape of each plate 1 or 2 is illustrated more clearly in Figure 3, which shows that each plate, initially flat and square, has a centre portion 4 and is slightly dished towards that centre portion. The dishing is created by deforming the plate along four generally straight bend lines 5 which are shown dotted in Figure 3 and Figures 1 and 4. Each bend line 5 extends from a mid-point of one side of the square plate to the centre portion of the plate, and in the assembled panel of reinforcing material as shown in Figures 4, each edge of each plate I lies directly over corresponding bend lines 5 of the associated plates 2, and each edge of each plate 2 lies directly under corresponding bend lines S of the associated plates I. In Figure 1 the individual plates I and 2 are shown separated from each other rather more than would be the case in practice, hut that is purely for clarity of illustration.

The actual relative separation of the plates is illustrated in Figure 4. The plates I or the plates 2 of each layer are located side-by-side in a close but not overlapping relationship. It will be seen from Figures 2 and 4 that the plates 1 of the first layer are all in concave orientation, while the plates 2 of the overlying second layer are all in convex orientation.

in use, if a knife blade 11 or projectile were to contact the panel of reinforcing material as shown in Figure 5, then the plates I of the top or outermost layer where impacted would fold downwardly against the plates 2 of the underlying layer as shown in Figure 6, creating a line of contact 10 between the plates of the two layers in the immediate vicinity of the attacking blade or projectile. That line of contact 10 would make the panel of reinforcing material imperious to penetration by the knife I I or projectile in the immediate zone of' impact, and the complimentary dished convex and concave shapes of the two layers would also mean that any knife blade 11 would tend to be diverted by the plates 2 of the outermost layer towards the dished centre portions 4 of the plates 1 of the underlying layer, for maximum resistance to penetration.

An example of rivets 3 that may be used to closely connect together the plates of the two layers are illustrated in Figure 7. Each of these rivets comprises a head portion 7, a solid shank portion 8 and a hollow cylindrical end portion 9. In use, the hollow cylindrical end portions 9 are swaged outwardly in use to connect together pairs of plates 1 and 2, and the length of the hollow shank portion 8 is such that the riveted connection is maintained loose.

The panels of reinforcing material as illustrated in Figure 4 may be made of any size, and may be made up into body armour by stitching panels of the reinforcing material into garments designed to be worn as body armour. The fabric body armour garment would then hold the reinforcing panels in place. Alternatively the entire garment may he made up from one or more panels of the reinforcing material. For example, the two layers of individual metal plates can be riveted together to make a complete garment such as a stab-resistant tabard or a stab-resistance vest.

To reduce the noise of metal on metal when a body armour garment according to the ilivention is being worn, a thin layer of fabric may be provided between the two layers of metal plates. That is not illustrated in the drawings, but it can readily he appreciated from Figures 2, 5 and 6 how a layer of fabric between the top layer of plates 2 and the bottom layer of plates I would reduce the noise of wear. That fabric would be sufficiently thin, or alternatively the length of the individual rivets would be sufficiently lengthened, to ensure that there was no restriction to the looseness of the top layer of metal plates relative to the bottom layer. i'he rivets would pass through that layer of intervening fabric.

Alternatively or in addition, a fabric cladding could be provided over the top layer of metal plates 2 and/or under the bottom layer of metal plates 1, to make the resulting garment more comfortable to wear and to reduce the noise of metal-to-metal contact in use, and to provide a more aesthetically pleasing garment.

The individual metal plates are shown in the drawings as being square. It will he understood that they could be any other shape, provided that the shapes can be tessellated together to form complete layers of tessellated plates and provided that the plates are slightly dished towards their centre portions and the plates of the two layers are of such shapes that they overlap one another to the maximum possible extent by having each corner formed between adjacent edges of each plate of one layer lying immediately over or under a centre portion of a plate of the other layer.

Claims

CLAIMS

1. A reinforcing material for body armour comprising two layers of tessellated metal plates of which each plate has a centre portion and is slightly dished towards that centre portion, wherein a first of thc two layers is a layer of such tessellated plates located side by side in a close but not overlapping relationship and all in a concave orientation, and a second of the two layers is a layer of such tessellated plates located side by side in a close but not overlapping relationship and all in a convex orientation, overlying the first layer, and wherein each corner between adjacent edges of individual plates of one layer lies immediately over or under a centre portion of a plate of the other layer, and wherein securing means pass through aligned holes in the plates of the first and second layers, securing the layers loosely together.

2. A reinforcing material according to claim I, wherein all of the plates of the first layer, or all of the plates of the second layer, or all of the plates of both layers, are identical to one another.

3. A reinforcing material according to claim 2, wherein the identically shaped plates are rectangular.

4. A reinforcing material according to claim 2, wherein the identically shaped plates are square.

5. A reinforcing material according to claim 3 or claim 4, wherein the dished shape of each plate has been created by bending the plate along four generally straight bend lines, each extending from a mid-point of one side of the rectangle or square to the centre portion of the plate.

6. A reinforcing material according to claim 5, wherein the edges of the plates of each of the two layers directly overlie or underlie the bend lines of the plates of the other of the two layers.

7. A reinforcing material according to any preceding claim, wherein the securing means comprise loose rivets between overlying portions of the plates of the respective layers.

8. A reinforcing material according to claim 7, wherein each rivet has a head, a solid shank and a hollow cylindrical end portion and passes through aligned holes in plates of the two layers heibre being swaged over at the hollow cylindrical end portions to connect together the respective plates, the length of the solid shank defining the looseness of the riveted connection between the associated two plates.

9. A reinforcing material according to any preceding claim, wherein a sheet of fabric extends between the two layers to separate the plates of the layers without restricting their looseness one relative to the other.

10. A reinforcing material according to any preceding claim, wherein a sheet of fabric extends over the second of the two layers to cover the said layer.

11. A reinforcing material according to any preceding claim wherein a sheet of fabric extends beneath the first of the two layers to cover the said layer.

12. Body armour comprising one or more panels of a reinforcing material according to any preceding claim.

13. A garment comprising one or more panels of a reinforcing material according to any of claims 1 to 11.

14. A stab-resistant vest comprising a reinforcing material according to any of claims Ito 11.