Garment assembly and release apparatus and method

A ballistic vest comprising:

• an elongate first strip attached to a first location on the vest and an elongate second strip attached to a second location on the vest, the first and second elongate strips each having opposite longitudinal end portions and a middle portion therebetween, the longitudinal end portions of the first and second strips being releasably connected together by pinned connections, respectively, to hold the strips in parallel side by side relation and the first location on the vest and the second location on the vest together, each of the pinned connections comprising a longitudinally extending pin attached along a side of one of the strips received in a longitudinally extending channel through a C-shaped clip attached along a side of the other of the strips, the side of the one of the strips extending through a slot of the C-shaped clip facing in a side direction toward the one of the strips to attach to the pin, and the C-shaped clip being rigid and having edge portions bounding the slot such that the slot has a width smaller than the pin to prevent passage of the pin through the slot, the pin being longitudinally removable from the channel by a predetermined relative longitudinal movement of the first and second strips;
• and
• a detent element extending in the side direction in cantilever relation from the middle portion of the first strip between longitudinally spaced portions of the C-shaped clip, the detent element overlaying the second strip and comprising a tab having an engaged state cooperatively received in a receptacle in the pin of the second strip to prevent the predetermined relative longitudinal movement of the first and second strips, and the detent element being deformable by being pulled away from the strip to remove the tab from the receptacle to allow the predetermined relative longitudinal movement of the strips.

A ballistic vest, comprising:

• a C-shaped clip defining a channel and an open slot extending along the channel, the open slot facing in a side direction and open at opposite ends of the C-shaped clip, and including at least one element attaching the C-shaped clip to a first of a front panel or cummerbund of the vest;
• a pin slidably received in the channel of the C-shaped clip through one of the open ends assembling the C-shaped clip and the pin together, the pin having a tab or strip extending through the slot and attaching the pin to a second of the front panel or cummerbund of the vest such that the pin and the C-shaped clip when assembled join together the front panel and cummerbund, the C-slot being bound by edges of the C-shaped clip and being smaller than a width of the and the C-shaped clip being sufficiently strong and rigid to resist deformation under forces exerted thereagainst during use of the vest with the C-shaped clip and pin assembled to restrain the pin from removal through the channel, the C-shaped clip and the pin having mating surfaces bounding the channel adjacent to at least one side of the slot, including a mating surface on the C-shaped clip adjacent to one side of the slot that faces toward the channel and a mating surface on the pin that faces the slot tapered at less than a 90 degree angle to the slot such that a force exerted against the tab or strip in a the side direction to pull the pin toward the slot will draw the mating surface of the clip adjacent to the one side of the slot toward the slot;
• and at least one detent element connected in cantilever relation to the C-shaped clip and extending in the side direction between longitudinally spaced portions of one of the edges thereof and bounding the slot, the detent element including a tab cooperatively received in a receptacle in the pin to prevent longitudinal movement of the pin in the channel, and the detent element being pullable in a direction away from the slot to remove the tab from the receptacle to allow slidably removing the pin longitudinally from the channel through one of the open ends.