Flexible body armor
AssigneeARA, Inc.
InventorBernard Mazelsky
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An articulated body armor garment has a single layer of ceramic tiles adhesively attached to a flexible fragment-trapping blanket. A foam spacer layer behind the blanket at least partially contains deformation of the blanket in a ballistic attack. The blanket preferably includes at least forty plies of a ballistic cloth stitched together in a quilt pattern. Edge areas of the ceramic tiles are beveled so that edges of adjacent tiles overlap, thus enabling the array of tiles to present an essentially continuous unbroken surface to a projectile.
Claims26
Flexible armor for wearing on the body of a person comprising:
- a multiple ply flexible blanket including multiple layers of ballistic cloth stitched together in a quilt pattern to form a fragment barrier, said blanket having an outer surface and an inner surface,
- an array of ceramic tiles in a layer and adhesively attached to the outer surface of said blanket, said tiles having outer surfaces remote from the blanket and inner surfaces adhesively attached to the blanket, said tiles having beveled edges, some of said tile edges extending at an obtuse angle to the tile outer surfaces, the remaining tile edges extending at an acute angle to the tile outer surfaces, the tile edges being so indexed about the tile peripheries that adjacent tiles have their edges in facial engagement to eliminate gaps between the tiles,
- the inner surface of each ceramic tile of at least a major portion of said tiles having a curved concave contour to reduce separation of adjacent tiles upon flexing at joints between tiles.
A multiple ply flexible blanket including multiple layers of ballistic cloth stitched together in a quilt pattern to form a fragment barrier, said blanket having an outer surface and an inner surface,
- each layer of ballistic cloth comprising two internal resin-impregnated fiber sheets having the fibers therein crossing at an angle of about ninety degrees, and
- two facing films of thermoplastic material laminated onto oppositely-facing surfaces of the resin-impregnated fiber sheets, and
- an array of ceramic tiles adhesively attached to the outer surface of said blanket, said tiles having outer surfaces remote from the blanket and inner surfaces adhesively attached to the blanket, said tiles having beveled edges, some of said tile edges extending at an obtuse angle to the tile outer surfaces, the remaining tile edges extending at an acute angle to the tile outer surfaces, the tile edges being so indexed about the tile peripheries that adjacent tiles have their edges in facial engagement to eliminate gaps between the tiles.
Flexible armor for wearing on the body of a person, comprising:
- a multiple ply flexible blanket including multiple layers of ballistic cloth stitched together in a quilt pattern to form a fragment barrier, said blanket having an outer surface and an inner surface,
- an array of ceramic tiles adhesively attached to the outer surface of said blanket, said tiles having outer surfaces remote from the blanket and inner surfaces adhesively attached to the blanket, said tiles having edges abutted together so that the array of tiles presents an essentially unbroken gap-free surface to an incoming projectile,
- the inner surface of each ceramic tile of at least a major portion of said tiles having a curved concave contour to reduce separation of adjacent tiles upon flexing at joints between tiles, and
- a continuous resilient foam spacer pad engaged with the inner surface of said blanket, whereby the blanket is spaced an appreciable distance from the persons body.
Flexible armor for wearing on a persons body, comprising:
- a multiple ply flexible blanket including multiple layers of ballistic cloth stitched together in a quilt pattern to form a fragment barrier, said blanket having an outer surface and an inner surface,
- each layer of ballistic cloth comprising two internal resin-impregnated fiber sheets wherein the fibers cross at substantial angles, and two facing films of thermoplastic material laminated onto oppositely-facing surfaces of the resin-impregnated fiber sheets,
- an array of ceramic tiles adhesively attached to the outer surface of said blanket, said tiles having outer surfaces remote from the blanket and inner surfaces adhesively attached to the blanket, said tiles having edges abutted together so that the array of tiles presents an essentially unbroken gap-free surface to an incoming projectile, and
- a continuous resilient foam spacer pad engaged with the inner surface of said blanket, whereby the blanket is spaced an appreciable distance from the persons body.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.