Abstract:
The present invention relates to fabric for constructing armored garments and other objects, more specifically a lightweight, flexible, and breathable plated armor fabric for recreational and sporting purposes constructed of plastic, metal, ceramic, composite materials or some combination of the above.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application takes benefit of U.S. Prov. App. No. 61/913,507 filed Dec. 9, 2013 and hereby incorporates it in its entirety by reference. 
     
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    The present invention relates to fabric for constructing armored garments and other objects, more specifically a lightweight, flexible, and breathable plated armor fabric for recreational and sporting purposes constructed of plastic, metal, ceramic, composite materials or some combination of the above. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    Armored garments are well known in the prior art. Armored garments are universally designed to protect the wearer from injury from edged or pointed weapons or various projectiles and as such, they are constructed to resist such attacks. Armored garments ordinarily feature plates or chin links that overlap in multiple sheets. Thus, they are extremely intricate to construct and generally quite heavy. As a result, metal armored garments fell into general disuse centuries ago. Today, armored garments are constructed of fabrics with high tensile strength to weight ratios such as Kevlar® poly paraphenylene terephthalamide augmented with ceramic, metal, or composite plates to prevent blunt force trauma. 
         [0004]    These products are expensive to manufacture and thus to sell and own. As a result recreational and sporting users, such as participants in paintball competitions, are forced to wear vests and garments with plastic pads or thick bats of fibrous material. These devices are relatively less expensive, but uncomfortable to wear because they are not “breathable,” i.e. they retain expired water vapor with no means of wicking it to the outer layers of clothing. 
         [0005]    What is needed then is a lightweight, flexible, breathable armor optimized for use in relatively low impact ballistic sports activities like paintball competitions. One embodiment of the present invention discloses a single layer of plates constructed of plastic, metal, or composite chained together with sufficient space between the plates to prevent a paintball from contacting the body, but separated by enough space that vaporized perspiration can escape. While such “plated mail” is well known in the prior art, as noted above, all examples in the prior art have as a first objective the elimination of any contact with the body of the wearer by an attacker wielding an edged or pointed weapon. As a result, the plates used to construct such garments overlap or are tightly bound to one another. As such, garments made in this fashion are relatively inflexible and non-breathable. It is therefore a first goal of the present invention to provide a breathable plated armor fabric. It is a second goal of the present invention to provide a plated armor fabric that is extremely flexible and thus comfortable to wear. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0006]    One embodiment of the present invention is comprised of a multiplicity of thin plates constructed of plastic, metal, or composite material each with at least two horizontal mounting holes along each of the top and bottom edges, respectively, and at least one vertical mounting hole along each of the left and right edges, respectively. 
         [0007]    The multiplicity of plates are connected to each other preferably by means of chain links also constructed of plastic, metal, or composite material wherein: 1) A first plate is chained to second and third plates mounted vertically above and below the first plate, respectively, by means of at least two chain links, each one of which passes through two adjacent horizontal mounting holes, one along the top edge and the other along the bottom edge of two adjacent plates; and, 2) The first plate is chained to fourth and fifth plates mounted horizontally to the left and to the right of the first plate, respectively, by means of at least one chain link which passes through two adjacent vertical mounting holes, each one of which passes through two adjacent vertical mounting holes, one along the left edge and the other along the right edge of two adjacent plates. In one embodiment of the present invention, each plate is generally rectangular in shape, with radiused or rounded corners to protect the skin of the wearer or to protect cloth fabric in which the plated armor fabric is enclosed. 
         [0008]    The invention is used in several ways. For example, a cut sheet of armored fabric may be formed in a particular shape by severing or removing the chain links that separate the desired cut sheet of armored fabric from the remainder of the source sheet. Cut sheets of armored fabric may be attached at their peripheral edges by means of additional chain links to form a garment. The garment may then be worn like a conventional garment. Similarly, desired cut sheets of armored fabric may be sheathed in coextensive cloth fabric sheets, on one or both sides, and affixed to the cloth fabric sheet(s). The cloth fabric sheathed cut sheets of armored fabric may be attached at their peripheral edges by means of conventional sewing, sealing, or sonic welding techniques to form a garment. The garment may then be worn like a conventional garment. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0009]      FIG. 1  shows a top view of a segment of plated armor fabric of one embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0010]      FIG. 2  shows an isometric view of a segment of plated armor fabric of one embodiment of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS 
       [0011]    Referring now to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , one embodiment of the plated armor fabric  10  of the present invention is comprised of a multiplicity of thin plates  11   a - f  constructed of plastic, metal, or composite material each with at least two adjacent horizontal mounting holes  12  along each of the top and bottom edges, respectively, and at least one vertical mounting hole  13  along each of the left and right edges, respectively. 
         [0012]    Plates  11   a - f  are connected to each other preferably by means of chain links  14  also constructed of plastic, metal, or composite material wherein: 1) First plate  11   b  is chained to second plate  11   c  mounted vertically above first plate  11   b  by means of at least two chain links  14  which pass through two pair of adjacent horizontal mounting holes  12  along the abutting top and bottom edges of first plate  11   b  and second plate  11   c , respectively; 2) First plate  11   b  is chained to third plate  11   d  mounted vertically below first plate  11   b  by means of at least two chain links  14  which pass through two pair of adjacent horizontal mounting holes  12  along the abutting bottom and top edges of first plate  11   b  and third plate  11   d , respectively; 3) First plate  11   b  is chained to fourth plate  11   e  mounted horizontally to the left of first plate  11   b  by means of at least one chain link  14  which passes through one pair of vertical mounting holes  12  along each of the abutting left and right edges of first plate  11   b  and fourth plate  11   e , respectively; and, 4) First plate  11   b  is chained to fifth plate  11   f  mounted horizontally to the right of first plate  11   b  by means of at least one chain link  14  which pass through one pair of vertical mounting holes  12  along each of the abutting right and left edges of first plate  11   b  and fifth plate  11   f , respectively. 
         [0013]    In one embodiment of the present invention, each of plates  11   a - f  are generally rectangular in shape, ranging generally from 2 cm to 6 cm in width and 2 cm to 4 cm in height with radiused or rounded corners to protect the skin of the wearer or to protect cloth fabric in which the plated armor fabric is enclosed. Moreover, plates  11   a - f  do not directly abut neighboring plates. For example, in one embodiment plates  11   b  and  11   c  are separated by a uniform horizontal gap ranging between 1 mm and 10 mm in width. Similarly, plates  11   b  and  11   e  are separated by a uniform vertical gap also ranging between 1 mm and 10 mm in width. 
         [0014]    The invention is used in several ways. A cut sheet of armored fabric may be formed in a particular shape, for example the front of a vest, by severing or removing the chain links that separate the desired cut sheet of armored fabric from the remainder of the source sheet. Two such appropriately cut sheets of armored fabric may be attached at their peripheral edges by means of additional chain links applied along the free edges of each piece to form a pull-over, vest-like garment. The garment may then be worn like a conventional garment. 
         [0015]    In another embodiment of the present invention, desired cut sheets of armored fabric may be sheathed on both sides in coextensive fabric sheets. Natural and synthetic fiber cloth sheets are particularly suitable fabrics, although conventional Kevlar® poly paraphenylene terephthalamide sheets may be used in more demanding applications. These coextensive fabric sheets are jointly affixed to the appropriate cut sheet of armored fabric, and to each other at their peripheral edges by means of conventional sewing, sealing, or sonic welding techniques to form a piece of a garment. A multiplicity of such pieces may be assembled at their peripheral edges by means of conventional sewing, sealing, or sonic welding techniques to form a garment. The resulting garment may then be worn like a conventional garment. 
         [0016]    While the present invention has been described in what are thought to be the most practical and useful embodiments, those skilled in the art will readily recognize that equivalent arrangements are easily constructed. All such variants that seek to alter: 1) The location, configuration, and number of mounting holes  12 ; 2) The precise geometric configuration and size of plates  11   a - f ; and, 3) The spacing between adjoining plates implicitly included in the spirit and scope of the present invention.