Abstract:
A safety vest is claimed and described. In preferred embodiments, the vest includes a front panel formed from a first section and a second section. The vest also includes a donning fastener having a first and second side. The first donning fastener side connects to the first section of the front panel. The vest also includes a safety fastener having a first safety fastener side and a second safety fastener side. In most embodiments, the first side of the safety fastener is positioned on the second donning fastener side. The second safety fastener side is connected to the second section of the front panel. The vest can be donned, secured, and removed with the donning fastener and, because of safety fasteners, will safely break away from a wearer under tension.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
   (1) Field 
   This disclosure relates generally to garments, and, more particularly, to vests for increased safety. 
   (2) Related Technology 
   Traditional breakaway vests are known in the art. While they are commonly designed to increase visibility, they are primarily designed to breakaway from the wearer&#39;s body under tension or during a safety emergency. Such a feature is desirable, for example, for police officers or public transit workers who risk having portions of their clothing caught in or on vehicles. If these situations do occur, breakaway vests reduce the risk of workers being dragged by breaking away from the wearer&#39;s body under tension. Breakaway garments and vests are also desirable for machine workers, e.g., press operators, trash collectors, or wood chip operators, who risk having clothing caught in machinery. For these types of workers, becoming entangled with machinery may result in extreme bodily harm, if not death. 
   Some traditional breakaway vests are based on a pull-over design. For a variety of reasons, however, (e.g., bulky uniforms, excessive equipment and accessories, inflexibility) pull-over vests may not be easy or practical for all wearers to put on and take off. Because of this inconvenience, many who should be wearing a safety vest at all times do not. This oversight can lead to injury or loss of life. 
   To overcome the aforementioned problem, others open the vest at its safety fasteners, which are commonly hook and loop fasteners, e.g., VELCRO, in an attempt to ease donning the garment. This technique, however, is time consuming because it is difficult to properly align the various hook and loop portions of the garment. Because of these problems, many may not wear their breakaway vests at all times, or may not wear their vests properly, which may lead to injury or loss of life. 
   Thus what is needed is a breakaway garment that provides safety features of traditional garments, but that further reduces the risk of injury and loss of life by being easy and comfortable to put on properly, secure, and take off. 
   SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE 
   This disclosure describes breakaway garments designed to improve safety and reduce the risk of injury and loss of life. The garment includes a front panel including a front upper portion and a front lower portion. The front panel includes at least a pair of sections joined by a donning fastener. The donning fastener is configured to facilitate donning, securing, and removing the garment. The front panel also includes a first safety fastener configured to allow the front panel to separate under tension above a breakaway threshold, which may be, for example, a pound of tension. In this embodiment, a back panel having a back upper portion and a back lower portion is coupled to the front panel. 
   In most embodiments, the donning fastener is a zipper and the first safety fastener is a hook and loop fastener. In many embodiments, the front and back panels are coupled by a plurality of second safety fasteners, which preferably include a pair of upper safety fasteners configured to connect the upper front portion of the front panel to the upper back portion of the back panel, and a pair of lower safety fasteners configured to connect the lower front portion of the front panel to the lower back portion of the back panel. Preferably, the plurality of second safety fasteners are hook and loop fasteners. 
   The vests may be multi-colored, and further may include fluorescent orange and fluorescent lime-yellow portions, or other high visibility colors. In addition, the vests may include a plurality of reflective portions, e.g., chevrons, and, optionally, pockets or pen and microphone holders. The disclosure also provides vests that are ANSI/ISEA 107-2004 Class 2 compliant, and also compliant with the possible future ANSI/ISEA 207-200X Public Safety Vest Standard. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is a front view of an embodiment of a breakaway garment; 
       FIG. 2  is a front view a panel of the embodiment; 
       FIG. 3  is a front view of a panel of the embodiment; 
       FIG. 4  is a back view of the panel shown in  FIG. 3 ; and 
       FIG. 5  is a side view of the embodiment on a wearer. 
   

   DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS 
   In the following description, like reference characters designate like or corresponding parts throughout the several views. Also in the following description, such terms as “forward,” “rearward,” “left,” “right,” “upwardly,” “downwardly,” and the like are words of convenience and are not to be construed as limiting terms. Also, the illustrations and descriptions are for disclosing various embodiments of a breakaway vest and do not limit the vest to any particular embodiment disclosed. 
     FIG. 1  shows one embodiment of a safety garment  10  of the present invention. While the garment depicted is a vest, and in particular a breakaway vest, the present invention is inclusive of other breakaway garments as well, for example, breakaway jackets. Vest  10  includes front panel  4  (also shown individually in  FIG. 2 ) coupled to back panel  7  (also shown individually in  FIG. 3 ). Front panel  4  includes upper portion  20  and bottom portion  22 , and back panel  7  includes upper portion  24  (see  FIG. 3 ) and bottom portion  26  (see  FIG. 3 ). 
   Front panel  4  includes a pair of front panel sections, depicted here as section  42  and section  43 , which are joined by donning fastener  51 . Donning fastener  51  is configured to facilitate donning, securing, and removing the garment, and is, in this embodiment, depicted as zipper  51 . Zipper  51  may be any of the variety of zippers available, and may be for example, a tooth or coil style zipper and may be locking or non-locking. Preferably zipper  51  is a separating zipper. Zipper  51  includes a first tape  52 ( a ) on one side of the zipper and a second tape  52 ( b ) on the opposite side of the zipper. While, as depicted, first tape  52 ( a ) is shown on the left of the zipper and second tape  52 ( b ) is shown on the right of the zipper, “first” and “second” are not intended to impart any positional limitation. For example, in other embodiments, tape  52 ( a ) may be the second tape and tape  52 ( b ) may be the first tape. In other embodiments, the donning fasteners can be conventional means for closing a garment, but not elongated strips of hook and loop fasteners. For example, others may desire buttons, snaps, hooks, buckles, or loops, all of which are within the scope of the present invention. 
     FIG. 2  shows a first safety fastener  62  of the present embodiment. First safety fastener  62  is configured to allow panels to separate under tension above a breakaway threshold. While the tension may vary from embodiment to embodiment, in some embodiments 1 pound, 2 pounds, 3 pounds, or 4 pounds of tension may be ideal. Still others may prefer more or less tension. Somewhat similarly, others may desire a breakaway threshold tension based on current or future ANSI standards or recommendations. Those skilled in the art will recognize that the threshold tension may be adjusted, for example, in hook and loop embodiments, by increasing the number of hooks and loops per unit of area, or by using larger, stronger, or more rigid hook and loop fasteners. 
   In the embodiment of  FIG. 2 , first safety fastener is a hook and loop fastener, e.g. VELCRO, and includes a first tape  62 ( a ) and a second tape  62 ( b ). The “first” and “second” adjectives are used for descriptive purposes and are not intended to impart any numeric or positional limitations to first safety fasteners of the present invention. Zipper  51  is connected at first tape  52 ( a ) to the first section  42  of front panel  4 . Hook and loop fastener  62 , is connected at side  62 ( a ) to the second tape  52 ( b ) of zipper  51 . The second side of hook and loop fastener  62 ( b ) is connected to the second section  43  of front panel  4 . When in use, hook and loop side  62 ( a ) is fastened to hook and loop side  62 ( b ) until it is torn away by tension. Those skilled in the art will recognize that either  62 ( a ) or  62 ( b ) may be either the hook or the loop portion of the hook and loop fastener. Zipper  51  is used to put on and remove the vest during everyday use. Such a configuration allows for the safety garment to be easily donned and secured over bulky uniforms and clothing, while at the same time increases a wearer&#39;s safety by allowing the garment to be easily torn off in the event it becomes entangled. 
   While in the preferred embodiments, front panels have a pair of sections, e.g., first section  42  and second section  43 , other embodiments of the invention may have additional sections. For example, some embodiments of the invention may include three sections in the front panel, wherein, for example, the donning fastener connects a first and second section and wherein the safety fastener connects a second and third section. All such embodiments are considered to be within the scope of the present invention. 
   In preferred embodiments, the front and back panels of the garments of the present invention are coupled by a plurality of second safety fasteners. Preferably, the plurality of second safety fasteners includes a pair of upper safety fasteners  92  and  93 , and a pair of lower safety fasteners  94  and  95 , configured to connect front panel  4  with back panel  7 . In the preferred embodiment, the plurality of second safety fasteners include hook and loop fasteners, with mating portions of hook and loops shown generally as horizontal strips  64 ,  65 ,  71 ,  72 ,  73 ,  74 ,  77  and  78  (seen in various figures). As shown in  FIG. 1 , in some embodiments, it may be desirable to position upper safety fasteners  92  and  93  drop-shoulder, for example, to increase comfort and prevent safety fasteners from snagging of uniforms or tools located about uniforms. 
   Preferably, lower safety fasteners  94  and  95  connect the lower front portion  22  of panel  4  to the lower back portion  26  of panel  7  with arms  12  and  13  (also visible in  FIG. 3 ), which are positioned to wrap around a wearer&#39;s waist. While arms are preferable for practicing certain embodiments of the present invention, for example, for allowing a single vest to fit a variety of wearers wearing a variety of clothing or uniforms, in other embodiments front portion  22 , may connect to back portion  26  directly, e.g., without the use of arms. 
     FIG. 5  shows vest  10  on a wearer  106 , who may be, for example, a police officer. Vest  10  includes tool access  38  that is defined, at least in part, by either the front or back panel. Tool access  38  is configured to allow a wearer to access tools, e.g., gun  39 , located on the wearer&#39;s belt, hip or lower leg region, and allow vest  10  to be torn away under tension without becoming caught on tools located in the same region. In the preferred embodiment shown, the depicted tool access  38  is defined at its sides by both portion  34  of the front panel and by portion  37  of the back panel, and to some extent, at its top by arm  12 . Preferably, tool access  38  has a height of about 7 inches and width of about 8 inches, which allows wearers to access multiple, or a variety of different, tools. While only one tool access is shown, the opposite side of vest  10  may include a similar tool access. Others may wish to practice the present invention using other configurations for the tool access. 
   Most embodiments of the garment of the present invention may also include high-visibility coloring or a reflective portion, and many embodiments, e.g., high visibility safety vests, will preferably include both high visibility coloring and reflective tape. For example, referring to the vest shown in  FIG. 1 , portion  46  may be considered to be any high visibility coloring, and will preferably be a high visibility coloring in compliance with ANSI safety standards, and tape  83  may be considered to be reflective tape. Other portions of the vest may also be considered to be either high visibility or reflective as well. Referring to the back view of panel  7  shown in  FIG. 4 , other reflective and high visibility portions may be seen. For example, portions  57  and  58  may be high visibility, while a portions  88  and  89 , which are shown in chevron formation, may be reflective tape. 
     FIG. 4  also shows a band of material  45  is secured along four axes  46 ,  47 ,  48  and  49  to the panel  7  to form a clip capable of receiving and retaining items such as radio microphones and pens. 
   Numerous characteristics and advantages have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of structure and function. The novel features are pointed out in the appended claims. The disclosure, however, is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts, within the principle of the invention, to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the general claims are expressed.