Patent Publication Number: US-10314382-B1

Title: Support harness

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims priority from provisional patent applications 60/994,132, filed on Sep. 17, 2007 and 61/073,494 filed on Jun. 18, 2008, both of which are hereby incorporated by reference. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present application relates to a worn equipment support apparatus, and more particularly to an equipment belt for supporting equipment with added support from a supplemental support system. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Equipment belts worn in some occupations (such as law enforcement) often carry several pounds of gear. For example, a typical equipment belt worn by a police officer will include several attached items, including a gun, holster, hand cuffs, spare magazines, flashlight, Taser®, pepper spray, radio, baton, and other items. The collective weight can easily exceed 20 to 30 pounds. This weight, when worn on the hips in the usual manner, can cause inflammation of the sacroiliac joint, which is located at the bottom of the back, on either side of the spine. 
     Some prior art methods of alleviating this burden focused on redistributing the weight, for example, by providing attachments to clothing or materials that are worn over the shoulder. For example, suspenders can be attached to a belt to help carry the burden on the shoulders rather than entirely on the hips. This also helps redistribute some of the weight from the hips to the shoulders. 
     However, in prior art systems, the location of the harness or attachments can create other problems. Typically, law enforcement uniform and safety standards forbid an external suspension system. For example, if a harness is worn outside the clothing to alleviate weight on an equipment belt, the harness is exposed, which is subject to snagging on objects, providing a “handle” on the wearer, or in some other way violating department uniform standards. Under some circumstances, this can be extremely disadvantageous and pose safety issues, such as when the wearer must navigate tight spaces where the torso may rub against other objects (creating the snagging hazard). In law enforcement, where the wearer may be required to engage in a physical altercation (creating the “handle” hazard), an exposed suspension system can present a considerable safety issue, by giving an adversary a convenient grip having considerable leverage, potentially putting the wearer in danger in a physical fight while attempting to subdue and arrest a suspect. Law enforcement personnel widely refer to such an exposed suspension system as “suicide straps.” 
     Additionally, because the equipment belt is designed for wearing outside the clothing, prior art support harnesses cannot easily be worn beneath the clothing. This generally is possible only if the clothing itself were modified to allow an interior support harness to pass through the clothing at a strategic point (such as using a hole cut into the clothing) to connect the interior harness to the exterior equipment belt. In cases where a protective vest or other protective garment is worn beneath clothing, integrating a support and connecting the interior vest support with the exterior equipment belt would require holes or other pass-through means, which could compromise protection. 
     Thus, there is a need for a way to alleviate discomfort arising from heavy equipment belts by providing additional support that can preferably be worn beneath the clothing to avoid the hazards mentioned above, meet safety standards, and comply with uniform standards. 
     In an exemplary embodiment, the present innovations include a support system with attachments configured to connect to an equipment belt, such as a utility or gun belt. In other embodiments, the innovations are characterized by a harness (or other item suspension or weight distribution means, such as suspenders) that attaches to an equipment belt. The suspension system includes attachments that connect to the equipment belt, but which also allow the system to be worn beneath the clothing (such as beneath a uniform) without modification of the clothing. The system utilizes a static joint to aid in retaining the uniform (or other exterior clothing) in place during vigorous activity. A shirt can be tucked in and retained by the static joint while an extension exits from the pants to provide support to an equipment belt. Various embodiments include modifications to accommodate a wide range of uses and environments, such as those encountered by police, military personnel, electricians, maintenance personnel, security personnel, etc. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The disclosed inventions will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, which show important sample embodiments of the invention and which are incorporated in the specification hereof by reference, wherein: 
         FIG. 1  shows an example embodiment of a support harness and attachments consistent with the present innovations. 
         FIG. 2  shows an example embodiment a detail of an attachment consistent with the present innovations. 
         FIG. 3  shows an example embodiment of reinforcements consistent with the present innovations. 
         FIGS. 4 and 4A  show a side and top view of an embodiment of the attachments consistent with the present innovations. 
         FIGS. 5 and 5A  show another side and top view of an embodiment of the attachments consistent with the present innovations. 
         FIG. 6  shows a perspective rear view of an embodiment of the suspension system consistent with the present innovations. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     The numerous innovative teachings of the present application will be described with particular reference to the presently preferred embodiment (by way of example, and not of limitation). 
       FIG. 1  shows an example context consistent with the present innovations. In this example embodiment, support system  100  includes a harness  102  (or alternately other suspension units, such as a cloth undershirt, mesh undershirt, vest, flak jacket or Kevlar protective garment) and an equipment belt  104 . Equipment belt  104  is attached to harness  102  with attachments  106 . In this example, attachments  106  include open faced belt keepers  108  for fixing the attachments  106  to the equipment belt  104 , such as a generally C-shaped rigid plastic or metal bracket. The open face belt keepers  108  are sized so that a semi-flexible equipment belt  104  can be received by the belt keepers  108  either by being inserted into place through the opening in the front or slid into place from the side. 
     The attachments  106  comprise several parts, so that the attachments can be worn beneath clothing and yet attach to the equipment belt  104 . In one exemplary embodiment, the attachments  106  includes a downward extension  106 A extending well below and beneath the beltline (e.g. the approximate user&#39;s waist at waist seam level) on the interior of the clothing, typically a shirt and a pair of pants, then return upward again using an upward extension  106 B, for example, beneath the wearer&#39;s pants but exterior to the wearer&#39;s shirt, if that shirt is worn tucked in. This can comply with uniform standards requiring a uniform shirt tucked into uniform pants, or in some situations, a uniform skirt or even a ceremonial kilt. 
     In this exemplary embodiment, downward extension  106 A and upward extension  106 B form a static joint  109 , for example, that holds a tucked in shirt in place. The top of upward extension  106 B is preferably connected to a hook  106 C, which is carried over the top seam of the wearer&#39;s pants and in some embodiments rigid. Hook  106 C is, in some preferred embodiments, connected to belt keepers  108  that attach to the equipment belt  104 . 
     Attachment  106  can be used in many contexts. In one example embodiment, attachment  106  connects (such as by buckles, straps, loops, knots, Velcro®, snaps, or other means) to a harness  102  that preferably extends over the wearer&#39;s shoulders, to aid in redistributing the weight of the equipment belt  104  from the hips to the shoulders, for example. In some embodiments, the harness  102  and attachment  106  can essentially be a contiguous nylon (or other synthetic fabric) or leather assembly with an attached upward extension  106 B. The harness  102  can be worn under the exterior of a vest, flak jacket, or other clothing or protective garment. Rather than attached to a harness  102 , the attachment  106  can be attached directly to a vest, flak jacket, or other clothing or protective garment. It is noted that, since the harness  102  is worn beneath the clothing, but because attachment  106  extends beneath the beltline and provides the static joint, clothing can be worn over the harness and tucked into the belt or pants, and yet the harness still provides support to the equipment belt, which is of course worn on the exterior. 
     In other embodiments, further attachments  106  are provided to the system. In one example, the harness  102  has four downward depending legs (two in front, two in the rear), and each of these legs includes an attachments  106 , so that an equipment belt is supported in four places. In some preferred embodiments, the attachments  106  can be positioned anywhere around the beltline, such as in front, on the sides, or in the rear, or some combination of these. Other variations and configurations are of course possible, such as two or six legs. 
     The attachments described above are further detailed, on one embodiment, in  FIG. 2 . Attachment  106  includes downward extension  106 A, upward extension  106 B, hook  106 C, and belt keepers  108  for attaching to an equipment belt (not shown). In preferred embodiments, downward and upward extensions  106 A,  106 B, are flexible or semi-rigid (such as from a thin piece of metal or plastic), but can less preferably be made rigid (as in a thick piece of metal or hard plastic) or non-rigid and semi-flexible (as from reinforced or multi-layered synthetic fabric). Preferred extensions  106 A,  106 B include interior plastic, metal, or other rigid, semi-rigid, or semi-flexible material that preferably is not elastic along its length, but which is malleable and retains memory. Preferred extensions  106 A,  106 B provide at the lower end of the downward extension  106 A a static joint  209  at the attachment with the upward extension  106 B, where they form a joining area  202 , for example, to hold between them a shirt tail or other clothing that is tucked in. It is noted that in this example, upper end  204  of downward extension  106 A connects to a harness or vest or other support system (not shown). 
     In use, the belt keeper  108  preferably attaches to an equipment belt. As already noted, the belt keepers  108  can be an open faced rigid structure, but other constructs are available. Belt keepers  108  can be leather, semi-flexible plastic, or a synthetic loop or cuff fastened using male and female snaps, Velcro® closure, or even buckles. Female snaps  210  and male snaps  211  on the belt keeper  108  fasten to secure an equipment belt. Hook  106 C preferably hangs over the upper seam of the wearer&#39;s pants, so that one side of the hook is outside the pants (beneath the equipment belt), while the other side of the hook extends downward inside the pants. The hook  106 C can be flexible (e.g. reinforced synthetic fiber, plastic, or leather), semi-rigid, or rigid. 
     Upward extension  106 B is preferably worn inside the pants, but outside of a shirt tail that is also tucked in the pants. Downward extension  106 A is preferably located inside the pants, and also inside of the wearer&#39;s shirt, positioned out of sight underneath clothing. Thus joining area  202  preferably holds the shirt tail between the two extensions, sandwiching the shirt tail between them. It is also noted that the extensions  106 A,  106 B are preferably semi-flexible (but not entirely rigid or non-rigid), so that when the wearer bends over or sits down, elements within the extensions bend with the user&#39;s body and return to their original straightness when the user resumes a standing position. However, it is important for joining area  202  to maintain sufficient structural rigidity for the system to support an equipment belt without being straightened and pulled out of position. In preferred embodiments, downward extension  106 A can be longer than upward extension  106 B or equal in length. 
     In this way, the attachments can be used to connect the exterior equipment belt to the interior harness, which can be worn as part of a flak jacket or vest, or which can be worn simply as a harness (such as from webbing or other material), whether attached to a vest, worn alone, or even potentially worn under a vest. 
       FIG. 3  shows examples of the stiffening elements that are preferably part of extensions  106 A,  106 B. In this example, stiffening elements can be rectangular  302 , or have cutouts  304 ,  306 . In preferred embodiments, two elements such as elements  304 ,  306 , are used together and overlap such that they are attached at their bottom ends ( 304 A and  306 A) to provide full width surface to attach them (and preferably create a static joint). Because they can (but do not necessarily) include opposing cutouts, they offer combined stiffness against twisting, and provide a “full width” profile when overlapped, but are more individually flexible when bent such as when the wearer sits or bends over. This enhances comfort of use. Preferred embodiments include elements that include no sharp corners, and use curves such as the hourglass shape, or other shapes, as shown in the upper part of element  306 . 
       FIGS. 4 and 4A  show a side and top view of an embodiment of the attachments  406 . The downward extension  406 A can be attached to the harness  402  by a buckle  403  to which the harness  402  can adjustably be attached. The downward extension  406 A and upward extension  406 B in this embodiment is one piece, constructed from two layers of synthetic fabric sandwiching a semi-rigid length of U-shaped thin metal or plastic sewn in between the two layers, with the U-shape static joint  409  providing the transition of the downward extension  406 A to the upward extension  406 B. Another method of construction is to have the downward extension  406 A and upward extension  406 B constructed of reinforced synthetic fabric with a metal or plastic member sewn or adhesively sealed within, forming an acute angled U-shape, V-shape, or J-shape static joint  409 . The hook  406 C can be a bare length of U-shaped metal, with one end attached to the end of the upward extension  406 B using rivets  407 . The other end of the hook  406 C can be attached to the middle of a belt keeper  408  also using rivets  407 . The hook  406 C can be made of a length of leather or plastic or other material, with male snap fasteners  411  and female snap fasteners  410  on either end designed to snap over the width of a supported equipment belt. 
       FIGS. 5 and 5A  show a side and top view of another embodiment of the attachments  506 . In this embodiment, the downward extension  506 A is an integrated extension of the harness  502 , which can be formed by reinforcing the end of the harness  502 . The reinforcing can be done with multiple synthetic fabric layers, by adding an adhesive stiffener, or by using a thin length of semi-flexible plastic or sheet metal sewn between layers of fabric. The upward extension  506 B is a separately formed structure also constructed using multiple synthetic fabric layers or by using a thin length of semi-flexible plastic or sheet metal sewn between layers of synthetic fabric attached with fasteners  511  to the end of the downward extension  506 A. The two attached ends form an acute angled V-shaped static joint  509 . 
     In this embodiment, a loop area  506 C loops over the top seam of pants and is formed by attaching another reinforced, semi-flexible synthetic fabric extension at the end of the upward extension  506 B, to extend back downward and connect with the equipment belt. The belt keeper  508  in this embodiment is a length of semi-flexible, reinforced synthetic fabric, with male snap fasteners  511  and female snap fasteners  510  on either end designed to snap over the width of a supported equipment belt. 
       FIG. 6  provides a rear perspective view of the suspension system underneath a cut away view of a shirt. The suspension system  100  includes the harness  102 . The downward extensions  106 A are fastened to the harness  102  by a buckle  403 . The semi-rigid downward extension  106 A transitions to a semi-rigid upward extension  106 B underneath clothing, so that the downward extension  106 A is positioned underneath a shirt and trousers and the upward extensions  106 B is positioned above the shirt and underneath the trousers, sandwiching the shirt between the downward extension  106 A and upward extension  106 B. A hook  106 C loops over the top of trouser seam to outside the trousers to position the equipment belt  104  inside the fastened belt keepers  108 . As readily apparent from the figure, the weight of the equipment belt  104  is at least partially transferred to the harness  102 . 
     Of course, the innovations of the present application are not limited to the embodiments disclosed, but can include various materials, configurations, positions, or other modifications beyond these embodiments shown, which are exemplary only. 
     The present innovations include various embodiments that can provide a range of advantages to users, including (but not limited to) alleviating back pain, hip bruising, knee problems, and fatigue. The present innovations also provide improved ability to function in some conditions, such as while running, grappling, jumping, or other vigorous activity where an equipment belt is worn. In general terms, the innovations presented herein offer improved wearability of loads in the hip region without the need to use the hands to hold the equipment belt in place and prevent it from moving up and down. 
     According to a disclosed class of innovative embodiments, there is provided: a concealed supplemental support system for an equipment belt, comprising a suspension unit for fitting over a wearer body underneath clothing; a downward extension coupled to the suspension unit extending below and beneath the beltline on the interior of the wearer&#39;s clothing, with a lower end forming an acute angled static joint with a connected upward extension, and an upper end attached to the suspension unit; the upward extension extending up from the static joint connection to the lower end of the downward extension, with a joining area formed between the upward and the downward extension able to accommodate wearer clothing with interior and exterior sides of the clothing sandwiched between the downward extension and the upward extension, the upward extension extending from the interior just above the beltline over a seam to connect to a belt keeper; and said belt keeper capable of securing an equipment belt so as to be at least partially supported by the suspension unit, wherein the downward extension and the upward extension resist straightening out of position. 
     According to a disclosed class of innovative embodiments, there is provided: a method for supporting an equipment belt using a concealed suspension, comprising the steps of providing a suspension unit worn on a user coupled to a downward extension; extending the downward extension underneath the user&#39;s clothing below the beltline that ends and transitions to an upward extension, the upward extension extending up from the downward extension, with a joining area formed by a static joint between the upward and the downward extension able to accommodate an item of wearer clothing sandwiched between the downward extension and the upward extension, the upward extension extending upward from the interior over an exterior seam at approximately the user&#39;s waist to connect to a belt keeper, the combined structure of the downward extension and upper extension exhibiting at least semi-flexibility to resist straightening and bending under a load; and securing an equipment belt to the upward extension so as to be at least partially supported by the suspension unit. 
     According to a disclosed class of innovative embodiments, there is provided: a support system worn beneath clothing for an equipment belt, comprising a downward extension, extending below the waistline of an user and beneath the user&#39;s clothing, with a lower end joined to an upward extension; the upward extension extending up from the downward extension lower end, joined to the downward extension by a static joint, forming a joining area between the upward extension and the downward extension able to sandwich at least one item of user clothing, the upward extension extending to the approximate waistline of the wearer to above a clothing seam to couple to an equipment belt; wherein the downward extension and upper extension exhibit at least semi-flexibility to resist being deformed and straightened under the load of the equipment belt, transferring at least a portion of said load off of the hip area of the user. 
     Modifications and Variations 
     As will be recognized by those skilled in the art, the innovative concepts described in the present application can be modified and varied over a tremendous range of applications, and accordingly the scope of patented subject matter is not limited by any of the specific exemplary teachings given. 
     For example, in one embodiment, the support structure is a pair of suspenders attached to and worn either beneath or outside the protective vest. For another example, the innovations described herein can be created from a variety of materials, including (but not limited to) hard plastic, sheet metal, Kevlar, webbing, nylon, leather, and other materials, for both the stiffening elements and cover material. These elements can be bound together in various ways, including rivets, glue, stables, and other bonding means. The specific implementations given herein are not intended to limit the practice of the present innovations. 
     None of the description in the present application should be read as implying that any particular element, step, or function is an essential element which must be included in the claim scope: THE SCOPE OF PATENTED SUBJECT MATTER IS DEFINED ONLY BY THE ALLOWED CLAIMS. Moreover, none of these claims are intended to invoke paragraph six of 35 USC section 112 unless the exact words “means for” are followed by a participle. 
     The claims as filed are intended to be as comprehensive as possible, and NO subject matter is intentionally relinquished, dedicated, or abandoned.