Patent ID: 8899526

Claim:
A parachute harness container and load distribution vest combination comprising: a harness container having a front side that is in contact with a jumper's back when the harness container is worn, a main chute and a reserve chute being secured within said container; harness container straps that are worn across the jumper's shoulders to secure the container in position on the jumper's back; main lift webs connected to the parachute risers to support the jumper during descent; and a load distributing vest including an upper yoke and a pair of vest straps extending outwardly from the yoke to respective vest strap ends, said upper yoke being attached to the front side of the harness container at a yoke attachment point and said vest straps being in contact with the jumper's shoulders, back and chest, each of said vest strap ends being attached to said main lift webs at a respective vest strap attachment point, a length of said load distributing vest from said yoke to said vest strap ends being less than a distance between said yoke attachment point on the front side of the harness container and said vest strap attachment points on said main lift webs as measured from the front side of the harness container along an inner side of said harness container straps, said load distributing vest length relative to said distance causing load from said harness container to be distributed across the jumper's back, shoulders and chest by the load distributing vest, wherein said vest straps run concurrently with and under said harness container straps and said main lift webs, said vest straps being kept in alignment with said main lift webs by a guide panel on each of said main lift webs through which a respective vest strap passes.