Patent ID: 7255034

Claim:
A mine-detonation-resistant understructure for a vehicle body, the understructure comprising: a generally horizontal floor; a downwardly concave one-piece armoring plate mounted on the body underneath the floor without a direct connection to the floor, concave toward and facing the ground, and spaced below the floor by a distance sufficient to avoid contact with the floor upon buckling of the plate caused by a mine blase underneath the plate, the bottom plate being formed with at least one longitudinally extending bending edge, the armoring plate being wholly formed by a plurality of substantially planar sections or panels interconnected at corners; and a deformation free space formed between the plate and the floor of a height sufficient to permit inward buckling of the plate under a mine detonation without contact of the plate with the floor and substantially free of any force-transmitting structure engaging the floor and plate.