Patent Document

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0002]    The present invention relates to portable body protective devices and, more particularly, to a tray for airline passengers usable to shield the user against injury from gunfire or an attacker having a sharp edged or sharp pointed weapon.  
           [0003]    2. Description of Related Art  
           [0004]    During medieval times chain mail was worn to minimize injuries from flying arrows, lances and during hand-to-hand combat. Garments of such chain mail were relatively effective but very heavy and tended to limit the agility and movement by a user. Similarly, rigid contoured plates were worn for the same purposes and had the same drawbacks. For the most part, these personal protective devices are not effective to prevent injury from gunfire due to the speed and size of projectiles discharged from presently available firearms.  
           [0005]    As technology developed, particularly in the field of man made fibers, lighter weight materials are now available that offer significant resistence against penetration by projectiles discharged from currently available hand-held guns. Furthermore, these materials are essentially impenetrable to sharp edged instruments, such as knives of various sorts, bayonets, icepicks, scissors, etc., any of which could otherwise inflict a painful, debilitating or fatal injury. Consequently, the military and law enforcement personnel have used rigid, semi-rigid or flexible body armor made of some or all of these materials for years to protect themselves against injury from gunfire or a weapon wielding attacker. Materials of the type described above are sold by Dupont under the trademark Kevlar, by Allied Signal under the trademark Spectra, by Akzo Nobel under the trademark Twaron and by Toyobo under the trademark Dyneema. Collectively, these materials will be referred hereinafter as threat-resistant materials. Flexible metallic materials as well as various polymers would also be within this group of threat-resistant materials.  
           [0006]    Since 1931, hijacking of airlines was practiced by hijackers for personal reasons or as part of a plan by an organization. Congress responded later with penalties of imprisonment for a convicted hijacker. In 1962, President Kennedy started the Federal Sky Marshals program. The primary function of the then twenty (20) sky marshals was to thwart the efforts of a hijacker in an attempt to protect the passengers. Unfortunately, the use of the sky marshals has been sporadic as a function of availability of funds and for political reasons.  
           [0007]    Presently, passengers have no apparatus available to them for protection, except to the extent they have available and choose to use personal body protective devices. As threats of a hijacking or action by a terrorist are present, there exists a need for each passenger to have available in flight or while the aircraft is on the ground, a device that will stop a projectile from a firearm or an attack by a person wielding a sharp edged or sharp pointed instrument.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0008]    The present invention is a removable tray on the seat back of the seat in front of each passenger mounted within the cabin of a commercial airliner. The removable tray to be held by a passenger as a shield includes threat-resistant material located on one side or the other or internally to prevent penetration of a projectile from a firearm or penetration of a sharp edged or sharp pointed instrument and thereby protect a user against a potentially fatal injury. Alternatively, the complete tray may be made of threat-resistant material. Straps or grips may be attached to the tray to facilitate holding the tray in front of a user&#39;s body part to be protected against attack without unnecessarily exposing the user&#39;s hands and arms to injury.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0009]    The present invention will be described with greater specificity and clarity with reference to the following drawings, in which:  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 1 illustrates the back of a representative seat mounted within the cabin of a representative commercial airliner;  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 2 illustrates a removable tray useful for protecting a user against attack and pivotally attached to a seat to permit its normal use as a conventional tray;  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 3 illustrates a detailed view of a representative detachment mechanism;  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 4 illustrates the tray removed from its support structure;  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 5 illustrates a representative grip mounted on the back of the tray; and  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 6 illustrates a further representative strap mounted on the back of the tray.  
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0016]    On numerous occasions, passengers captive within the cabin of a commercial airliner have been attacked by persons committing mischief due to a mental imbalance or by persons in the act of hijacking the airliner. Generally, the passengers are essentially unprotected from such attack except to the extent that each may have sufficient skills in the field of martial arts to deflect such attack or subdue the attacker. As most persons have insufficient skills for this type of self protection, serious and often fatal injuries result. Attacks by mentally imbalanced persons or persons who seek to kidnap one or more passengers in other modes of public transportation, such as buses, trains, trams, boats and the like occur from time to time. These passengers are similarly essentially devoid of sufficient skills to protect themselves against debilitating or fatal injury.  
         [0017]    At each of these public or quasi-public places, the persons are usually seated on cushioned or non-cushioned seats. If such seats have trays or the like detachably attached to the back of the seat in front by a quick disconnect means, such trays constructed in accordance with the present invention can be used to thwart or deflect attack from gunfire or a sharp edged or sharp pointed instrument and minimize any injury inflicted.  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 1 illustrates a part of a representative seat  10 , such as may be present in a commercial airliner. Moreover, a similar seat could be used in a bus, train or other mode of public transportation. Seat  10  generally includes fixed or repositionable armrests, such as armrest  12 . Seat back  14  usually includes a headrest  16  formed as part thereof or as a detachably attached unit. A pocket  18  is generally located toward the lower end of the backrest for housing magazines, brochures, evacuation instructions, safety tips, etc. The seats used in commercial airliners generally have a tray  20  pivotally attached to the seat back to provide the passenger facing the seat back with a platform for beverages, food, etc. The rules and regulations of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) require that such a tray be in the closed position during takeoffs and landings to prevent injury to a passenger in the event of a mishap. Usually, a catch  22  is pivotally attached to headrest  16  to engage a receiving section  24  of the tray. Thereby, the tray is maintained in a closed position by manipulations of catch  22 .  
         [0019]    Bottom edge  30  of tray  20  may be pivotally attached to structure in back  32  of seat  10  by a conventional hinge. Alternatively, it may be pivotally attached by a pair of opposing pins supporting the tray directly or a mechanism extendable from back  32  to permit drawing tray  20  toward a user. In the embodiment shown with reference to FIGS. 1, 2 and  3 , a pair of bent arms  34 ,  36  may be pivotally attached to opposing sides  38 ,  40  of the seat at pivot points, of which pivot point  42  is shown. The configuration of arms  34 ,  36  is provided to permit tray  20  to rest flush against back  32 , as shown in FIG. 1, when the tray is in the upright position. In the position for use of the tray, as shown in FIG. 2, the tray is essentially horizontal and positioned in front of a passenger sitting behind seat  10 . It is to be understood that various others mechanisms may be employed to secure tray  20  to seat  10  to provide for stowing the tray in an upright position adjacent back  32  and to position the tray in front of a passenger, with or without the capability for translating the tray horizontally toward and away from the passenger.  
         [0020]    In order for tray  20  to be used in the manner of a shield to protect a user from being struck by a projectile fired from a firearm or to protect the user against injury from a sharp edged or sharp pointed weapon, tray  20  must be detachably attached to its supporting mechanism by some type of quick disconnect means. One such quick disconnect means or mechanism is particularly illustrated in FIGS. 2, 3 and  4 . Free end  44  of arm  34  extends into a cavity  48  disposed in tray  20 , as particularly shown in FIG. 3. Similarly, free end  50  of arm  36  extends into a similar cavity on the other side of tray  20 . To accommodate insertion of ends  44 ,  50  indentations  52 ,  54  are developed in the tray. Spring loaded pin  56  extends through a hole in arm  34  into a cavity  58  extending interiorly from indentation  52 . A sleeve  60  may be used to capture pin  56 , its associated spring  62  and a retaining washer or element  64 . A similar spring loaded pin  66  extends through a hole in arm  36  for engagement with a corresponding cavity in indentation  54 . Similarly, a sleeve  68  may be employed to retain the mechanisms associated with spring loaded pin  66 .  
         [0021]    In operation, tray  20  is released by catch  22  and drawn downwardly and toward the passenger behind seat  10 . Simultaneously therewith or subsequently thereto, pins  56 ,  66  are drawn outwardly to release the tray from retention by arms  34 ,  36 . Upon such release, the tray becomes disengaged and may be used in the manner of a shield to protect the user.  
         [0022]    Referring jointly to FIGS. 4, 5 and  6 , details of tray  20  to permit it to serve the function of a shield will be described. Normally, trays  20  of the type used in commercial airliners are of relatively inexpensive light weight plastic or of other manmade material. The use of such a tray as a shield for protection purposes is minimally effective. To render tray  20  resistant to a projectile fired from a firearm or against penetration by a sharp edged or sharp pointed weapon, a top layer  70  may be of the type of material described above and identified as threat-resistant material. Such material has the capability for precluding penetration of the projectile from essentially all hand-held firearms. Similarly, such material will prevent penetration of any manually wielded sharp edged or sharp pointed weapon.  
         [0023]    Alternatively, the threat-resistant material may be formed as a bottom layer  72  of tray  20 , as shown in FIG. 5. Layer  72  has the same beneficial protective characteristics as those of layer  70  shown in FIG. 4. Under certain circumstances, it may be preferable to form tray  20  completely of threat-resistant material  74 , as representatively shown in FIG. 6; or, a layer of threat-resistant material may be interleaved between the top and bottom surfaces of the tray as represented by dashed line  76 .  
         [0024]    To permit a user to manipulate and otherwise position tray  20  to protect a body part of the user without exposing the user&#39;s hands or arms, a grip, such as handle  80 , may be formed as part of layer  72  or otherwise attached to tray  20 , as illustrated in FIG. 5. It is to be understood that one or several handles may extend from bottom  78  of the tray or from the lateral or front sides. Alternatively, the grip may be a strap  82 , as shown in FIG. 6, may be attached to bottom  78 . Furthermore, more than one strap may be used to permit two handed holding of tray  20  or to permit a user to extend his/her arm through one of the straps and grip another strap.  
         [0025]    Aside from use of tray  20  as a shield, it is apparent that the tray may be used as a weapon to strike an attacker in the manner of a cudgel or club.  
         [0026]    While the invention has been described with reference to several particular embodiments thereof, those skilled in the art will be able to make the various modifications to the described embodiments of the invention without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention. It is intended that all combinations of elements and steps which perform substantially the same function in substantially the same way to achieve the same result are within the scope of the invention.

Technology Category: 2