The Body Armor – First Line of Defense
Wars dominate! even during the earliest civilizations. Today, in the advent of modern warfare, the creation of weapons with more lethal and destructive power led warfare experts to make its antithesis - the body armor - twice the suppressing power than its predecessors in ancient and medieval times.
Body armor an outer covering that protects the wearer against bludgeoning, slashing and penetrating attacks in the thick of battle or any other dangerous situations. It was historically used to protect medieval warriors; today, they are used by police forces, security guards, private body guards and private citizens for protection.
There are two types of body armor such as:
1. Regular non-plated body armor which is being used by security guards, body guards and police forces. They are not suitable for heavy combat.
2. Hard-plated reinforced body armor. This type is used by hostage rescue teams, combat soldiers and police tactical units that operate in heavy combat.
Dating back centuries, there are several recorded history of types of materials being used as body armor used to protect humans, especially warriors or soldiers, in combat and other life-threatening situations. But as civilizations become more advanced, body armors have also become stronger, providing more protection compared to their predecessors. One of the significant factors in the development of armor is the economic growth and cutting edge materials being used in the production of armor.
Here's How Body Armor First Started:
Animal Skin Body Armor
The record of the development of arms and armor began as civilizations started wielding weapons made of metal and metal alloys. Various types of materials used to protect warriors in combat were employed, one of which came from animal's first line of defense. They used clothing made from an animal skin to shield them from injury or minimize the impact of blows from metal weapons. Chinese warriors during 11th century shielded themselves with a rhinoceros skin.
Metal Armor
Medieval civilization adopted a new kind of armor from animal skin, to wood, and then to metal and steel shields, commonly known today as the armor suit of the knights and lords of the Middle Ages. In the mid-14th century, steel-plate armor that covers from head to foot was required due to the advancement of technology such as high velocity longbow and crossbow arms. However, the inception firearms and high explosives has rendered metal armor ineffective. In fact, the only "armor" that offers protection against firearms in late medieval times are man-made stone walls, huge rocks, tress and ditches.
Soft Body Armor made from silk
During the 17th century, the first recorded use of soft armor was the medieval Japanese warriors who used bulletproof clothing made from silk. Dr. George Goodfellow of Arizona made an exclusive investigation about the oldest tested soft silk vests and compared it to gambesons'18-30 layers of fabric used as body protection for arrow diffusion during medieval wars. Since then, Rev. Casimir Zeglen of Chicago IL has developed silk bulletproof clothing that can stop low-velocity rounds from black powder guns.
Then in late 19th century, the utilization of US military forces of the first soft body armor was put to the test. Military forces during this time investigate the effectiveness of using the soft armor made of silk. The project standard attracted the crowd's attention after the murder of President William McKinley in 1901. It was proven that the vest is effective against low-velocity bullets which travel from 400 feet per second or less but cannot withstand new generation handgun ammo which travel more than 600 feet per second which was used during that time.
After almost ten years in 1919, there had been plenty of recorded various designs of bullet-resistant garments in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office list. In fact, one of these vests was used by the Washington D.C.'s law enforcement officers and the members of the Metropolitan Police Department way back April 2, 1931. However, not even a single design of these armor vests proved to be effective for corrections and law enforcement use.
Next Generation Bullet Proof Vests
The next generation of Bullet Proof Vests evolved from the flak jacket used in World War II. The armor was originally developed by the Wilkinson Sword Company to help protect the RAF (Royal Air Force) against the flying shrapnel from German anti-aircraft guns and other low velocity projectiles including rifle and pistols.
The RAF offered flak jackets to be used by the US Army Air Forces. During WWII, flak jackets and steel helmets were used by the US Navy in aircraft carriers and served as their Defense Standard.
However, "flak jacket," consisting of manganese steel plates sewn into a jacket made up of ballistic nylon from the DuPont Company, forming plate armor or brigandine weighed 22 pounds, making it too bulky and burdensome to wear.
Lightweight Body Armor
During the 1960s, due to the concern of the heavyweight materials used in flak jackets, a new fiber was discovered that would make modern body armor possible. This is the vests that has been used by the U.S. Marines, named "Vest, Armored M-1955," weighing over 10 pounds made by the combination of ballistic nylon layers and fiberglass plates called Doron. This material was made up of fiberglass fibers in an ethyl cellulose resin under high pressure.
Kevlar Body Armor®
During 1970s, Kevlar® was one of the most significant developments of Body Armor industry which is invented by DuPont's Kevlar® ballistic fabric. The development of the Kevlar® body armor has been studied extensively by NIJ (National Institute of Justice) for several years.
The final report of the investigations released in 1976 concluded that the new ballistic materials for an effective bullet resistant garment were light and can be worn in a full time usage. The demonstration of Kevlar® body armor was to ensure a 95% survival possibility when hit from a velocity of 800 ft/s with a .38 caliber and only 10% or less possibility of required surgery when hit.
Body armor an outer covering that protects the wearer against bludgeoning, slashing and penetrating attacks in the thick of battle or any other dangerous situations. It was historically used to protect medieval warriors; today, they are used by police forces, security guards, private body guards and private citizens for protection.
There are two types of body armor such as:
1. Regular non-plated body armor which is being used by security guards, body guards and police forces. They are not suitable for heavy combat.
2. Hard-plated reinforced body armor. This type is used by hostage rescue teams, combat soldiers and police tactical units that operate in heavy combat.
Dating back centuries, there are several recorded history of types of materials being used as body armor used to protect humans, especially warriors or soldiers, in combat and other life-threatening situations. But as civilizations become more advanced, body armors have also become stronger, providing more protection compared to their predecessors. One of the significant factors in the development of armor is the economic growth and cutting edge materials being used in the production of armor.
Here's How Body Armor First Started:
Animal Skin Body Armor
The record of the development of arms and armor began as civilizations started wielding weapons made of metal and metal alloys. Various types of materials used to protect warriors in combat were employed, one of which came from animal's first line of defense. They used clothing made from an animal skin to shield them from injury or minimize the impact of blows from metal weapons. Chinese warriors during 11th century shielded themselves with a rhinoceros skin.
Metal Armor
Medieval civilization adopted a new kind of armor from animal skin, to wood, and then to metal and steel shields, commonly known today as the armor suit of the knights and lords of the Middle Ages. In the mid-14th century, steel-plate armor that covers from head to foot was required due to the advancement of technology such as high velocity longbow and crossbow arms. However, the inception firearms and high explosives has rendered metal armor ineffective. In fact, the only "armor" that offers protection against firearms in late medieval times are man-made stone walls, huge rocks, tress and ditches.
Soft Body Armor made from silk
During the 17th century, the first recorded use of soft armor was the medieval Japanese warriors who used bulletproof clothing made from silk. Dr. George Goodfellow of Arizona made an exclusive investigation about the oldest tested soft silk vests and compared it to gambesons'18-30 layers of fabric used as body protection for arrow diffusion during medieval wars. Since then, Rev. Casimir Zeglen of Chicago IL has developed silk bulletproof clothing that can stop low-velocity rounds from black powder guns.
Then in late 19th century, the utilization of US military forces of the first soft body armor was put to the test. Military forces during this time investigate the effectiveness of using the soft armor made of silk. The project standard attracted the crowd's attention after the murder of President William McKinley in 1901. It was proven that the vest is effective against low-velocity bullets which travel from 400 feet per second or less but cannot withstand new generation handgun ammo which travel more than 600 feet per second which was used during that time.
After almost ten years in 1919, there had been plenty of recorded various designs of bullet-resistant garments in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office list. In fact, one of these vests was used by the Washington D.C.'s law enforcement officers and the members of the Metropolitan Police Department way back April 2, 1931. However, not even a single design of these armor vests proved to be effective for corrections and law enforcement use.
Next Generation Bullet Proof Vests
The next generation of Bullet Proof Vests evolved from the flak jacket used in World War II. The armor was originally developed by the Wilkinson Sword Company to help protect the RAF (Royal Air Force) against the flying shrapnel from German anti-aircraft guns and other low velocity projectiles including rifle and pistols.
The RAF offered flak jackets to be used by the US Army Air Forces. During WWII, flak jackets and steel helmets were used by the US Navy in aircraft carriers and served as their Defense Standard.
However, "flak jacket," consisting of manganese steel plates sewn into a jacket made up of ballistic nylon from the DuPont Company, forming plate armor or brigandine weighed 22 pounds, making it too bulky and burdensome to wear.
Lightweight Body Armor
During the 1960s, due to the concern of the heavyweight materials used in flak jackets, a new fiber was discovered that would make modern body armor possible. This is the vests that has been used by the U.S. Marines, named "Vest, Armored M-1955," weighing over 10 pounds made by the combination of ballistic nylon layers and fiberglass plates called Doron. This material was made up of fiberglass fibers in an ethyl cellulose resin under high pressure.
Kevlar Body Armor®
During 1970s, Kevlar® was one of the most significant developments of Body Armor industry which is invented by DuPont's Kevlar® ballistic fabric. The development of the Kevlar® body armor has been studied extensively by NIJ (National Institute of Justice) for several years.
The final report of the investigations released in 1976 concluded that the new ballistic materials for an effective bullet resistant garment were light and can be worn in a full time usage. The demonstration of Kevlar® body armor was to ensure a 95% survival possibility when hit from a velocity of 800 ft/s with a .38 caliber and only 10% or less possibility of required surgery when hit.
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