The History and Application
History of the bullet proof vests
The idea and construction of the bullet proof vest was an ingenious idea with a long path. "Bullet proof" material was originally designed to protect the wearer's vital organs from projectiles in the act of war. It is common belief that bullet proof vests are in fact bullet resistant, when this is not the case. Rather than stopping the bullet, the vest slows down the bullet's velocity through its multiple layers to minimize the damage on the person wearing the vest. (MadeHow, Seacrest)
In the 6th century Mycenaens and the 6th century Persians and Greeks layered cloths of linen cloth. Till the 9th century Micronesian habitants from the Ellice and Gilbert islands wove coconut palm fibre as their cloth. Animal hide was utilized as body armour by Native Americans (Shoshone) wore jackets sewn together by layers of hide, they believed no part of an animal should be wasted .Similarly the Chinese used thick, tough rhinoceros hide layered five the seven times for optimal efficiency. (MadeHow, Seacrest)
Eventually more protection and body armour was needed to keep up with the technologically advanced weapons. Mail armour or chain mail was invented around 400BC in the Ukraine, chain mail is most commonly associated with knights and the Middle Ages. With this in mind soldiers needed more protection from advanced weapons such as the metal sword. The mail armour carried on until the 14th century by the Romans who wore mail shirts as their main source of armour. This proved a successful defence mechanism as they were able to conquer many neighbouring lands while expanding their empire. While chain armour was widespread amongst Europe in Africa scale armour was emerging. Scale armour was typically found in countries like Sudan and Nigeria , where tribes would take the scales, bone and leather from scaled animals in their region like the scaly anteater. Just when mail armour was making a break through Brigandine armour arose. Brigandine armour were jackets that were quilted,sleeveless (hence the vest aspect of bullet proof vests) and had small rectangular metal plates imbedded within the leather, typically iron or steel. The rectangular metals in side the vest overlapped one another much like shingles on a roof, this allowed movement and flexibility unlike the stiff metals breast plates used by Ancient Greek soldiers.(MadeHow, Seacrest)
The idea of clothing to now prevent the body against the newly invented fire arms was discussed. Inventors began to modify and strengthen the torso area by using thick steel plates and a second layer of material over the breast plate, to protect the vital organs like the heart. While this was a new mode of protection the notion of fire arm protection was not used in military use until after the Civil war, World War I and World War II. But until 1940 (five years before the end of the Second World War) when plastics was the new revolutionary product, did Bullet Proof vests become readily available to the military and law enforcement teams. The new vests were created with ballistic nylon and supported with fibre glass (used in bullet proof glass), steel, ceramic, titanium, Doron, and composites of fibre glass and ceramic (which proved the mot effective) (MadeHow, Seacrest). In the 1960's very hard ceramic (boron carbide) and steel were combined to make composite layers (Britannica). Meanwhile in 1965 Stephanie Kwolek invented Kevlar, yet until the 1970's ballistic nylon was the main fabric used in Bullet Proof Vests. Kwolek had invented Kevlar as the trademark for poly-para-phenylene terephalamide, a liquid polymer that could be woven into cloth fibres. (MadeHow, Seacrest)
In 1971 Lester Shubin (from the National Institute of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice) had the bulky ballistic nylon vests replaced with Kevlar based vests. Kevlar makes Bullet Proof Vests lighter and stronger than traditional methods; it is still the common material used in Bullet Proof Vests today. (MadeHow, Seacrest)
Applications of the Bullet Proof vest
Despite the common use of Bullet Proof vests and glass in law enforcement, criminal justice and military operations Bullet proof material is now being used in anti-terrorist field operatives. This is due to the recent rise in terrorism over the last half of the 20th century (Britannica). Bullet Proof vests and glass have also made their appearance in the media from criminal justice shows, these forms of media send out awareness about Bullet Proof material and their applications even though the situation is fictitious.
How Bullet Proof vests and glass work (by using a basic understanding of physics)
The fabric in the vest/glass deforms the bullet on impact by spreading the energy of the bullet over the surface of the vest and glassThis energy is then slowed down by the many layers made of a heavy weave fabric stitched like a quilt in the vest (or the fibre glass structure in Bullet Proof glass). When a bullet is fired the person wearing the vest is usually left a bruise and anyone behind the Bullet Proof glass remains unharmed and only sees "spiderweb-like" projections of the cracks on the otherwise stable glass (Britannica).
The idea and construction of the bullet proof vest was an ingenious idea with a long path. "Bullet proof" material was originally designed to protect the wearer's vital organs from projectiles in the act of war. It is common belief that bullet proof vests are in fact bullet resistant, when this is not the case. Rather than stopping the bullet, the vest slows down the bullet's velocity through its multiple layers to minimize the damage on the person wearing the vest. (MadeHow, Seacrest)
In the 6th century Mycenaens and the 6th century Persians and Greeks layered cloths of linen cloth. Till the 9th century Micronesian habitants from the Ellice and Gilbert islands wove coconut palm fibre as their cloth. Animal hide was utilized as body armour by Native Americans (Shoshone) wore jackets sewn together by layers of hide, they believed no part of an animal should be wasted .Similarly the Chinese used thick, tough rhinoceros hide layered five the seven times for optimal efficiency. (MadeHow, Seacrest)
Eventually more protection and body armour was needed to keep up with the technologically advanced weapons. Mail armour or chain mail was invented around 400BC in the Ukraine, chain mail is most commonly associated with knights and the Middle Ages. With this in mind soldiers needed more protection from advanced weapons such as the metal sword. The mail armour carried on until the 14th century by the Romans who wore mail shirts as their main source of armour. This proved a successful defence mechanism as they were able to conquer many neighbouring lands while expanding their empire. While chain armour was widespread amongst Europe in Africa scale armour was emerging. Scale armour was typically found in countries like Sudan and Nigeria , where tribes would take the scales, bone and leather from scaled animals in their region like the scaly anteater. Just when mail armour was making a break through Brigandine armour arose. Brigandine armour were jackets that were quilted,sleeveless (hence the vest aspect of bullet proof vests) and had small rectangular metal plates imbedded within the leather, typically iron or steel. The rectangular metals in side the vest overlapped one another much like shingles on a roof, this allowed movement and flexibility unlike the stiff metals breast plates used by Ancient Greek soldiers.(MadeHow, Seacrest)
The idea of clothing to now prevent the body against the newly invented fire arms was discussed. Inventors began to modify and strengthen the torso area by using thick steel plates and a second layer of material over the breast plate, to protect the vital organs like the heart. While this was a new mode of protection the notion of fire arm protection was not used in military use until after the Civil war, World War I and World War II. But until 1940 (five years before the end of the Second World War) when plastics was the new revolutionary product, did Bullet Proof vests become readily available to the military and law enforcement teams. The new vests were created with ballistic nylon and supported with fibre glass (used in bullet proof glass), steel, ceramic, titanium, Doron, and composites of fibre glass and ceramic (which proved the mot effective) (MadeHow, Seacrest). In the 1960's very hard ceramic (boron carbide) and steel were combined to make composite layers (Britannica). Meanwhile in 1965 Stephanie Kwolek invented Kevlar, yet until the 1970's ballistic nylon was the main fabric used in Bullet Proof Vests. Kwolek had invented Kevlar as the trademark for poly-para-phenylene terephalamide, a liquid polymer that could be woven into cloth fibres. (MadeHow, Seacrest)
In 1971 Lester Shubin (from the National Institute of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice) had the bulky ballistic nylon vests replaced with Kevlar based vests. Kevlar makes Bullet Proof Vests lighter and stronger than traditional methods; it is still the common material used in Bullet Proof Vests today. (MadeHow, Seacrest)
Applications of the Bullet Proof vest
Despite the common use of Bullet Proof vests and glass in law enforcement, criminal justice and military operations Bullet proof material is now being used in anti-terrorist field operatives. This is due to the recent rise in terrorism over the last half of the 20th century (Britannica). Bullet Proof vests and glass have also made their appearance in the media from criminal justice shows, these forms of media send out awareness about Bullet Proof material and their applications even though the situation is fictitious.
How Bullet Proof vests and glass work (by using a basic understanding of physics)
The fabric in the vest/glass deforms the bullet on impact by spreading the energy of the bullet over the surface of the vest and glassThis energy is then slowed down by the many layers made of a heavy weave fabric stitched like a quilt in the vest (or the fibre glass structure in Bullet Proof glass). When a bullet is fired the person wearing the vest is usually left a bruise and anyone behind the Bullet Proof glass remains unharmed and only sees "spiderweb-like" projections of the cracks on the otherwise stable glass (Britannica).