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» Obscure
Patent of the Week |
Ballistic resistant body covering [ HTML ]
US Patent No. 6,745,394 - Issued June 8, 2004
Obscure Patent of the Week - June 14, 2004
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HERE
Somebody was asleep at the switch last week at the United States
Patent Office! What appears from the picture to be a design patent
covering a super hero costume is actually a utility patent that
purports to cover body armor capable of protecting the wearer from
ballistic missiles! Yes, that is right, ballistic missiles! Has the
Patent Office gone mad? It was not even like this one was lurking in
a dependent claim buried deep within the patent. The preamble to
claim 1 says: "A body armor device for preventing injury by a
ballistic missile..." Moreover, the rest of claim 1 goes on to
describe nothing more than a costume, with of course the addition of
a ballistic resistant material. Perhaps I am missing the boat here.
Maybe this is the most ingenious invention of all time. It is
definitely the most ingenious patent strategy of all time. After all,
how could you prove that this invention doesn't work? How many test
engineers would be up for donning the body armor and having a
ballistic missile fired at them? Even if the invention worked, it
would only seem to protect the body enough to allow the test dummy to
become an organ donor. My guess is that the world may never truly
know whether this invention works. Perhaps this is a job for the Myth Busters!
To see other obscure patents go to the Museum
of Obscure Patents
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» Patent
Abstract |
A ballistic resistant body covering for protecting the torso, groin
and neck area from ballistic missiles. The ballistic resistant body
covering includes a torso portion having a front plate and a back
plate. Each of the plates is securely coupled together. The torso
portion has a neck opening, a pair of arm openings and a torso
opening. A groin portion has a generally cup-shape and a pair of leg
openings therein. A fastening member releasably couples a top edge of
the groin portion to a bottom edge of the torso portion. Each of the
torso and groin portions comprises a ballistic resistant material.
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» Guts
of the Invention |
From the Summary of the Invention:
[T]he present invention provides a new ballistic resistant body
covering construction wherein the same can be utilized for protecting
the torso, groin and neck area from ballistic missiles.
The general purpose of the present invention, which will be described
subsequently in greater detail, is to provide a new ballistic
resistant body covering apparatus and method which has many of the
advantages of the ballistic resistant body coverings mentioned
heretofore and many novel features that result in a new ballistic
resistant body covering which is not anticipated, rendered obvious,
suggested, or even implied by any of the prior art ballistic
resistant body coverings, either alone or in any combination thereof.
To attain this, the present invention generally comprises a torso
portion having a front plate and a back plate. Each of the plates is
securely coupled together. The torso portion has a neck opening, a
pair of arm openings and a torso opening. A groin portion has a
generally cup-shape and a pair of leg openings therein. A fastening
member releasably couples a top edge of the groin portion to a bottom
edge of the torso portion. Each of the torso and groin portions
comprises a ballistic resistant material.
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An Obscure Patent |
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Patent Suggestion and fill out the form.
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