History of the Body Armor

The use of Body Armor is very old when the people discovered that multiple layered vests made of cloth helped to protect the wearer from arrow penetrations in the medieval times. These were later upgraded to use silk fabric as people discovered that layers of silk had the capacity to slow down the impact of some of the old fire arms. The first of the Body Armor using silk were made at the end of the 1800s.

Then the development of the Body Armor using steel plates was started which restricted the movements of the wearer to great extent due to the very heavy weight. This armor did not find many takers as it was very uncomfortable and heavy in use even though it was much more effective than the silk Body Armor. World War I saw the development of the Body Armor using chrome nickel steel which consisted of a single breast plate and a head gear and this Body Armor was good for protection against rifle bullets coming at the speed of 2700 feet per second. At 40 pounds in weight it was too clumsy and heavy. Another breast plate design based on the breast plates used in the 13th and 14th centuries was also made but with of weight of approximately 30 pounds was also considered too restrictive and heavy to use.

During the 1930s criminals used multiple layered vests made from thick layer of cloth and cotton padding for protection from the bullets in use at that time which usually had velocities less than 1000 feet per second. Law enforcement agencies soon realized this and came out with a much powerful hand gun using the .357 magnum cartridges which made the use of these vests ineffective. The in-expensive vests worn by the criminals which were quite effective against the .25, .22, .32, .380 and .45 type of slow speed fire power was now rendered useless by the magnum .357 bullets which moved at a greater velocity.

Josh Baker writes on topics such as Body Armor and Body Armor for Tactical Gears Visit History of the Body Armor.