The history of bullet proof vests and bullet proof jackets
Throughout the recorded history, men have used different types of materials for protecting their body against injury in war and other similar situations. Animal skins were used to make the protective body armors during the initial days. With the passing time and the advancement in the technology, different materials such as wood and metal were used to make such shields. Eventually, people stopped using the wooden shield and the metal armors became prominent in the middle ages. However, when the firearms were invented in the 1500s, metal protections did not turn out to be much effective and people did not have any kind of bullet proof vest or bullet proof jackets to protect their body from the bullets.
Till the time the bullet proof armors were invented, the only protection available against bullets were stone walls, ditches, rocks or trees. One of the first recorded instances of using a bullet proof shield was in the form of a soft body armor which was used by the Japanese who used silk to manufacture the bullet proof vests. These bullet proof armors were tested which proved that they were quite efficient in providing protection against the low-velocity bullets traveling at a speed of 400ft/sec or less, however, these bullet proof jackets were not at all good for the new generation handguns which were invented at that point of time.
The United States Patent lists certain record which dates back to 1919 for manufacturing certain designs of bullet proof vests and body armors. One of the fist recorded proofs where such a vest was confirmed for use by the law enforcement officers was documented in the year 1931, April 2nd in the newspaper named Evening Star in Washington D.C which presented the bullet proof jackets to the members of the Metropolitan Police Department.
The next generation of anti-ballistic bullet proof jackets came into the picture during the World War II in the form of ‘flak jackets’ which were manufactured using the ballistic nylon. The flak jackets were able to provide good amount of protection against the ammunition fragments, however, they completely failed to provide any kind of security against most of the pistol or rifle threats. One more disadvantage of these flak jackets was that these were really bulky and it was difficult to carry them in tough situations. People tried using different materials for manufacturing bullet proof vests, however, most of them proved ineffective.
In the late years of 1960, finally new fibers were discovered because of which the modern day’s bullet proof vests and body armors were made possible. A research program was initiated by the National Institute of Justice for investigating the development of a light weighed bullet proof jacket which policemen can use while they are on duty. The results were satisfying and new fabrics were identified which could be used for making the modern body armors since they have a high resistive properties. Soon the body armor manufacturing companies used the advanced technology to create and test the body armors which could be effective against protecting the body against bullets, explosives and other sharp objects.
Certain interesting fact about the modern body armors like bullet proof vests and bullet proof jackets can be found on the net. The history of their evolution is really interesting.