WO2007114702A1

WO2007114702A1 - Personal carriage system

Info

Publication number: WO2007114702A1
Application number: PCT/NL2007/050144
Authority: WO
Inventors: Claudy Lucille Koerhuis; Wouter Adri Lotens; Peter Alexander Reffeltrath; Pim Rensink; Edith Manja Groenewolt; Mark Wilhelmus Theresia Van Tilburg
Original assignee: Nederlandse Organisatie voor Toegepast Natuurwetenschappelijk Onderzoek TNO
Current assignee: Nederlandse Organisatie voor Toegepast Natuurwetenschappelijk Onderzoek TNO
Priority date: 2006-04-05
Filing date: 2007-04-05
Publication date: 2007-10-11
Anticipated expiration: 2008-10-05
Also published as: EP1842449A1

Abstract

Carriage system for carrying burdens (B) by a person (1) . A torso module (2) and a support module (3) are arranged to found upon the person's hips in the person's upright position, e.g. via a hip module (3a) around the person's hips. The length of the support module is variable, starting from a minimum length, at which, in the person's upright position, the torso module (2) , via the support module (3) , founds upon the person's hips. The support module comprises a support element (3b-c) and a forked hip element (3d) . The fork ends are swivelingly (3g) connected with the hip module. The support module may be enabled to adjust the degree of flexibility/stiffness of the support module.

Description

Title: Personal carriage system

Field

The invention concerns a carriage system for carrying burdens by a person in particular at back side, however also at chest side. In particular, however not exclusively, it concerns a carriage system for military personnel.

Background

Present rucksacks comprise a carriage system with shoulder and hip straps. For the stability the shoulder straps are tightened and in this way the burden, e.g. comprising ballistic protection plates, ammunition, radio etc., is mainly carried by the shoulders .

The following problems occur at the present carriage systems:

An essential part of the burden is carried by the person' s shoulders, resulting in discomfort and reduced performance.

Combination of the carriage system and ballistic protection is so stiff that the upper part of the body cannot move sufficiently.

Military actions with heavily burdened shoulders is difficult.

From US patent No. 4,214,685 a carriage system is known with an upper (shoulder height) frame part and a lower (hip height) frame part connected via a single joint where the upper part can rotate around a horizontal axis. Thus the carriage system can take up swaying left to right motions. The document mentions that the joint can be replaced by flexible fabric. In this case the upper frame part will hang down from the lower frame part. Although this may provide for greater flexibility of movement of the upper frame part movement is still limited. US patent No describes a carriage system with two columns of flexible blocks between the shoulder and the hip. The use of two such columns limits the freedom of movement of the bearer, for example for rotation around the vertical axis (looking back) .

Summary

The inventions aims to provide a system for carrying burdens by a person, in which the burden - at back and front side - essentially rests on the hips and in which the upper part of the body retains maximum mobility.

To that end the inventions provides a carriage system for the carriage of burdens by a person as set forth in claim 1. By using a single flexible support element to support the torso module on the support module on the hips, a maximum freedom of movement is obtained.

The support module preferably comprises a hip module, arranged to enclose, at least partly, the person's hips, enabling that the support module rests well positioned at the person's hips. The support module is preferably arranged so that the length between its upperside and its underside is variable, starting from a minimum length e.g. having a value at which in the person's upright position the torso module, via the support module, founds upon the person's hips.

In an advantageous embodiment the support module comprises a support element, essentially at the person's back side, and a more or less forked hip element, extending from the underside of the support element towards the person's hips, the fork ends preferably being more or less pivotably connected with said hip module. As will be clear from the figures to be discussed below, in this embodiment the burden exercised upon the torso module by e.g. a marching kit, ammunition, radio devices etc. is, when the person is marching, walking or standing upright, deflected from the person's shoulders towards the person's hips, more or less bypassing the person's vertebral column. When, however, the person bends headfirst, e.g. during a run or when climbing over obstacles etc., the support module is able to elongate while the burden largely will rest on the person's back. After the person returns into upright position the support module will return into its default position, adopting again its minimum ("block") length, viz. the length at which the torso module incl. the attached burden founds upon the person' s hips via the support module .

Preferably, the support module is laterally, axially, and/or longitudinally flexible in some degree. When, however, a heavy burden has to be carried it is advantageous to adjust (viz. to reduce) the support module's flexibility. For very heavy burdens it may be preferred - to increase the complete system's stability - to lock the flexibility, in other words to make the support module as stiff as possible. For this reason the carriage system preferably comprises means which are arranged to enable to the relevant person to set the degree of flexibility/stiffness of the support module, viz. to a degree which the person experiences as optimal.

Exemplary embodiment

Figure 1 shows a schematic side-view of a preferred embodiment of the invention.

Figure 2 shows an embodiment more in detail in the form of an

^exploded view' .

Figure 3 shows an embodiment in 3D shape.

Figure 4 shows a further embodiment.

Figure 1 shows a system for the carriage of a burden by a person 1, comprising a torso module 2 (= 2a-d) , enclosing (partly) the person' s upper back and chest and to enable to attach burdens (B) to be carried by the person. The system, moreover, comprises a support module 3 (= 3a-d) which is at its upperside connected with the torso module 2 and which is at its underside arranged to found upon the person' s hips in the person' s upright position. In the preferred embodiment as shown in the figures the support module comprises a hip module 3a which encloses the person's hips.

The support module 3 is arranged so that the length between its upperside and its underside is variable, starting from a minimum ("block") length, having a value at which in the person's upright position the torso module 2, via the support module 3, founds upon the person's hips. The support module comprises a support element 3b/c at the person's back side, and a forked hip element 3d, extending from the underside of the support element 3b/c towards the person's hips, the fork ends being swivelingly (or pivotably) connected with said hip module 3a.

The support module is laterally, axially and possibly longitudinally flexible and preferably comprises means which are arranged to enable to the person to set the degree of flexibility/stiffness of the support module 3, which will be explained more in detail below.

Pointing now to figures 2 and 3, torso module 2 encloses the person' s upper back and chest by means of a back element 2a, a shoulder element 2b - via an interconnection element 2b' - is connected to two side elements 2c, which at front side can be interconnected via an (possibly armoured) chest element (not shown) to which (additional) burdens may be attached. The back element 2a is provided with means to attach the (main) burdens B which have to be carried.

In figures 2 and 3 the support element 3 is constituted by two support swivels 3b and 3c, which are interconnected by means of a flexible rod 3e, extending through the swivels 3b and 3c as well as through a swivel 2d provided at the back element 2a and a swivel 3f provided at the forked hip element 3d. The flexible rod 3e is fixed to the upperside of swivel 2d and to the underside of swivel 3f.

It is noted that in practice the number and/or dimensions of the swivels (3b and 3c in the exemplary embodiment of figures 2 and 3) , as well as the length of rod 3e may be adapted to the relevant person's (back) length.

The forks of hip element 3d extend towards the person' s hips those ends being swivelingly - around pivots 3g - connected to the hip module 3a. The hip module 3a and the extensions of hip element 3d are constructed so that the extensions are blocked - e.g. by a eccentric cam (not shown) upon the exterior of the hip module 3a - to a fixed bottom position. By means of this construction the length between the upperside and underside of the support module 3 - i.e. the distance between the upperside of rod 3e and the pivots 3g - is, starting at said minimum ("block") length, variable. When the person bends headfirst e.g. during a run or when climbing over obstacles etc., the support module elongates due to rotation of the hip element extensions, pivoting around the pivots 3g.

The support module 3 is laterally and axially flexible due to the rounded shape of the surfaces of the adjacent swivels 2d, 3b, 3c, 3f together with the interconnecting rod 3e, which can, besides, also be longitudinally flexible (elastic) to some extend. Although rod 3e is flexible, the flexibility of the whole - the rod and the swivels - not only depends on the flexibility of rod 3e but also on its tensile tension: the higher the tensile tension, the higher the stiffness of the support element. This effect, of course depends on the exact shape of the swivel surfaces: when e.g. the centre of the rounded surface of the swivels comprises a rather flat area, the stiffness of the support member will increase substantially when the longitudinal rod tension is increased. Although not shown in the figures, any person skilled in the art can imaging that the rod tension could be adjusted by the person using the carriage system as outlined above, by means of e.g. a kind of winged nut, screwed on one end of the (tie) rod 3e and thus enabling the person to set the degree of flexibility/stiffness of the support module 3.

Figure 4 illustrates an embodiment wherein the torso module 2 and the support module 3 are connected by a frame 40 and a flexible bar 42 (i.e. a bar capable of bending and torsion). Frame 40 is connected to pivots 3g, which allows the frame to rotate around an axis through pivots 3g. Frame 40 may be regarded to be part of support module 3. Flexible bar 42 is connected between frame 40 and torso module 3. Flexible bar 42 extends upwards from frame 40 to torso module 3 and is rigidly connected to frame 40 and torso module 3. Thus, torso module 3 rests on flexible bar 42, which in turn rests on frame 40. Flexible bar 42 is made a material that is capable of resilient bending in two directions perpendicular to its length axis and resilient torsion around its length axis in response to forces of the size exerted by the bearer of the carriage system (e.g. forces less than 100 kilogram-force and preferably less than 10 kilogram-force) . Thus, flexible bar 42 accommodates rotations of the upper part of the body of the wearer around axes in three directions: to bend forward, to look back and to sway from left to right .

As may be appreciated frame 40 provides additional freedom for larger bending movements, because is attached to pivots 3g.

Because this freedom, flexible bar 42 need not provide bending freedom in this direction. Alternatively, a fixed connection of frame 40 to support module 3 may be used, in which case flexible bar 42 provides for bending freedom. Movements of torso module 2 are constrained by the torso. The resilience of flexible bar 42 is selected at least so high that flexible bar cannot bend over under the weight of torso module (2) (e.g. about 4 kilogram including loads) to a point that the torso module 2 hangs down from the frame 40 rather than that it rests on frame 40 via flexible bar. Thus a maximum freedom of movement is retained.

In a further embodiment flexible bar provides for adjustable stiffness against bending and/or torsion. As in the embodiment of figures 1-3 this may be realized by providing at least two structures inside or outside flexible bar 40, with surfaces that are in contact with each other and act against each other during bending or torsion. Cylindrical beads mean be provided inside or around flexible bar for example or the flexible bar is mainly formed by a number of such beads, more or less in the same way as the support swivels 3b and 3c as well visible in figure 2. By providing an element to force the bead or swivel surfaces against each other with an adjustable force, the stiffness against bending and/or torsion can be adjusted.

As in the embodiment of figures 1-3 the connection between support module 3 and torso module 2 comprises a part (flexible bar 42 in the embodiment of figure 4) that directly or indirectly supports torso module 2 on its own, i.e. without other elements that support torso module 2 in parallel with it. This provides for maximum freedom of rotation about the vertical axis (when the bearer wants to look back for example) .

Torso module 20 may comprise a stiff rib, which reaches around the torso below the armpits, from the point where it is supported by flexible bar 42 to a position in front of the torso (i.e. on the other side of the torso compared to flexible bar

42) . Preferably ribs are provided on both sides of the torso. In an embodiment the ribs are connected in front of the torso. By using a stiff rib of stiff ribs, when loads such as bullet shield are attached to the rib or ribs, the weight of these loads is transferred to the support module 3 without burdening the shoulders of the bearer.

As can be seen from figure 4, in this embodiment the carriage system has no support on the shoulders. It does not extend to the shoulders and does not rest on either shoulder. The torso module 2 is kept in place by the ribs around the torso of the bearer and the support on flexible bar 42. Thus fatigue of the shoulder is minimized.

Claims

1. Carriage system for the carriage of burdens (B) by a person (1) , comprising

a torso module (2) which is arranged to enclose, at least partly, the person's upper back and/or chest and to enable to attach of one or more objects to be carried by the person,

- a support module (3) which is at its upperside connected with the torso module and which is at its underside arranged to found upon the person' s hips in the person' s upright position

- a flexible support element (3b-c, 42) essentially at the person's back side, between the support element (3) and the torso module, supporting the torso module on its own along a single vertical axis, the flexible support element extending vertically upward from the support element (3) to the torso module (2) to support the torso module (2) .

2. Carriage system according to claim 1, said support module comprising a hip module (3a) , arranged to enclose, at least partly, the person's hips.

3. Carriage system according to claim 2, said support module being arranged so that the length between its upperside and its underside is variable, starting from a minimum length.

4. Carriage system according to claim 3, the support module being arranged so that said minimum length has a value at which in the person's upright position the torso module (2), via the support module (3), founds upon the person's hips.

5. Carriage system according to claim 2, the support module comprising a forked hip element (3d) , extending from the underside of the flexible support element towards the person' s hips, the fork ends being swivelingly (3g) connected with said hip module .

6. Carriage system according to claim 1, said support module being flexible.

7. Carriage system according to claim 6, comprising means which are arranged to enable to the relevant person to set the degree of flexibility/stiffness of the support module.

8. Carriage system according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the torso module (2) comprises a rigid rib extending from a support point on the flexible support element (3b-c, 42) to a position in front of the person's torso, around the torso below the armpits.

9. Carriage system according to claim 8 having no support wherein the torso module is carried entirely by the support module, entirely via the flexible support element.