Plate Carrier
An armor carrier for retaining a plurality of armor plates. The armor carrier includes front and rear portions, a pair of shoulder straps, and a pair of side panels. The front portion comprises a pocket configured to hold an armor plate, and the rear portion comprises a pocket configured to hold an armor plate. Each shoulder strap is configured to connect the front portion to the rear portion. Each side panel includes a plurality of waist straps, each of which forms part of a connection between the front portion and the rear portion. The waist straps allow for adjustment of the side panels relative to the rear portion. The armor carrier may also include a pair of back straps, which in combination with the waist straps, allow a wearer to adjust the placement of the side panels relative to the rear portion to accommodate the build of the wearer.
1 . A carrier comprising:
a front portion comprising a pocket configured to hold an armor plate;
a rear portion comprising a pocket configured to hold an armor plate;
a pair of shoulder straps, each shoulder strap being configured to connect the front portion to the rear portion; and
a pair of side panels, each side panel comprising a plurality of waist straps, each waist strap forming part of a connection between the front portion and the rear portion.
2 . The carrier of claim 1 , wherein:
the front portion is connected to a buckle strap that is connected to a buckle, the buckle strap passing through a release loop fixed at one end to the front portion of the carrier, and
a release cord passes through an opening in the buckle strap such that the presence of the release cord within the buckle strap prevents the buckle strap from exiting the fixed release loop.
3 . The carrier of claim 2 , wherein the carrier further comprises a carrier release mechanism configured to enable removal of the carrier, the carrier release mechanism comprising the release cord, a pull strap connected to the release cord, the release loops, and at least one release cord pocket configured to receive an end of the release cord, wherein pulling the pull strap causes the front portion to separate from the side panels.
4 . The carrier of claim 1 , wherein:
each waist strap is connected to a front waist strap slide,
each front waist strap slide is connected to a front securement strap, and
each front securement strap is connected to a buckle.
5 . The carrier of claim 4 , wherein the front securement strap connected to each front waist strap slide and each front waist strap slide together enable adjustment of a distance between the front portion and the side panels.
6 . The carrier of claim 1 , wherein:
each waist strap is connected to a rear waist strap slide,
each rear waist strap slide is connected to a rear securement strap, and
each rear securement strap is connected to the rear portion of the carrier.
7 . The carrier of claim 6 , wherein each rear securement strap enables adjustment of a distance between the rear portion and the side panels.
8 . The carrier of claim 7 , wherein each rear securement strap is connected to the rear portion of the carrier by a loop fixed at one end to the rear portion of the carrier.
9 . The carrier of claim 1 , wherein each side panel further comprises one or more back straps configured to connect each side panel to the rear portion.
10 . The carrier of claim 9 , wherein the one or more back straps comprise slides for adjusting a distance between the side panels and the rear portion.
11 . The carrier of claim 1 , wherein the rear portion further comprises a handle configured to enable a person to pull a wearer of the carrier.
12 . The carrier of claim 1 , wherein each of the front portion, the rear portion and the side panels comprises a pocket configured to hold a soft armor pack.
13 . The carrier of claim 12 , wherein each of the armor plate pockets and the soft armor pack pockets comprise an opening adjacent to a bottom end of the carrier, wherein the openings are configured to receive respective ones of the armor plates or the soft armor packs.
14 . The carrier of claim 1 , wherein the shoulder straps connect the front portion to the rear portion by a front end of the shoulder strap being attached to the front portion of the carrier, and a rear end of the shoulder strap being attached to the rear portion of the carrier by an adjustable slide attached to the rear portion of the carrier.