Importance

Loading Importance Indicators...

Abstract

An apparatus for carrying a load on a wearer's body includes a shoulder harness assembly and a waist belt assembly, which are attached to a frame for supporting a load. Each assembly has a flexible panel and a pad consisting of three layers: an outer and inner layer made of closed cell foam and a middle layer made of polyethylene. A plurality of elongate grooves is disposed within the outside surfaces of each pad. Each pad is formed into a preferred curved shape, causing the grooves to widen, and the each panel is coupled with its respective pad, causing each pad to substantially maintain its shape. In one embodiment, each panel is coupled to its respective pad by attaching hook and loop material to the inside surface of each panel and to the outside surface of each pad, disposed between the grooves. In another embodiment, the middle layer is omitted.

Loading the Abstract Image...

First Claim