Personal protective equipment

Abstract

Personal protective equipment is for use by a user. The personal protective equipment includes a garment assembly and a pocket assembly each configured to be thermally insulated and fire resistant. The pocket assembly spans across a bone joint of the user once the user wears the garment assembly. The pocket assembly is configured to securely receive an armour member in such a way that the armour member spans across the bone joint of the user, and the armour member is securely positioned across the bone joint of the user. This improves protection of the bone joint against bone-joint injury resulting from a sudden impact force received by the armour member. A touch fastener assembly is configured to selectively securely open and close the pocket assembly.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . Personal protective equipment for use by a user having a bone joint, and for use with an armour member being configured to span across the bone joint, the personal protective equipment comprising:
 a garment assembly being configured to be thermally insulated and fire resistant; and   the garment assembly also being configured to be worn by the user in such a way that the garment assembly, in use, spans across the bone joint of the user; and   a pocket assembly being configured to be thermally insulated and fire resistant; and   the pocket assembly being spatially positioned on, and affixed to, the garment assembly in such a way that the pocket assembly, in use, spans across the bone joint of the user once the user wears, in use, the garment assembly; and   the pocket assembly being configured to securely receive the armour member in such a way that once the user, in use, wears the garment assembly and once the pocket assembly, in use, receives the armour member, the armour member spans across the bone joint of the user, and the armour member is securely positioned across the bone joint of the user, thereby improving protection of the bone joint against bone-joint injury resulting from a sudden impact force received by the armour member; and   the pocket assembly also being configured to make direct contact with the sudden impact force received by the user in such a way that (A) the armour member never directly receives the sudden impact force while the armour member is received by the pocket assembly, and (B) the pocket assembly directly receives the sudden impact force that is transferred from the pocket assembly to the armour member; and   the pocket assembly including a wear-resistant material being configured to resist wear as a result of the pocket assembly receiving the sudden impact force; and   a touch fastener assembly being fixedly coupled to any one of the pocket assembly and the garment assembly; and   the touch fastener assembly being configured to selectively securely open and close the pocket assembly in such a way that the armour member that is received in the pocket assembly is securely retained in the pocket assembly and is securely spatially positioned to span across the bone joint of the user; and   the touch fastener assembly also being configured to selectively open and close the pocket assembly in such a way that the armour member that is securely received in the pocket assembly is entirely removable from the pocket assembly.   
     
     
         2 . The personal protective equipment of  claim 1 , wherein the bone joint includes any one of an elbow bone joint, a knee bone joint, a hip bone joint and a rib bone joint. 
     
     
         3 . The personal protective equipment of  claim 1 , wherein the armour member includes any one of a sheet of plastic material, a leather material, a metal plate, a composite material, and in any combination and/or permutation thereof. 
     
     
         4 . The personal protective equipment of  claim 1 , wherein the armour member is configured to provide a protective covering that is configured to prevent, at least in part, damage from being inflicted on the bone joint of the user. 
     
     
         5 . The personal protective equipment of  claim 1 , wherein the garment assembly includes a thermal insulation layer having a thermal-insulation fabric and a fire-resistant layer having a fire-resistant fabric material placed over the thermal insulation layer. 
     
     
         6 . The personal protective equipment of  claim 1 , wherein the pocket assembly includes a thermal insulation layer having a thermal-insulation fabric, and a fire-resistant layer having a fire-resistant fabric material placed over the thermal insulation layer. 
     
     
         7 . The personal protective equipment of  claim 1 , wherein
 the touch fastener assembly is also configured to be thermally insulated and fire resistant; and   the touch fastener assembly includes a thermal insulation layer having a thermal-insulation fabric and a fire-resistant layer having a fire-resistant fabric material placed over the thermal insulation layer.   
     
     
         8 . The personal protective equipment of  claim 1 , wherein the touch fastener assembly includes any one of a snap fastener, a zipper, a VELCRO (TRADEMARK) connector, and in any combination and permutation thereof. 
     
     
         9 . The personal protective equipment of  claim 1 , wherein the garment assembly includes a coverall garment. 
     
     
         10 . The personal protective equipment of  claim 1 , wherein the garment assembly includes a body section with leg sections and arm sections extending from the body section. 
     
     
         11 . The personal protective equipment of  claim 10 , wherein an instance of the pocket assembly is positioned on the body section of the garment assembly, and is configured to span a rib bone joint. 
     
     
         12 . The personal protective equipment of  claim 10 , wherein an instance of the pocket assembly is positioned on each of the leg sections of the garment assembly, and is configured to span a knee bone joint of the user once the user wears the garment assembly just so. 
     
     
         13 . The personal protective equipment of  claim 10 , wherein the garment assembly includes light-reflective elements that are positioned on and affixed to any one of the body section, the leg sections and the arm sections in any combination and/or permutation thereof. 
     
     
         14 . The personal protective equipment of  claim 13 , wherein the light-reflective elements includes portions of light reflective tape of various colours. 
     
     
         15 . The personal protective equipment of  claim 13 , wherein at least one or more of the light-reflective elements includes light emitting devices configured to be powered by a battery. 
     
     
         16 . The personal protective equipment of  claim 1 , wherein:
 an instance of the pocket assembly is positioned on and affixed to a pant section of the garment assembly; and   the pocket assembly is configured to span a tail bone joint once the garment assembly is worn, just so, by the user.   
     
     
         17 . The personal protective equipment of  claim 10 , wherein an instance of the pocket assembly is spatially positioned on and affixed to each of the arm sections of the garment assembly, and the pocket assembly is configured to span an elbow bone joint. 
     
     
         18 . The personal protective equipment of  claim 1 , wherein the pocket assembly is stitched to the garment assembly along at least three sides using a relatively high tenacity thread. 
     
     
         19 . The personal protective equipment of  claim 1 , wherein the touch fastener assembly is positioned at an entrance of the pocket assembly leading into an interior formed by the pocket assembly.