Harness for carrying a load

Abstract

A harness for a back-pack comprises a chest harness A, a strut mechanism in the form of a flexible spine B and a hip belt C. The flexible spine B provides a sprung, damped connection between the chest harness A and the hip belt C, so that the load of the backpack is transferred through the flexible spine B to the hip belt C, while the flexible spine can extend to accommodate movement of the wearer's body. The chest harness A comprises straps 12, 15 which are interconnected at the front of the wearer by a buckle 14 . Abdominal straps 15 are connected to the buckle 14 by flexible wands 16 which flex under the breathing action of the wearer to retain the load securely against the wearer's back without restricting breathing.

I claim: 
     
         1 . A harness for a backpack comprising;
 a support structure provided with a strap arrangement for retaining the support structure adjacent a wearer's back,   a hip belt; and   a strut which connects the hip belt to the support structure, the strut being disposed substantially centrally of a wearer's back and extending between the hip belt and the support structure over the full length of the lumbar region of the wearer when in use, the strut being the sole force-transmitting connection between the hip belt and the support structure, the strut comprising:   first and second components which are linearly slidable one within the other to vary the length of the strut, the first and second components being connected respectively to the hip belt and the support structure thereby to permit displacement of the support structure towards and away from the hip belt by sliding of the first component within the second component, and   a load transfer element which acts between the first and second components to resist compression of the strut but to allow extension of the strut.   
     
     
         2 . A harness as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the second component is a cylinder and the first component is a piston which is slidable within the cylinder. 
     
     
         3 . A harness as claimed in  claim 2 , wherein the load transfer element comprises a spring which acts in a direction to bias the support structure upwards with respect to the hip belt. 
     
     
         4 . A harness as claimed in  claim 2 , wherein the piston is connected to the hip belt by a laterally flexible piston rod which connects the piston to the respective hip belt or support structure to permit lateral and forwards and backwards movement of the support structure with respect to the hip belt, 
     
     
         5 . A harness as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the strut includes damping means for damping movement of the first and second components in the extension direction. 
     
     
         6 . A harness as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the strap arrangement comprises left and right chest straps. 
     
     
         7 . A harness as claimed in  claim 6 , wherein each chest strap comprises a loop extending from a first position on the support structure on one side of the support structure to a second position below the first position on the same side of the support structure. 
     
     
         8 . A harness as claimed in  claim 7 , wherein the loop of each chest strap is made from an inextensible material. 
     
     
         9 . A harness as claimed in  claim 7 , wherein the chest straps are interconnected at the front of a wearer by a releasable buckle comprising left and right buckle components which, when engaged with each other, form a rigid interconnection between the loops. 
     
     
         10 . A harness as claimed in  claim 9 , wherein the releasable buckle comprises a left buckle component and a right buckle component, each of the buckle components having a respective upper fastening point and a respective lower fastening point, the harness further comprising a pair of links, each link being in the form of an inextensible wand which is resiliently flexible in bending, and comprising a first end and a second end, the first end of each wand being connected respectively to the lower fastening points of the left and right buckle components, wherein the buckle components, when engaged with each other, form a rigid interconnection between the loops, and wherein each of the loops comprises:
 an upper flexible portion extending from the support structure to the upper fastening point on the respective buckle component, and a lower flexible portion extending from the support structure to an attachment point at the second end of the respective wand, whereby the attachment points of the lower flexible portions are laterally displaceable towards and away from each other by resilient deflection of at least one of the wands.   
     
     
         11 . A harness as claimed in  claim 10 , wherein each wand is rigid and is connected to the respective buckle component in a resiliently pivoting manner. 
     
     
         12 . A harness as claimed in  claim 10 , wherein each wand is flexible and is rigidly connected to the respective buckle component.