The present invention concerns a protective material to prevent cutting through the material, such as cutting by knives, saws and other cutting tools, also rotating cutting tools.

The achievement of an arrangement that can function as, among other things, saw protection during work with motorsaws with the aid of a textile designed in a particular manner with partially mobile threads is known through, for example, the Swedish patent documents 464 273 and 465 448. Textile material of this type has been further developed in order to be able to be used also in other contexts that involve the prevention of penetration or intrusion, and a textile material of this type is used in SE 537 876 C2, together with a cut prevention layer of hard material that is difficult to cut through in order to form an intrusion protection arrangement. For a more detailed description of this type of textile material, reference is made to the contents of these patent documents.

One problem that exists with the textile material described above is that it is difficult to handle through the weave being very loose and difficult to handle, which makes it difficult to combine this material with others in order to be able to produce other products that can prevent cutting.

In order to solve these problems, it has been suggested that several layers of a textile material of the type described above be united into a unit through loose quilting seams, which unit may furthermore be united, where relevant, on the principally plane outer surfaces with a layer of non-woven material, in order to form together a protective textile material.

Despite these measures to simplify the handling of the protective textile material that has been described, it is difficult to handle and apply in various desired fields of use. It is, therefore, one purpose of the present invention to achieve a protective material that makes it easier to produce products of the protective textile material described above that are to be used in contexts in which they are to prevent cutting and intrusion. The purpose of the invention is achieved with a protective material that comprises several layers of a textile material comprising an active layer of threads arranged to be engaged by a cutting tool that attempts to penetrate through the material, and whereby the said several layers of the textile material are covered on at least one side by a barrier layer, where, according to the invention, a surface layer is arranged on the side of the barrier layer that faces away from the textile material and also on the opposite side of the textile material.

According to one preferred embodiment of the invention, both sides of the textile material are covered by a barrier layer.

According to a further preferred embodiment of the invention, the surface layer is united with the barrier layer through a thermoplastic web of glue.

According to a further preferred embodiment of the invention, at least one barrier layer is formed of a non-woven material or a wadding material.

According to one preferred embodiment of the invention, the surface layer is formed of a thermoplastic film, a non-woven material, a foamed plastic material or an aluminium foil. According to a further preferred embodiment of the invention, a woven material is arranged between the textile material and the barrier layer.

According to a yet further preferred embodiment of the invention, the two surface layers are arranged such that they protrude in the sideways direction, preferably on all sides, beyond the other materials that are components of the protective material. According to a further preferred embodiment of the invention, cuts have been made in at least the textile material in order to limit the length of the threads in the textile material, before the surface layer is mounted.

The invention will now be described in more detail in the form of a non-limiting embodiment, schematically illustrated with the aid of the attached drawings, where Figure 1 shows schematically a section through a first embodiment of a protective material according to the invention, and Figure 2 shows schematically a section through a second embodiment of a protective material according to the invention.

At the top of Figure 1 there are shown four layers of a textile material 1, each one of which comprises an active layer of threads arranged to be engaged by a cutting tool that attempts to penetrate into the protective material according to the invention, which textile material is preferably of the type that is described in the patent documents mentioned above. The threads may be, for example, of aramid fibres, while also other types of textile thread can be used.

The threads are arranged as loose extended threads in each one of the layers of textile material 1 so that the threads can be pulled out if a cutting tool penetrates into the textile material. What is important for the textile materials is that they are arranged such that they do not prevent the threads from being able to be pulled out as mentioned above, and as has been specified in the above-mentioned patent documents.

A barrier layer 2 is arranged on one side of the combined textile layers. The primary function of the barrier layer is to be able to provide support for the combined textile layers 1 and to ensure that the mounting of a surface layer outside of the barrier layer 2 does not influence the ability of the extended threads to move such that they will be able to be pulled out by a penetrating tool. In particular, if a glue material is used to unite the unit of textile material 1 and the barrier layer 2 with a surface layer, the barrier layer must be able to prevent the glue material from penetrating into the layers of textile material 1. It is preferable that this barrier layer be of non-woven material 2. Instead of a non-woven material as barrier layer, it is, of course, possible to conceive of a textile material, a plastic material or a polyester layer, which, as is the case with a non-woven material, all have the advantages that they can be attached to the layers of textile material 1 by, for example, point welding or by simply being laid around these. As barrier layer it is also possible to conceive of a layer of paperboard, a thin sheet of metal, a rigid plastic material or also a thin sheet of wood material, that in itself provides a rigid barrier layer 2.

According to the invention, there is mounted outside of the barrier layer 2 a surface layer 3, preferably of a thermoplastic material, of foamed plastic or of an aluminium foil, that is principally united across the complete surface of the barrier layer with it. This can be achieved by, for example, placing during manufacture a thermoplastic web 4 of glue between the surface layer 3 and the barrier layer 2, and attaching the surface layer 3 to the barrier layer 2 by heating. The glue that unites the barrier layer 2 with the surface layer 3 may, of course, be also other types of glue, such as, for example, a liquid glue that is applied to the outer surface of the barrier layer, or glue in powder form that is activated by the subsequent application of heat onto the outer surface of the surface layer 3. As surface layer, also other materials than those mentioned above may, of course, be used, where, however, the surface layer must have the property of being able to give the combined product a certain rigidity, such that it is easier to handle. It is possible also for the surface layer 3 to be, for example, a non-woven material, or a textile material, for example patterned, in order to give a desired appearance to the surface layer 3 in cases in which this will be visible when the protective material has been applied and is in use.

Instead of a thermoplastic web 4 of glue, or other glue, in order to unite the surface layer 3 with the barrier layer 2 over essentially their complete surface areas, it is possible to conceive that the two materials are united with each other solely along the edges, or at points, which it would be possible to achieve with other types of glue or by, for example, laser welding, or by, quite simply, heat sealing of the edges, if the surface layer 3 consists of a material that can be melted by heat. As is shown in the most preferred embodiment of the invention, as is shown in Figure 2, four layers of a textile material 1, each one of which comprises an active layer of threads arranged to be engaged by a cutting tool that attempts to penetrate into the protective material according to the invention, are surrounded on two sides by a barrier layer 2.

In this case there is arranged outside of the two barrier layers 2 also a surface layer 3, thus one surface layer 3 outside each one of the two barrier layers 2. It is preferable that surface layer 3 be of a thermoplastic material or of foamed plastic, that is principally united across the complete surface of the barrier layer 2 with it. As has been mentioned above, the surface layers may be formed also of other materials. As in the case above, the union between the barrier layer 2 and the surface layer 3 may be achieved by placing during manufacture a thermoplastic web 4 of glue between the surface layer 3 and the barrier layer 2, and attaching the surface layer 3 to the barrier layer 2 by heating. As in the case above, also other ways of achieving the union between the barrier layer 2 and the surface layer 3 may be used.

What is important for the union between the barrier layer 2 and the surface layer 3 is, as has been mentioned above, that it not be allowed to influence the ability of the active threads in the layers of textile material 1 to be able to move freely. Thus, it must not be the case that a glue that is used penetrates through the barrier layer 2 since this would lock the active threads fixed in the layers of textile material 1, and in this way the threads would not be able to move freely and stop the motion of a penetrating cutting object.

Thus, with a protective material according to the invention there is achieved a laminated structure that, depending on the choice of material in the surface layer 3, can be designed to be more or less rigid, and that in this way will be an easily handled protective material that can be mounted inside of surfaces that may need to acquire increased protection against intrusion of various types. These surfaces may be, in principle, of any material at all, for example inside of sheet metal coverings or wooden coverings at compartments at which it is desired to prevent or at least reduce the risk of intrusion. It is particularly preferred that the surface layers 3 be arranged such they protrude in the sideways direction, preferably on all sides, beyond the other materials that are components of the protective material. The surface layers may in this case be united with each other at the protruding sides in order to form a unified unit. If the surface layers are of plastic material, they can, for example, be heat sealed to each other at the protruding edges, or if they are of other materials they can be united with each other by gluing, and in this way form products having the form of sheets, possibly with an external shape that is adapted for a particular use.

The protective material with the laminated structure according to the invention not only provides protection against attempted intrusion with the aid of rotating and manual cutting devices, it also functions excellently against, for example, axe blows, where the laminated structure has shown itself capable of absorbing and damping the forces surprisingly well. The textile material 1 makes it nearly impossible also to drill through a protective material according to the invention.

The protective material according to the invention with its laminated structure may also, in addition to preventing intrusion, contribute to both heat insulation and sound absorption.

Even though it has been described in the preferred embodiments above that four layers of textile material 1 are used, it is obvious that not only more but also fewer layers may be used. It is preferable that a large number of layers of such material are placed onto each other, in particular preferably 8 to 14 layers. In the same way, further units with textile layers 1 and barrier layers 2 can be arranged between two surface layers 3, and in the same way, several units such as for example the one according to Figure 1 can be united with a unit according to Figure 2 in order to form a protective material with even further reinforcement. It may in the same way be arranged also that between the textile material 1 and the barrier layer 2 there is arranged a further layer of other material, in particular a woven material that has a high ability to withstand cutting.

According to one particularly preferred embodiment of the invention, cuts are arranged in the textile material 1, possibly also in the barrier layer or barrier layers 2, before the application of the surface layer 3, in order to limit the length of the threads in the textile material 1, such that they do not become too long, but it must be possible for them to run freely when they are started to be pulled out during an attempted attack. It is preferable that these cuts are arranged diagonally relative to the longitudinal direction of the textile material, and preferably at a separation of 15 to 30 cm.

It is appropriate that a protective material according to the invention be manufactured by the different layers being rolled out from rolls on a manufacturing belt in the appropriate order, in order for the outermost layers 3 to be applied, which outermost layers are united with each other at the protruding edges, as has been mentioned above.

The principal task of the surface layers in the protective material according to the invention is to create a fixation of the surface layer and barrier layer without influencing the fixation of the textile material that forms the core of the material that prevents penetrating cutting, and in this way to create a protective material that is easy to handle for its application in different areas of use.