True “body armor” was created immediately after the development of ranged weaponry. As soon as muskets gained widespread usage in the 16th century, troops sought protection from projectiles. Unfortunately, the only material accessible to early ballistics engineers, metal plate, was not very effective in deflecting or absorbing the energy of gunfire. The earliest reported types of body armor closely resembled the plate armor worn by medieval knights. While this was effective against bladed weapons, even early musket balls could easily penetrate it.
As firearms became commonplace in the middle of the 19th century, numerous manufacturers strove to create bulletproof vests. In the 1840s, a Dublin, Ireland, tailor offered similar vests for sale, which appears to be the oldest record of their existence. However, these vests remained uncommon since they did not provide a great deal of protection. By contemporary standards, the soldiers in World War I were severely unprotected from enemy firepower. Despite numerous attempts to create body armor for the soldiers of all nations involved, two problems precluded the adoption of these designs. The first was that, even in the 1910s, the only means to create body armor was from metal, which made it impractical for troops to wear. With millions of men deployed by most armies, manufacturing and distributing body armor to infantry soldiers would have rendered the conflict even more financially devastating.
The next significant advancement in body armor, which set the standard for armor production till the present day, occurred in 1971. A DuPont research chemist, Stephanie Kwolek, experimented with liquid crystalline polymer materials. She eventually discovered a substance with outstanding strength and stiffness; this material became known as Kevlar. This nearly leads us to the present day. Even though Kevlar vests from the 1970s remain the foundation of most modern body armor, it is important to note that no vest can stop every bullet or missile.
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