Body pad

Abstract

A pad, such as a knee pad or other body-worn pad, that avoids undue accumulation of heat within the pad, and that provides a stable and comfortable resting surface for at least a portion of a user's body. The pad may further provide decreasing incremental compression in response to incrementally increasing loads, whereby users of different weights may comfortably be supported thereon.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims the benefit of U.S. Utility application Ser. No. 12 / 387,758 filed on May 6, 2009 currently pending the contents of which is hereby incorporated by reference, which in turn claimed priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61 / 050,968 filed on May 6, 2008, presently abandoned, the contents of which is hereby incorporated by reference.TECHNICAL FIELD[0002]The present disclosure relates generally to body-worn protective equipment, and, more particularly, to knee pads or the like for cushioning a wearer's body from forces.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]Various activities, such as many occupational activities, recreational activities, or the like, involve kneeling for some duration of time. As is well known, prolonged periods of continuous kneeling and / or frequent assumption of a kneeling position can cause or contribute to the development or onset of knee damage or injury. For example, bruising, tendon strain,...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0011]Accordingly, one feature and advantage of the pad of the present disclosure is its ability to provide cushioning substantially proportionate to a force applied thereto, whereby relatively smaller forces are cushioned by partial deformation of a resilient material, and whereby incremental increases in a force applied to the resilient material result in sequentially smaller amounts of additional deformation.

[0012]Another feature

Problems solved by technology

As is well known, prolonged periods of continuous kneeling and/or frequent assumption of a kneeling position can cause or contribute to the development or onset of knee damage or injury.

Unfortunately, however, such knee pads have suffered from a number of disadvantageous performance characteristics.

Since the pads are all made with substantially the same amount of padding material, most users find that the cushioning provided is either too great, wherein the pad is not stable, or the cushioning provided is too little, wherein the user experiences discomfort.

Additionally, and especially where a conforming c

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