US Patent 7363846 Projectile resistant armor

A body armor assembly includes a plurality of rigid tiles that are supported in a manner to provide movement and flexibility while still providing the protection of rigid armor. In a disclosed example, a tile holder maintains a plurality of tiles in a selected alignment. The tile holder maintains a minimum overlap dimension between adjacent tiles. Some of the tiles are maintained by the tile holder in a manner that allows for the overlap dimension to increase beyond the minimum overlap dimension. In a disclosed example, at least two rigid layers have at least one ballistic material layer between them to provide a rigid armor material composition.