One area of scientific development that has had huge impacts on military service is in the development of specialist fibres for clothing. Many manmade fibres contain properties that would have been unheard of a generation ago and one type of fabric that has found extensive use in the British Army are ‘aramids’. Aramid stands for ‘aromatic polyamide’ and is a family of fabrics made form a synthetic fibre that is virtually un-meltable. As such it is great for any activities that might generate high heat such as fighting fires (Nomex is an aramid fibre) and areas that generate a lot of heat through friction like abseiling down a rope. Properties of aramid include:
- good resistance to abrasion
- good resistance to organic solvents
- nonconductive
- no melting point
- low flammability
- good fabric integrity at elevated temperatures
One common use for these fabrics is in gloves and tonight we are looking at a pair of British Army aramid gloves:
These are made in green and have a series of raised ‘bumps’ across the palms and fingers for grip:
They are of a seamless construction, with a reduction knit at the wrist to help keep them on the hand:
A label is sewn inside the clove with NSN number, sizing etc:
A small range of sizes were offered, as indicated by the relevant page form the stores catalogue:
One soldier who used the gloves in service recalls:
The contact gloves (GLOVES CONTACT COMBAT ARAMID 8415-99-701-5724) are pretty thin (like kid’s woolen gloves) but because they’re Nomex are surprisingly warm even when wet. You might want something else thicker for when you don’t need your hands, but when using a weapon they’re the dog’s working parts.
When originally issued they came in a pair sewn together at the cuff and sealed in a small polythene bag with a stores label stuck to the outside:
