Protective shielding

Claim 1

A protective shield of steel, especially for chains of armored cars and tanks, which comprises steel plate means including a plurality of substantially identical steel plates of rectangular shape and each having a plurality of groups of holes, each of said groups of holes comprising four holes arranged so that the vertical projection of the connecting lines of their central axes define a quadrangle that is a rectangle in which the spacing between the two holes along the short side of the rectangle does not exceed two-thirds of the spacing between the two holes along the side of said rectangle, those holes which are closest to the edge of said shield being spaced therefrom by a distance approximately one-half the distance between two adjacent holes along the short side of the rectangle, the spacing between adjacent groups not exceeding the maximum spacing between two adjacent holes in said groups, and also comprising a fifth hole having its axis pass through the point of intersection of the diagonals of said quadrangle, and rubber means encasing said steel plate means with said steel plates being arranged in said rubber means in horizontal and vertical rows.