Webbing
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Webbing is a strong fabric woven as a flat strip or tube of varying width and fibers often used in place of rope. It is a versatile component used in climbing, furniture manufacturing, automobile safety, auto racing, towing, parachuting, military apparel, and many other fields. Modern webbing is often made from exceptionally high-strength material, such as Dyneema, Nylon, Polyester, and Kevlar. For less performance oriented applications cotton, Polypropylene, and flax can be used. As webbing is both light and strong, with breaking strengths in excess of 10,000 lb (44.4 (kN) readily available, the possible applications are virtually limitless.
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[edit] Sporting Goods
In rock climbing nylon webbing is used in slings, runners, harnesses, anchor extensions and quickdraws. Webbing is used in hiking and camping gear in backpacks straps, load adjusters, tent adjusters, and in the construction of light weight cots for sleeping.
[edit] Automotive and Racing Safety
Seat Belts are an obvious example of webbings use in auto safety but there are a myriad of other uses. Nylon and Polyester webbing are used a great deal in auto racing safety for a large variety of items. Racing harnesses restraining the driver have used Nylon webbing for years, but since the death of Dale Earnhardt Polyester webbing is becoming more popular due to its increased strength, and lower rate of elongation under load. The Nylon commercial type 9 webbing generally used in racing harnesses stretch approximately 20-30% of its initial length at 2500 lb (11.1 Kn)) while Polyester only stretches %5 -15%. Window nets to prevent objects from entering the drivers compartment are constructed of polypropelen webbing, as are helmet nets used to reduce side loads on the head in Sprint cars. The HANS device uses webbing tethers to attach the helmet to the collar, and the Hutchens device is made almost entirely of webbing.
[edit] Furniture
Webbing is used in couches and chairs as a base for the seating areas that is both strong and flexible. Many types of outdoor furniture use little more than thin light webbing for the seating areas. Webbing is also used to reinforce joints and areas that tend to flex.
[edit] Military
Webbing is used to make military belts, packs and pouches, and by extension also refers to the items themselves. The British Army adopted cotton webbing to replace leather after the Second Boer War (although leather belts are still worn in more formal dress). The term is still used for a soldier's combat equipment, although cotton webbing has since been replaced with more advanced materials. The webbing is used to carry vital field equipment such as a first aid kit and cooking utensils. The webbing system used by the British Army today is known as Personal Load Carrying Equipment.
Webbing should be light enough to carry vital things needed in battle, and is made so that if the bergen is lost during combat, the soldier can survive on emergency rations carried on the webbing.
Webbing belts are also used frequently by modern cadet and scout groups, as well as police and security forces.
[edit] Transportation
Tie downs, tie straps, cargo straps, E-track straps, cargo hoist strap, tow ropes, winch strap, cargo nets, and dozens of other items are used by thousands of shipping and trucking companies every day. The transportation industry is perhaps the largest user of high strength webbing in the world.
[edit] Apparel
Belts, suspenders, sandals and as of 2005, purses are woven from various forms of webbing. Corset style back braces and other medical braces often incorperate straps made from webbing.
[edit] Hardware
Webbing is often outfitted with various forms of tie down hardware to extend its range of abilities (and create tie down straps). This hardware can take the form of:
- End Fittings (S-hooks, snap hooks, bolt/anchor plates, J-hooks, flat hooks, etc.)
- Fasteners (over-center, cam, ratchet, etc.)
- Buckles (slide buckles, snap buckles, etc.)
There is also hardware associated with the various end fittings to attach them to a surface: footman’s loops, brackets, E-track fittings, etc.
[edit] See also
In education and learning Webbing is a method of diagrammatically representing facts and information, similar to Mind Mapping.
