Harness

There are many different types of harnesses. There are harnesses for animals, construction work, full body, climbing, pleasure and more.

A common use for a harness is for fall protection mostly for construction workers and painters. Fall protection equipment came out during the 20th Century. The most popular form at that time was the body belt which was normally used by utility linesmen to scale poles. The body belt was used for many decades, there were risks that we becoming obvious with the body belt harness, when worn they were lose, meaning a worker could slip out of the belt. In 1940 the creators looked at the Military for new ideas on fall protection equipment. They were inspired by the parachute harness used by paratroopers. These harnesses were very large, bulky and were still challenging to use and rather uncomfortable to wear.

Capital Safety’s most recent inventionis the ExoFit NEX. This is full body harness design. This design has exceptional comfort and great durability. Some of the features are: protective caps on the shoulders, rigid belt loops to reduce abraision, and quick lock buckles that eliminate the need to adjust throughout the day..http://www.exofitnex.com/materials/History_v3.pdf

The horse harness has helped build the relationship between horse and man more then any other invention. The harness allows the rider to control direction and endurance of the horse. The history of the horse harness stems back to Ancient Asia.

In 1993 the Carnegie Museum of Natural History found the oldest known horse harness in Botai, Kazakhstan during a dig. The harness was dated back to 3500 B.C.. These digs have verified that the use of harnesses spread to Europe at around 800 B.C..

One of the earliest known reasons for harnessing horses was to use the animals in war to pull chariots. At first the horses were not able to pull the chariots because the harnesses were not strong enough and it would end up strangling the horses. In 2000 B.C., chariot-making technology evolved to create a lighter chariot that could be pulled using a horse wearing a strap harness. One the horses were able to effectively pull the chariots they were used in wars where civilizations like the Hittites and Egyptians would send soldiers on chariot conquests around the world.

People have continued to improve harness technology, but the use of the collar harness has not changed much since the 5th century. Now days horse harnesses are lightweight and balanced, allowing the animals to pull large loads over long distances. http://www.ehow.com/about_5399073_history-horse-harnesses.html