Black patch in jousting impact test

[James Arlen Gillaspie]

My German is just not good enough to figure out what that black riveted-on patch is in the crash dummy impact test is. Anybody?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuqWWfecj14

[Ernst]

About 18 minutes in?

Found a script for transcription:
http://digital.films.com/FalshCC/34152.xml

IN OPEL'S CRASH TEST FACILITY, A DUMMY KNIGHT IS BEING WIRED UP AT EVERY VULNERABLE POINT OF THE BODY.
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR HANS DIETER ZENTGRAPF IS CURIOUS TO SEE WHAT WILL HAPPEN IN A TEST UNDER TOURNAMENT CONDITIONS.
WILL IT PROVE RELATIVELY HARMLESS, OR WILL THERE BE SEVERE, EVEN FATAL, INJURIES?
JOUSTING WITH SHARPENED LANCES WAS THE HIGHLIGHT OF EVERY TOURNAMENT.
A GOOD JOUSTER HAD TO USE HIS OWN HORSE, TO BE ABLE TO CONTROL IT WITH REINS AND SPURS, AND HOLD HIS LANCE STEADY,... [CROWD GROANING AND APPLAUDING] "AS BEFITS A GOOD RIDER," THE TOURNAMENT BOOKS SAY.
[APPLAUSE CONTINUING]

IN THE CRASH TEST FACILITY, MOCK COMBATANTS ARE SET UP.
THE DUMMIES ARE DRESSED AND ARMED EXACTLY LIKE KNIGHTS AT A TOURNAMENT, PROTECTED BY A SUIT OF ARMOR AND A HELMET.

etc., etc. mentions use of 2000 fps cameras to capture the impact

THE HEAD OF THE VEHICLE SAFETY UNIT, WOLFGANG HAHN, ASSESSES THE IMPACT AND EVALUATES THE DATA.

Dummy Knight dies from a broken neck after falling from his horse. Unfortunately no description of the black escutcheons in the script. Perhaps it simply provides a target, or some protection for an impact sensor?

[James Arlen Gillaspie]

Thanks, Ernst! A client of mine was once hurled headfirst into a 4" wooden fence post when his horse spooked and ran for the edge of the paddock and then abruptly stopped. He was wearing a pointed top bacinet. The point tore a chunk out of the post. To the overwhelming joy of all the bystanders who thought he was dead, he stood up. He had a very sore neck for a couple of weeks, though. We know from history that men wearing helms like that and globose breastplates took lance strikes square to the chest and didn't have their necks broken.

The devil is all in the details. What was the suspension system in the helmet like, for instance?

[Ernst]

Globose breasts offset from the flesh by a few inches helps absorb some blunt trauma I would presume.

[wcallen]

Generally a person with some training will fall very differently from a dummy. They aren't very good at tuck and roll... or really anything. People fall off of horses all the time, very few break their necks. Some do, of course.

Way back in the day Toby was mentioning that he was unhorsed once. He said it was a a surprising feeling, but other than that he was fine.

I bet the dummy wouldn't be very good at barrel racing, bronco riding or polo either.

Wade

[Tom B.]

From the quick look I took it looked like the bascinet came off before the dummy hit the ground.
I kind of have to wonder how well fitted and padded it was.

[James Arlen Gillaspie]

Ernst, that's the whole point of a globose breastplate. It transfers shock completely around the rib cage. A good solid impact on a flat breastplate at about 50 to 60 mph can stop your heart.

[wcallen]

Ernst, that's the whole point of a globose breastplate. It transfers shock completely around the rib cage. A good solid impact on a flat breastplate at about 50 to 60 mph can stop your heart.

Well, that, and not catching the impact in the first place (much less impact from something sliding off you than something that stops on you) and (probably most importantly) to look cool. The breastplate of any particular time late 14th - 17th c. looks like the clothing of the time (with some interesting exceptions we can discuss like the pointed mid 16th c. stuff) - fashion is all important.

Wade

[James Arlen Gillaspie]

I wonder if the black patch was actually supposed to help the lance tip stick to the breastplate in order to get a more consistent effect.

The shape of the breastplate may change, but I see a consistent ergonomic function in most of them, up until heavy cavalry lances go out of favor, and that rather flat breastplate comes along that, as you said, follows the fashion. I wonder if it would have, though, if the lance wasn't being replaced by firearms.

[Ernst]

Direct link to the video. "Ritter im Crash Test" tab.
http://terra-x.zdf.de/ZDF/zdfportal/pro ... alUrl=true