Package and article carriers – Carried by animate bearer – Article held by receiver
Reexamination Certificate
2000-04-28
2001-10-09
Vidovich, Gregory M. (Department: 3727)
Package and article carriers
Carried by animate bearer
Article held by receiver
C224S616000, C224S617000, C224S637000, C224S664000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06299044
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an accessory bag and, more particularly, to an accessory bag, such as a ladies' handbag or purse, that can be utilized with a detachable shoulder strap and/or with an adjustable/detachable waist-belt.
Typical accessory bags are held by the wearer using a shoulder strap. Other types of accessory bags, known commonly as “fannie-packs,” are held around the wearer's waist by a waist-belt. While both types of bags are convenient and provide various advantages to the wearer, various shortcomings are experienced by each. For example, fannie-packs, waist pouches, and the like, are utilized in informal settings and allow the wearer to carry various items, such as lipstick and cosmetic cases, purses, a cellular telephone, etc., while at the same time allowing the wearer to freely use one's hands and shoulders for other purposes. Unfortunately, these types of handbags often are inappropriate for more formal settings. On the other hand, while handbags or purses having a shoulder strap may be appropriate for formal settings, they require use of the wearer's shoulder to carry the handbag which may be disadvantageous in other settings. For example, these handbags are less secure than waist pouches since the shoulder strap and attached handbag are plainly visible and may be vulnerable to “purse snatchers,” whereas waist pouches generally are hidden and are more secure near the wearer's waist. One common way to overcome this problem is to “secure” the shoulder strap bag diagonally across one's body (e.g., right shoulder to left hip), but this approach seriously detracts from the wearer's appearance. Another disadvantageous feature of bags having shoulder straps is the inability to properly wear the bag while performing various activities, including jogging, dancing, bicycle riding, etc. In such cases, the bag typically moves sporadically which may cause damage to the contents of the bag, injury to other persons as well as to the wearer, and presents a negative appearance altogether.
Given the advantages and disadvantages of bags with shoulder straps and waist-belts discussed above, there are times when there is a need for a bag that embodies the advantages of both types of bags. For example, a career woman typically carries a somewhat “formal” type of handbag using a shoulder strap in the business setting, but in a less formal setting, there may be a need to maintain that handbag around one's waist. This would include visits to nightclubs where it is desirable not to leave the handbag unattended and to not have the handbag move sporadically during, for example, dancing. Also, protection of the handbag while traveling in populated cities is desired without having to place the shoulder strap across one's chest.
It therefore is an object of the present invention to provide a handbag that can be utilized with both a shoulder strap and a waist belt.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a handbag having the above indicated feature of being able to be used with different types of straps in an aesthetically pleasing manner.
Various other objects, advantages and features of the present invention will become readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art, and the novel features will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with the present invention, an accessory bag meant to be worn by a wearer is provided with forward, rear and two side surfaces of material, each of the side surfaces being attached to the forward and rear surfaces along respective seams and each of the side surfaces includes bilateral incisions. Two folded lengths of attaching material are attached at their open ends to the accessory bag along respective seams of the side surfaces, and portions of the folded lengths of attaching material pass through the incisions to reveal the closed ends thereof external to the enclosure defined by the various surfaces of the accessory bag. A first pair of attachment devices are coupled to respective closed ends of the folded lengths of attaching material, each attachment device being suitable to receive a respective end of a waist-strap. A second pair of attachment devices are coupled to respective side surfaces, each attachment device of the second pair being suitable to receive a respective end of a shoulder-strap.
As an aspect of the present invention, the accessory bag includes a seam that couples one of the side surfaces to either the forward or rear surface and the seam also couples the open end of one folded length of attaching material to the accessory bag. Further, another seam that couples the other side surface to the forward or rear surface also couples the open end of the other folded length of attaching material to the accessory bag.
As another aspect of the present invention, the open ends of each folded length of attaching material includes first and second open ends, and these first and second open ends of each folded length of attaching material are sewn to the accessory bag at different portions of the respective seam.
As a further aspect of the present invention, the first open end of each folded length of attaching material is attached near the top of the accessory bag and the other open end is attached near the bottom of the accessory bag.
As an additional aspect of the present invention, the bag further includes two covers that are partially coupled to respective side surfaces and that cover the attachment devices and the revealed closed ends of the attaching material.
As a feature of this aspect, each cover is sewn to the respective side surface along respective seams that are adjacent to the seams that attach the open ends of the folded lengths of attaching material to the accessory bag.
As a further feature, the respective seams of the folded lengths of attaching material are used also to sew each of the covers to the respective side surfaces to thus provide an additional attachment for the attaching material.
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Mark Montague, Cowan, Liebowitz & Latman
Vidovich Gregory M.
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