Package and article carriers – Carried by animate bearer – Convertible or combined
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-02
2002-04-16
Vidovich, Gregory M. (Department: 3727)
Package and article carriers
Carried by animate bearer
Convertible or combined
C224S250000, C224S257000, C224S580000, C224S195000, C224S684000, C224S917000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06371346
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND
1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to article carriers, and more specifically to a portable, adjustable, equipment-carrying device that can be transformed between a sling, for carrying large and awkward sized components, and a belt, for the easy transport of the device to alternate locations.
2. Discussion of Background Art
The task of transporting large, heavy, and/or awkward sized pieces of equipment to different locations is a problem faced by many. Additionally, many of today's recreational enthusiasts find that the equipment needed for a specific activity may be large, heavy, and/or awkward shaped. Many recreational activities require a specific area or setting where the equipment pertinent to the activity can be used. Accordingly, the user will have to transport her equipment from one location to the next. Furthermore, the equipment may need to be transferred to and from a series of different locations.
Modular equipment such as in-line skates are large, heavy, and stiff and include a multi-wheeled chassis extending from the sole of the skate boot. Steps, rough terrain, safety considerations, and regulatory reasons may present obstacles requiring the user to remove his or her skates. Consequently, the user has to carry his or her skates across or past any obstacles. Correspondingly, elongated equipment such as snowboards are long, wide, large, stiff, and heavy. Snowboards also have to be carded when they are not being used as vehicles for gliding across snow. For instance, activities including; climbing hills, walking through a parking lot or other non-snow surfaces, and navigating steps provide a sampling of the many situations requiring the carding of snowboards. Similarly, elongated skateboards are also long, wide, large, stiff and heavy. As with snowboards and inline skates, skateboards need to be carded in certain circumstances. As noted above these circumstances can either be of a physical or regulatory nature.
Generally, article carriers used to carry and hold awkward-sized equipment are designed to accommodate specific components. As a result, many carriers of large and/or awkward sized equipment have specific features in order to carry such articles. For instance, a carrier designed to transport a modular piece of equipment by enclosing it in a “pack” of sorts may not be appropriate for carrying objects of an elongated nature. Many standard backpacks are simply not large enough to stow unusually shaped equipment. Furthermore, carriers for specific equipment often lack a degree of universality that allow the users to carry a host of different and unrelated equipment loads. An equipment carrier that is portable and can carry a variety of awkward-shaped pieces is required.
A number of article carriers have been designed with the purpose of minimizing the effort required to manually carry heavy and awkward shaped equipment loads. Many of these carriers seek to strap the carded equipment to the user rather than enclose the equipment in a pack. Furthermore, many of these carriers include a main belt to fit around the waist of the user, thereby ensuring the portable nature of the carrier. However, there are certain features among these types of carriers that limit the different types of loads and users the carrier can accommodate. For instance, many of the carriers have their equipment attachment facilities statically positioned at opposite ends of the main belt. The fixed placements of such facilities limit the different conformations and hence the different equipment loads that the carrier can transport. In an attempt to make these carriers further adjustable, some of the carriers are composed of more than one strap making up their main belt. This mechanism provides two straps that move in opposite directions relative to each other, thereby increasing and decreasing the main belt length and the distance between the two equipment attachment facilities. The accoutrements that mediate the articulation of the two straps, tightly secure the straps to one another so that they will not come apart when carding loads. Hence, any adjustment in the accoutrements and straps often requires manual manipulation, which can be difficult, complicated, and time consuming. In addition, it is often difficult to accurately adjust the length of the main belt to any specific length. Many times the user will have to make an adjustment, physically test whether the adjustment is roughly correct and then rework the adjustment to gain a more accurate and desirable belt length. Furthermore, when the equipment attachment facilities and hence the ends of the carrier are drawn closer together, these carriers tend to create a lot of slack in at least one of the two straps composing the main belt. The slack or excess length in the main belt may be positioned on the user's dorsal side and thus may inadvertently catch on various obstacles.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,483,470 to Cousins discloses an article carrier specifically designed to carry modular components such as roller skates. This carrier provides a single strap composing the main belt with snapper-like clamp buckles disposed at each end thereof. The buckles clamp on a given portion of the carded skate. This type of attachment is not secure, limits the variety of objects that can be carried, and may even damage a carded load as it physically clamps down on the carded article. The carrier is slung over the shoulder of the user with one carded skate in front of the user and the other in back. This type of carrier allows the carded items to dangle freely, apart: from each other in a nonsecure manner. In this arrangement, the carried items can swing out and knock back into the user or fall off the user's shoulder completely.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,676,417 to Hirschkoff discloses an article carrier specifically designed to carry skis. The design consists of a two-strap mechanism with a plurality of equipment attaching loops at each end of the main belt. The loops are slidably attached to the main belt and can be drawn back from the ends thereby concealing the loops in a special pocket located at each end along the main belt. The loops are formed by hook and loop material placed on adjacent flexible straps. This material tends to wear quickly when exposed to heavy loads and come apart when exposed to certain sheering forces. As the loops are placed at opposite ends of the main belt, the number of different conformations the devise can adapt to is necessarily limited. The plurality of loops, including the hook and loop material between the members composing the loops, will undoubtedly create a bulky mass. The bulky mass of equipment attaching loops may interfere in sliding them in and out of specialized pockets. The device operates by carrying ski equipment along side the user with the equipment secured to the user around the shoulder in a purse-like fashion. As noted earlier, the Hirschkoff device employs a two-strap mechanism and is prone to some of the aforementioned disadvantages associated with such a design. Although these carriers free at least one hand of the user, they position the object at an angle that is perpendicular to the user. Elongated equipment carried in this manner can knock into objects in front and back of the user. In addition, when the user turns around in a circle, the carded equipment lying perpendicular to the user will take up a significant amount of area. The risk of injury to other individuals is increased especially in crowded situations.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,863,083 to Chen discloses a portable device for carrying both modular components such as ski boots and elongated components such as skis. This device is composed of a single main belt with equipment attachment loops slidably attached to the main belt. Similar to U.S. Pat. No. 4,676,417 to Hirschkoff, the carrying loops in the Chen device are formed by hook and loop self-gripping material. And like the former, encounters the same problems when exposed to heavy loads. The Chen device, however, configures the carrier to carry equipment around the waist o
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