Receptacles – Container attachment or adjunct – External covering for a hot water heater or boiler
Patent
1996-06-13
1998-06-30
Shoap, Allan N.
Receptacles
Container attachment or adjunct
External covering for a hot water heater or boiler
220 2383, 220735, B65D 2500, B65D 2520
Patent
active
057720665
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field
This invention generally relates to apparatus and methods for toting or carrying things, and more specifically relates to a tote apparatus that attaches to a cooler.
2. Background Art
Containers such as ice chests, insulated jugs, and vacuum bottles have been used for decades to keep a variety of food items and drinks hot or cold, as desired. For the sake of convenience and clarity, these ice chests, jugs, and bottles are generically referred to herein as coolers, recognizing that the insulated properties of these containers make them well suited for either hot or cold food or beverages. Coolers come in many different sizes and configurations.
One common use of a cooler is on a family picnic to a park. When the family arrives at the park, all of the picnic supplies must be unloaded from the vehicle and carried to the desired picnic area. Typically this involves many trips back and forth between the vehicle and the picnic area. One trip is generally required to carry the cooler, which may contain meat and condiments that need to be kept cold. Additional trips are also required to carry the other picnic supplies that do not have to be kept cold, such as chips and buns.
There are known coolers and attachments to coolers that provide pockets for carrying things. Examples of these are disclosed in the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,445,276 issued 8/29/95 to Gordon; 4,640,392 issued 2/3/87 to Decker et al. and assigned to Igloo Corporation; 4,468,933 issued 9/4/84 to Christopher; and Des. 316,012 issued 4/9/91 to Christopher. The two patents to Christopher disclose coolers that are manufactured with pockets. The configuration in the Christopher patents would require a consumer that wants pockets on a cooler to purchase a new cooler. While special-purpose coolers with pockets may be useful for the first-time buyer of a cooler, there are literally millions of coolers that are currently in use. Owners of existing coolers could greatly benefit from a separate attachment that could be purchased and fitted on the cooler at home by the user. In addition, known coolers and tote devices generally have relatively small pockets, allowing a person to store sunglasses, sunblock, or similar small items in these pockets, but none allow for the toting of large items.
Therefore, there existed a need for a multi-pocketed tote apparatus that has relatively large pockets and that may be easily retro-fitted onto an existing cooler.
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION
According to the present invention, a cooler tote apparatus and method can be attached to existing coolers. This tote apparatus allows toting a relative large quantity of items external to the cooler when the cooler is carried. Expandable pockets provide for large storage space when the pockets are placed in their expanded position. One or more elastic portions allow the tote apparatus to be fitted on existing coolers of different sizes.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
The preferred exemplary embodiment of the present invention will hereinafter be described in conjunction with the appended drawings, where like designations denote like elements, and:
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a multi-pocketed tote apparatus in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention in use on a rectangular cooler;
FIG. 2 is a top view of the tote apparatus of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a multi-pocketed tote apparatus in accordance with the first embodiment in use on a circular cooler;
FIG. 4 is a top view of the tote apparatus of FIG. 3;
FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a multi-pocketed tote apparatus in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention in use on a rectangular cooler;
FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a multi-pocketed tote apparatus in accordance with the second embodiment in use on a circular cooler;
FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a multi-pocketed tote apparatus in accordance with a third embodiment of the present invention in use on a rectangular cooler;
FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a multi-pocketed
REFERENCES:
patent: 3675814 (1972-07-01), Graf
patent: 4356854 (1982-11-01), McGee
patent: 4598803 (1986-07-01), Ghiassi
patent: 4765472 (1988-08-01), Dent
patent: 4838466 (1989-06-01), Holmstrom
patent: 5174447 (1992-12-01), Fleming
patent: 5350081 (1994-09-01), Graham
patent: 5567055 (1996-10-01), Smith
patent: 5603405 (1997-02-01), Smith
Kopsidas Niki M.
Martin Derek P.
Shoap Allan N.
LandOfFree
Multi-pocketed cooler tote apparatus and method does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Multi-pocketed cooler tote apparatus and method, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Multi-pocketed cooler tote apparatus and method will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-1850617