Patent Application
20210251355
This invention relates generally to a pouch or pocket for carrying an article such as one or more ammunition magazines, armor plates, batteries, radios, grenades, bottles, and the like in hostile environments, and more particularly that uses a lace tightening mechanism for adjusting the pouch size, fit, and/or tightness about the article or articles, that has a lace or laces largely or substantially incorporated into an arrangement of one or more enclosed cavities or pockets in or between panels of the arrangement so as to be protected from exposure and potential damage while still allowing free movement of the lace or laces, and which largely isolates the laces from the carried article or articles to avoid snagging and catching on the article when being inserted into or removed from the pouch.
The disclosures of co-pending patent application Ser. No. 16/478,321, filed Jul. 16, 2019, PCT application Serial No. PCT/US2018/14119, filed Jan. 1″, 2018, and U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/447,408, filed Jan. 17, 2017, are incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Various lacing systems utilizing are available for use in connection with carrying various articles, and suffer from various drawbacks. For example, some lacing systems include exposed laces, which can be damaged and/or unintentionally caught on objects such as branches, thorns, grass, etc., in hostile environments and actuated (e.g., loosened), resulting in problems, failures, etc. Reference in this regard. Burns et. al., U.S. Patent Publication No. 2013/0269219, entitled Tightening Mechanisms and Applications Including the Same, hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety; and various lace tightening systems commercially available from the assignee of the underlying invention, Boa Technology Inc. of Denver Colo. USA. While these applications of the Boa lace tightening system adequately conceal and protect the tightening mechanism, the laces are largely routed so as to be exposed and subject to environmental elements and damage. Accordingly, there persists a need for lacing systems that include better protected laces.
Another drawback to be avoided for many applications would be a lace exposed to the interior of a pouch or pocket so as to potentially unintentionally catch on or entangle with an article as it is being inserted or removed to impede or prevent that action or unintentionally activate or deactivate the article. As an example, pockets for carrying ammunition or grenades should allow them to be quickly and smoothly deliberately withdrawn using sufficient manual force to overcome the tension of the lacing system, and the lacing system is desirably tensioned to prevent unintentional removal as a result of normal activities such as jumping or falling. As another example, it would be undesirable to unintentionally activate or deactivate a radio, beacon, flashlight, or the like while inserting it into or removing it from a pouch or pocket.
It is also sought for some applications to provide a pouch, pocket, or the like, that is adjustable in interior cavity dimension or size in at least one direction, so as to accommodate articles of different sizes or types, so that a smaller range of sizes and shapes of pouches or pockets can be utilized for holding a larger range articles.
Thus, what is sought is an adjustable pouch or pocket for securely carrying one or more articles that overcomes one or more of the shortcomings and limitations set forth above.
What is disclosed is an adjustable pouch or pocket for securely carrying one or more articles such an ammunition magazine, armor plate, battery, telephone, radio, grenade, bottle, first aid pack, weapon, and the like, suitable for use in hostile environments, and that overcomes one or more of the shortcomings and limitations set forth above.
As a preferred aspect of the invention, the pouch or pocket (herein sometimes collectively or interchangeably referred to using the term “pouch”) utilizes a lace tightening mechanism such as, but not limited to, any of several commercially available from Boa Technology Inc. or Denver Colo. USA for adjusting the pouch size, fit, and/or tightness about the article or articles. This is achieved using a lace or laces, which can be polymer, metal, natural material, of monofilament or multifilament construction, having adequate strength for holding a desired article or articles within a pouch. As a representative but non-limiting example, the tightening mechanism can be constructed and operable in the manner described and illustrated in Burns et al., U.S. Patent Publication No. 2013/0269219, essentially manually operable by rotation of an external knob of a ratchet mechanism to rotate an internal spool or spools onto which the lace or laces is/are wound. The laces extend from the mechanism to form a loop which is routed in connection with panels forming the pouch such that as the lace or laces is/are drawn toward the tightening mechanism they are shortened to pull one of the panels toward an opposite panel, or the panels together, to reduce one or more dimensions of an interior cavity bound and defined by the panels. Here, it should be understood that by the terms “lace” or “laces”, what is meant is the ends of a single or multiple piece long wire, string, filament, etc., or multiple ones, having two ends that attach to the tightening mechanism, or one end attached to the tightening mechanism and another attached to another location, e.g., fixed location, so that when the mechanism is operated to tighten, at least one of the ends is drawn toward the mechanism.
As another preferred aspect of the invention, the pouch or pocket is configured to protect or shield the laces from exposure to the environment, so that they are not damaged, or exposed so as to become caught or entangled with hazards such as vines, branches, wire, etc., and thereby restrict movement. This is particularly important for applications such as wherein the pouch is carried on a person's body, for instance, as part of the kit of a soldier, sailor, marine, law enforcement officer, etc., where freedom of movement is imperative and the wearer may be crawling through brush and or debris, or moving through underbrush, concealment netting, wire, fences, obstacles, etc. Also in this context of the invention, the surfaces of the panels comprising the pouch that bound and define the interior cavity of the pouch are preferably configured such that the laces are isolated or separated from the interior cavity so as not to catch on or entangle with an article to be held in the interior cavity so as to prevent its insertion and/or removal, and so that the laces will not interact with elements of an article, such as a switch, e.g., telephone, radio, so as to unintentionally activate or deactivate it. The panels are further preferably arranged so as to be relatively movable without binding or creasing, including when an article or articles are located in the interior cavity and the pouch is tightened or snugged about it/them.
As still another preferred aspect, the pouch or pockets of the invention are configured and operable to securely hold an article or articles, so as to prevent unintentional removal from the pouch, while still allowing rapid intentional manual removal in a predetermined manner, such as, but not limited to, using a single hand in a manual pulling action in a predetermined direction. This has been found to be useful in stressful situations such as during combat and particularly during emergency situations including when time is of the essence. As another preferred aspect the configuration of the pouches additionally allows removal of the article substantially silently.
Referring now to the drawings wherein preferred embodiments of the invention are shown, in
Referring to
Pouch 20 is exemplary of configurations for carrying a wide variety of articles, such as, but not limited to, one or more ammunition magazines; batteries; grenades; radios; telephones; navigation devices or aids; batteries; cameras; bottles; first aid kits or devices, etc., and the basic configurations and operability of pouch 20 and pouch 76 are suitable to be sized and shaped for receiving and snugging about an armor plate within a range of sizes and shapes. As an example, one size pouch 20 or 76 can be used for holding different armor plates the size and shape of which can vary within the adjustment range of the pouch 20.
Pouch 20 is desirably adjustable such that interior cavity 32 can be enlarged or reduced in sectional extent when viewed from above or below. Here, it should be understood that the directional references front, rear, side, bottom, top, upper and lower, are for reference only herein and thus are not limiting. This adjustability is desirable and convenient to allow use of a single size pouch with articles within a range of sizes, and for tightening or snugging the pouch about an article received therein to a desired extent, such as, but not limited to, so as to securely retain and hold the article under anticipated conditions, such as while running or riding in an open vehicle, swimming, parachuting, or the like, while allowing rapid removal with a single handed action. In this regard, the adjustability can allow a user to tighten the pouch 20 more securely for rugged conditions, then loosen the pouch to a desired extent, for operational use, such as the rapid withdrawal of the held article. The pouch can be configured such that an article or articles can be fully received in the interior cavity, or extend outwardly therefrom as illustrated by
To provide the ability to adjust the size of pouch 20 or pouch 76, it includes a tightening mechanism 40 (see also
As best shewn in
Alternatively, the interior rear panel 56 alone or with outer rear panel 30 can be constructed and fashioned so as to be controllably flexed to a controlled extent by the tightening of mechanism 40 so that the upper region of the rear panel 56 will bear against and snug an article such as magazine 64 when located in cavity 32. It should be recognized thus that the effects the sideward movement of side panels 24, 26 into and toward the center region of the rear cavity or pocket 58 is preferably the main manner of snugging and holding an article located in cavity 32, but for instance, where extra security is desired, the optional controlled flexibility of panel 56 can be employed to snug against the upper region of the article in the vicinity of opening 34, if desired. This controlled flexibility can be achieved in any desired manner such as by scoring a line across the stiffening member 74 or otherwise appropriately weakening it in an appropriate location relative to guideway 54.
Mechanism 40 can be a commercially available tightening mechanism such as disclosed in Burns et al., U.S. Patent Publication No. 2013/0269219, Goodman et al. U.S. Pat. No. 9,408,437 32 issued Aug. 9, 2016, and Soderberg et al., U.S. Pat. No. 9,138,030 B2 issued Sep. 22, 2015, all incorporated herein in their entireties, and commercially available from Boa Technologies.
This rear cavity or pocket is desirable and of substantial utility, as it provides a space for variably receiving free ends or tongues 68, 70, respectively, of side panels 24 and 26 through the side openings 60, 62, respectively, for relative movement of the side panels within the rear cavity or pocket relative to rear panels 30 and 56 (see associated arrows in
Rear cavity or pocket 58 is also advantageously employed to substantially completely internally route laces 46, 48 so as to be protected from the environment and also isolated from interior cavity 32 for the above explained advantages. Here, laces 46 and 48 are routed about side guideways 50 and 52 on tongues 68 and 70, respectively, and about guideway 54 (see
Here it is also be mentioned that the surface or surfaces of interior rear panel 56 and/or outer rear panel 30 facing rear pocket or cavity 58 can optionally comprise a material having a lower coefficient of friction than other surfaces of the panels, to provide ease and silence of movement of laces 46, 48 and guideways 52, 54 thereover. In this regard, it is contemplated that a pouch such as pouch 20 will be tightly attached to a supporting structure such as a load bearing platform of a garment such as an armor carrier or tactical vest, cummerbund, or the like, and the pouch 20 can carry relatively heavy objects such as an ammunition magazine or magazines 64, so that substantial tension may be applied to laces 46 and 48 and such that they can have a tendency to cut material that they cross. Employing a low coefficient of friction yet stiff surface in contact with the laces such as here has utility for preventing wear and potential failure under contemplated loading conditions.
In operation, by rotation of knob 42 as illustrated variously and particularly in
Here, it should be noted that knob 42 can be located at a variety of locations, including on any of the panels of the pouch 20, as desired or required for a particular application. It should also be noted that knob 42 can be internalized, such as by being located within pocket or cavity 58 so as to be protected also.
Still further, it should be understood that the invention can be scaled for a variety of applications, such as for holding larger articles such as large armor plates 72 that are several times larger than the magazine 64 shewn.
In this regard,
In light of all the foregoing, it should thus be apparent to those skilled in the art that there has been shown and described a novel adjustable pouch with lace tightening mechanism having closed protected laces. However, it should also foe apparent that, within the principles and scope of the invention, many changes are possible and contemplated, including in the details, materials, and arrangements of parts which have been described and illustrated to explain the nature of the invention. Thus, while the foregoing description and discussion addresses certain preferred embodiments or elements of the invention, it should further be understood that concepts of the invention, as based upon the foregoing description and discussion, may be readily incorporated into or employed in other embodiments and constructions without departing from the scope of the invention. Accordingly, the following claims are intended to protect the invention broadly as well as in the specific form shown, and all changes, modifications, variations, and other uses and applications which do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention are deemed to be covered by the invention, which is limited only by the claims which follow.
This application is a division of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/478,321/ filed Jul. 16, 2019, which application was submitted under 35 U.S.C. 371 claiming priority to PCT/US2018/14119, filed Jan. 17, 2018, which application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/447,408, filed Jan. 17, 2017.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62447408 | Jan 2017 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 16478321 | Jul 2019 | US |
| Child | 16950568 | US |
