The present invention relates to outdoor sporting gear, such as jackets and backpacks. Back-country skiing is an ever more popular recreational activity. Participants hike into remote areas of the mountains to ski fresh trails. Such activity requires that participants carry all their own gear long distances, including skis, food, water, and safety equipment, all while dressed for winter weather. Participants must either carry these items with them as they ski down the slope or leave them behind and retrieve them later. Typically, they wear a jacket for warmth, and carry their load in a backpack with straps which they slip over their arms and shoulders with their jackets on.
The backpack jacket of the present inventions allows a person to dress warmly in a jacket, carry skis, equipment, and other supplies on his or her back, switch loads without removing the jacket, and removing the jacket without removing the load. The present invention comprises an inner harness, a jacket for wearing over the harness, and a backpack or other load or load carrying member for attaching to the harness. The jacket has at least one back opening providing access to the inner harness, to facilitate the attachment of the load or load carrier to the harness. The jacket can be readily removed without disturbing the harness or its load. The removed jacket is effectively carried by the load and/or harness to which the load is secured.
These and other aspects, objects, features and advantages of the invention will be further understood and appreciated by reference to the written specification and appended drawings.
The preferred embodiment of the present invention comprises three main components: and inner harness 10, a jacket 20, and load carriers 30 (
The inner harness 10 (
Edging material 13 is secured to mesh panels 10A, and defines the perimeter of harness vest 10. Edging 13 is at most 2 inches wide, preferably at most 1.5 inches wide, and most preferably less than 1 inch wide. Harness vest 10 is fastened in the front by a zipper 15, each half of which is secured to the vertical edge of its respective front panel 10A. Zipper 15 is of a length such that when the harness vest 10 is unfastened in front, each half of zipper 15 can be zipped into an interior zipper 22A or 22B, respectively, of the jacket 20 (compare
Straps 11 come over a user's shoulders, and continue down a user's back, where they join the back of mesh panels 10A, and further are connected at their base to a waist encompassing belt 16 (
The at least four intersection points 18A are reinforced with additional strap material, preferably nylon. Attached to each of said reinforced points 18A is at least one load carrying ski-strap 30A. Ski-strap 30A may be fastened into a loop to hold a ski or disengaged to remove the skis. Preferably, the fastening member is a hook and loop fabric connector, such as Velcro™, and most preferably with industrial grade version of such a product. Each ski-strap 30A is between 0.25 and 1.5 inches wide, preferably between 0.50 and 1 inches wide. Preferably, each ski-strap 30A is positioned on harness vest 10 such that it can be reached by a user and disengaged without removing the harness vest 10 or jacket 20.
Also attached to said reinforced intersection points 18A are loops 18C for securing loads to harness 10. Loops 18C can be engaged by a clip 31 of a load carrying member such as backpack 30C or safety pack 30B (
An optional water bladder 40 and mesh carrier 41 therefor can be removably secured to harness vest 10 (
In the preferred embodiment, jacket 20 is made of nylon or other water-repellant material. Jacket 20 contains at half of a zipper 22 running vertically on the interior face of the front of the jacket, spaced inwardly from the jacket's closure zipper halves 24 (
Jacket 20 has four openings 21A in its back panel (
Load-carriers including, but not limited to, backpacks 30C, avalanche safety kits 30B, beverage carriers, and sleds are contemplated in the invention. Other types of load carriers not shown are within the contemplation of the invention. The location of the attachment loops 18C on the inner harness 10 are such that the user, by tightening the adjustment straps 11 on harness 10, can cause the load-carrier 30 to fit snugly against his or her back, allowing the user to carry equipment with him or her as he or she skis without discomfort.
Harness 10 can be attached to the interior of jacket 20 in a number of ways without departing from the spirit of the invention. In a preferred embodiment, straps 11, reinforcing strap 17A and belt 16 can be passed through nylon loops 23 sewn to the lining of jacket 20. In this way, the jacket and harness 10 may move independently of each other, while remaining attached. A user can remove jacket 20 and drape it over the load-carrier, allowing the user to regulate his or her temperature while still carrying a load and without leaving a jacket behind. Jacket 20 can be worn solely as a jacket, either with harness 10 inside it, or without harness 10 altogether. Harness 10 can be worn with an attached load, without jacket 20 altogether, though it is more preferable to carry the removed jacket as part of the load, with attachment of the load being through the openings 21A in the back of jacket 20. One can thus take off or place jacket 20 back on, without having to remove or disturb load 30.
The jacket 20 is also equipped for use with an inflatable airbag or airbags 80. (
Airbag 80 is installed via webbing straps 81 that are attached to the airbag 80, which mate with webbing straps 83 that are affixed to vertical strap 11 of inner harness 10, and an attachment pin 82 which slides through inter-leaving loops in both sets of webbing straps 81 and 83. An air line 85 connects the airbag 80 to the pressurized air chamber or air pump 84 secured to belt strap 16 near the rear center thereof. To activate the airbag 80, the user pulls a handle 75 that protrudes through an overlapping opening 76 in the front of jacket 20 (
When installed, the airbag 80 remains on the outside of jacket 20 and only webbing straps 81 penetrate openings 70. Airbag 80 and openings 70 are covered and made weather tight by a weather proof cover 73, preferably made of Gor-Tex® or some other such material. The hook surface 74 of weather proof cover 73 may be an attached panel of the hook side of a hook and loop closure. Hook surface 74 on the weather proof cover 73 mates with the loop panel 72 on the jacket 20 to seal airbag 80 in place against the exterior of jacket 20. When airbag 80 is activated, the panels 72 and 73 separate and airbag 80 deploys to the outside of the jacket 20. To make certain that air bags 80 are held in proper orientation on the body of the user when inflated, inner harness 10 includes a pelvic strap 87, attaches to the belt 16 near the center back of belt 16, and wraps snugly around between the users legs of the user and attaches to the belt 16 at the front, as for example via a buckle 16D located near buckle 16C.
As with other loads which can be attached to harness 10, air bags 80 and harness 10 can be used without the jacket portion 20. Similarly, jacket 20 can be removed with air bags 80 in place, and draped over the attachments to air bags 80 and any other load which may be attached to harness 10.
The forgoing are preferred embodiments of the invention, and various changes and alterations can be made within the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.
This application claims priority to U.S. Non-Provisional application Ser. No. 14/204,358, filed Mar. 11, 2014, entitled BACKPACK JACKET, Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/791,368, filed Mar. 15, 2013, entitled BACKPACK JACKET, and U.S. Provisional application Ser. No. 61/898,117, filed Oct. 31, 2013, entitled BACKPACK JACKET.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20160295999 A1 | Oct 2016 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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61791368 | Mar 2013 | US | |
61898117 | Oct 2013 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 14204358 | Mar 2014 | US |
Child | 15188949 | US |