Patent Application
20130182976
1. Technical Field
The present disclosure is directed towards pockets attached to a bag for holding items.
2. Description of the Related Art
Bags, backpacks, suitcases, and other articles used to hold and carry items typically contain a cavity for containing such items. It can be difficult or cumbersome to access such cavity for a single item, such as a water bottle or other item that may be needed more frequently than other items in the bag.
Moreover, when carrying water bottles and other bottles containing liquids in the cavity, condensation or leakage from the bottle may expel onto other items in the bag, thereby damaging or destroying such items. Some bags have pockets on the outside of a bag for easy access to a water bottle, for example. However, such pockets add to the size of the bag when the holders are not in use and may have devices (such as a draw string) that are susceptible to getting caught or hung-up on external items or structures, thereby damaging the bag and/or causing injury to the wearer.
The present disclosure is directed towards pockets for holding items on the outside of a bag, backpack, suitcase, and the like (collectively a “bag”). Generally, a bag may comprise a bag body that defines a bag cavity for holding contents therein. The bag body may comprise a side panel and a plurality of other panels, or it may simply comprise one panel or piece of material, such as with traditional shoulder bags, for example.
In some embodiments, a pocket is attached to the side panel of the bag body, or it may be attached to any surface of the bag body. The pocket may be adapted to move between a collapsed configuration and an expanded configuration when a wearer desires to use the pocket. In the collapsed configuration, the pocket overlies the side panel of the bag body such that the side panel is uniformly or substantially uniformly flat against the bag body. In the expanded configuration, the pocket is opened by the wearer and defines a pocket cavity which is capable of holding contents therein, such as a water bottle, separate from items that may be in the bag cavity.
In some embodiments, the pocket may include a pocket panel having a first edge, a second edge, a third edge, and a fourth edge, and the first edge may be the only edge of the pocket panel that is directly secured to the bag. A collapsible panel, comprised of mesh material, may be secured to the second edge of the pocket panel and to the side panel of the bag at a second edge of the collapsible panel. Thus, the collapsible panel may be positioned between the side panel of the bag and the pocket panel. In some embodiments, a supplemental collapsible panel is secured to lower regions of the pocket panel and the collapsible panel to assist in holding contents in the pocket when in the expanded configuration. Thus, the pocket panel, the collapsible panel, and the supplemental collapsible panel may be collectively adapted to move between the collapsed configuration and the expanded configuration such that the collapsible panel and the supplemental collapsible panel may be hidden when in the collapsed configuration. The pocket panel, the side panel, the collapsible panel, and the supplemental collapsible panel may collectively define the pocket cavity that is formed when in the expanded configuration to contain items therein.
In some embodiments, the side panel of the bag may include at least one attachment device that is removably attached to a corresponding attachment device on the pocket when in the collapsed configuration. In some embodiments, one of the at least one attachment device and the at least one corresponding attachment device comprises a magnet, while the other one comprises a magnetically attractive element to be attracted by the magnet when the pocket is moved to the collapsed configuration. In other embodiments, each or both of the at least one attachment device and the at least one corresponding attachment device may be at least one or a combination of snaps, buttons, hook and loop fasteners, magnets, and other suitable structures.
In some embodiments, the at least one attachment device on the pocket may be automatically detached from the at least one corresponding attachment device on the bag when the pocket panel is moved from the collapsed configuration to the expanded configuration. Likewise, the at least one attachment device of the pocket may be automatically attached to the at least one corresponding device of the bag when the pocket panel is moved from the expanded configuration to the collapsed configuration. Such functionality may allow the wearer to open and close the pocket without being required to physically and directly attach or detach the attachment devices from each other, thereby allowing the wearer quickly open and close the pocket with one hand, for example. In some embodiments, a tab may be coupled to the pocket to facilitate movement of the pocket between the collapsed and expanded configurations.
In some embodiments, the side pocket 22 includes a side pocket panel 24 having a first edge 26, a second edge 27, a third edge 28, and a fourth edge 29. In the illustrated embodiment, the first edge 26 is secured to the side panel 16 and the second edge 27 is secured to a collapsible panel 30, as shown best in
In some embodiments, the collapsible panel 30 may be secured to an upper strip 40, which may be comprised of an elastic band or other suitable material. The collapsible panel 30, the supplemental collapsible panel 36, and the upper strip 40 may each be comprised of one or a combination of a stiff or elastic material, and may each be sized and shaped to collectively receive and hold water bottles of various shapes and sizes, for example.
In some embodiments, the side pocket panel 24 includes a pair of attachment devices 42a, 42b positioned at upper and lower areas of the side pocket panel 24. The pair of attachment devices 42a, 42b may be attached onto or within fabric layers the side pocket panel 24. Similarly, the side panel 16 includes a pair of corresponding attachment devices 44a, 44b positioned at corresponding upper and lower areas of the side panel 16. The pair of corresponding attachment devices 44a, 44b may be attached onto or within fabric layers of the side panel 16. The pair of attachment devices 42a, 42b may be automatically attached to the pair of corresponding attachment devices 44a, 44b, respectively, when the side pocket 22 is moved to the collapsed configuration C. Conversely, the pair of attachment devices 42a, 42b may be detached from the pair of corresponding attachment devices 44a, 44b, respectively, when the side pocket 22 is moved to the expanded configuration E. The pair of attachment devices 42a, 42b and the pair of corresponding attachment devices 44a, 44b may assist to retain the side pocket 22 flush against the side panel 16 of the bag 10 when in the collapsed configuration C.
In some embodiments, a tab 46 may be coupled to the side pocket panel 24 to help a wearer move the side pocket 22 between the collapsed configuration C and the expanded configuration E in one fluid motion without the need to manually couple the pairs of attachment devices 42a, 42b to and from the pair of corresponding attachment devices 44a, 44b. In some embodiments, a strap 48 may be attached to the bag 10 to facilitate handling and carrying the bag 10 and the side pocket 22.
The various embodiments described above can be combined to provide further embodiments. All of the U.S. patents, U.S. patent application publications, U.S. patent applications, foreign patents, foreign patent applications and non-patent publications referred to in this specification and/or listed in the Application Data Sheet are incorporated herein by reference, in their entirety. Aspects of the embodiments can be modified, if necessary to employ concepts of the various patents, applications and publications to provide yet further embodiments.
These and other changes can be made to the embodiments in light of the above-detailed description. In general, in the following claims, the terms used should not be construed to limit the claims to the specific embodiments disclosed in the specification and the claims, but should be construed to include all possible embodiments along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled. Accordingly, the claims are not limited by the disclosure.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61586422 | Jan 2012 | US |
