The invention generally relates to backpacks and other carrying systems which encircle a user's waist for support. In particular, the present invention relates to a waist belt coupling system for improving the performance of a carrying system.
Bags and carrying cases are commonly used to transport items from one location to another. Items may be contained and supported within an internal enclosure during transportation. Most bags also include some form of user attachment system that allows a user to support the bag during transportation. Many types of user attachment systems are designed to be positioned on a user's body in a configuration that supports the bag but does not require the use of appendages. For example, backpack shoulder straps may be individually looped around each of a user's shoulders to support the backpack in an orientation that does not require the user to hold it with their arms. However, each type of user-attachment system possesses particular performance characteristics and limitations that affect the utility of the bag. For example, a single shoulder strap or messenger-style user attachment system is undesirable for exclusive support of a bag with heavier loads due to potential back and/or shoulder discomfort.
Bags and carrying cases may be further classified according to their overall shape, user-attachment system(s), and material of composition. One subset of carrying cases includes bags which attach to a user's waist, including backpacks, hip-packs, shoulder bags, messenger bags, etc. These types of carrying systems may also include other user-attachment systems in addition to a waist attachment such as shoulder straps, handles, etc. A waist attachment system refers to some form of straps, belts, hooks, etc. that couple to the waist region of a user. In general, the carrying portion of the carrying system is primarily positioned on the dorsal side of the user, and the waist attachment system includes two straps which extend from the left and right sides respectively to the ventral side of the user's body. The two straps may then be releasably coupled together so as to form a singular support strap encircling the user's dorsal and ventral waist region from the carrying portion of the carrying system. By encircling the user's waist with support straps, weight is distributed between the carrying portion of the carrying system and the user's waist”.
One of the problems with existing waist-type user attachment systems is the inability of the waist attachment system to efficiently articulate in accordance with the movement of the user. When a user walks or runs, each hip sequentially rises and falls within the coronal plane a small amount corresponding to the leading leg/foot in order to allow the hip joint to properly articulate. Conventional hip attachment systems are rigid in that they directly transfer all user hip movement to the carrying portion and therefore require synchronization of hip and carrying portion movements. For example, if one hip is raised, the corresponding side of the carrying portion must also be raised. Unfortunately, this synchronization of movements causes the user to perform unnecessary work as a result of repeatedly raising the weight of the carrying portion with each stride. In addition, a user generally leans forward in the sagittal plane while walking uphill, and the dorsal hip region intermittently tilts slightly forward in the sagittal plane during movement. The necessary synchronization of hip and carrying portion movements thereby causes the carrying portion to be raised and lowered as a result of the sagittal movement. Over long distances and higher pack weights, the required synchronization of hip and carrying portion movements significantly increases the workload of the user.
Some of these problems have been overcome by existing hip attachments systems, but each respective system has failed to efficiently provide optimal articulation without introducing additional problems. For example, merely allowing the hip attachment point to freely rotate coronally will result in undesirable weight distribution at particular lateral lean angles. In addition, many of the existing articulating hip attachment systems require elimination of existing adjustability functions such as a torso length adjustment.
Therefore, there is a need in the industry for an improved carrying system hip-type user attachment system that provides the optimal articulation characteristics while maintaining existing adjustment and comfort parameters.
The present invention relates to backpacks and other carrying systems which encircle a user's waist for support. One embodiment of the present invention relates to a user-based carrying system capable of independent transportation of a load including a hip-based user attachment system. The carrying system includes an enclosure member having an internal region encased by an internal surface. A user attachment system releasably secures the carrying system to the user for independent transportation without requiring muscular engagement. The user attachment system includes a hip attachment system with a dorsal articulation member and a strap member. The dorsal articulation member includes a front and rear member three-dimensionally moveably coupled to one another. The rear member is coupled to the enclosure member, and the front member is coupled to the strap member. The three-dimensional moveable coupling between the front and rear members includes three restricted degrees of freedom configured to efficiently absorb corresponding user hip movements and directly support other user hip movements. The three restricted freedoms are a restricted rotational coronal freedom, a restricted transverse tilt freedom, and a restricted sagittal tilt freedom. Each of the restricted three dimensional freedoms enables a user to articulate their waist or hips in a particular orientation and/or amount without raising the enclosure member. A second embodiment of the present invention relates to a method for moveably coupling a strap member to an enclosure member in order to efficiently articulate a waist attachment system, thus forming an efficient user-based independent carrying system.
Embodiments of the present invention represent a significant advance in the field of hip-type user attachment systems for carrying systems. The inclusion of restricted three-dimensional movement freedoms between the hip attachment system and the carrying member ensures that only specific desirable hip articulation movements are translated to the carrying member while others are absorbed. Conventional systems have failed to account for all three specific orientations of hip articulation which should not be translated to an efficient carrying member. Likewise, conventional systems have failed to properly restrict the amount of freedom for each orientation of the moveable coupling. Therefore, conventional carrying systems that include hip-based attachments have failed to provide an overall degree of load carrying efficiency by failing to properly absorb particular user hip movements. Over long distances or periods of time, a failure to absorb certain hip movements causes a significant increase in workload upon a user. In addition, embodiments of the present invention may be utilized in conjunction with conventional torso adjustment systems and shoulder strap systems without compromising on the hip attachment performance characteristics.
These and other features and advantages of the present invention will be set forth or will become more fully apparent in the description that follows and in the appended claims. The features and advantages may be realized and obtained by means of the instruments and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims. Furthermore, the features and advantages of the invention may be learned by the practice of the invention or will be obvious from the description, as set forth hereinafter.
The following description of the invention can be understood in light of the Figures, which illustrate specific aspects of the invention and are a part of the specification. Together with the following description, the Figures demonstrate and explain the principles of the invention. In the Figures, the physical dimensions may be exaggerated for clarity. The same reference numerals in different drawings represent the same element, and thus their descriptions will be omitted.
The present invention relates to backpacks and other carrying systems which encircle a user's waist for support. One embodiment of the present invention relates to a user based carrying system capable of independent transportation of a load including a hip-based user attachment system. The carrying system includes an enclosure member having an internal region encased by an internal surface. A user attachment system releasably secures the carrying system to the user for independent transportation without requiring muscular engagement. The user attachment system includes a hip attachment system with a dorsal articulation member and a strap member. The dorsal articulation member includes a front and rear member three-dimensionally moveably coupled to one another. The rear member is coupled to the enclosure member and the front member is coupled to the strap member. The three-dimensional moveable coupling between the front and rear members includes three restricted degrees of freedom configured to efficiently absorb corresponding user hip movements and directly support other user hip movements. The three restricted freedoms are a restricted rotational coronal freedom, a restricted transverse tilt freedom, and a restricted sagittal tilt freedom. Each of the restricted three dimensional freedoms enables a user to articulate their waist or hips in a particular orientation and/or amount without raising the enclosure member. A second embodiment of the present invention relates to a method for moveably coupling a strap member to an enclosure member in order to efficiently articulate a waist attachment system, thus forming an efficient user-based independent carrying system. Also, while embodiments are described in reference to a hip-based user attachment system, it will be appreciated that the teachings of the present invention are applicable to other types of carrying system user attachment systems such as chest-based and/or appendage-based attachment systems.
The following terms are defined as follows:
User-based carrying system—a carrying system configured to be secured to a user. A user-based carrying system may be further defined as being capable of independent transportation, meaning that it does not request a user to maintain an appendage based active muscular engagement. For example, a backpack or shoulder bag are user-based carrying systems that allow for independent transportation because they include one or two straps that may be looped over a user's torso during transportation. In contrast, a conventional briefcase is a user-based transportation system that is dependent on the user maintaining a continuous grasp of the handle or some form of appendage-torso compression during transportation.
Restricted freedom—a restricted amount of movement/articulation freedom within a particular orientation or plane. For example, a restricted vertical freedom may be a particular finite movement or articulation type within a vertical orientation. The particular movement may be a distance, an angle, etc. A yoyo toy has a particular restricted freedom to only extend the length of the string to which it is attached.
Three-dimensional moveable coupling—a coupling between two members that permits the members to move with respect to one another in at least three orthogonal planes of movement. For example, an anatomical hip joint includes a ball and socket type moveable coupling that allows a user to move three dimensionally.
Sandwich coupling—a coupling between at least three members in which the outer or peripherally disposed member(s) are coupled to one another so as to be also effectively couple the medial or internally disposed members. A sandwich coupling may utilize various schemes that allow for movement between members. For example, a sandwich coupling may include routing a coupler through a central recess of a first and second member. The coupler may include a specific geometrical shape on either side that is larger than the central recesses of the first and second member, thereby sandwich coupling the members via chocking.
Coronal plane—a vertical anatomical plane equally splitting the front and rear portion.
Transverse plane—a horizontal anatomical plane equally splitting the top and bottom portion.
Sagittal plane—a vertical anatomical plane equally splitting the left and right side portions.
Waist region—an anatomical region corresponding to the abdominal area around a user's navel. The waist region may also be referred to as the hips and/or the hip region.
Reference is initially made to
The strap member 160 is configured to transversely extend around a user's waist region and selectively releasably couple at a ventral waist region so as to continuously encircle the waist region of the user. The strap member 160 further includes a dorsal pad 166, a left strap 162, a right strap 164, and a ventral coupler 168. The dorsal pad 166 is a medial strap region configured to be disposed at a dorsal portion of the user's waist region. The dorsal pad 166 is coupled to the dorsal coupler 150. The left and right straps 162, 164 are configured to extend transversely on opposite sides of the dorsal pad 166 toward the ventral region of the user in an engaged state. The left and right straps 162, 164 may include both padded and non-padded regions as illustrated in
Reference is next made to
The front member 130 includes a web-shaped, plate-like structure rigidly coupled to the dorsal pad 166 of the strap member 160, as illustrated. The rigid coupling refers to a coupling scheme through which movements of the strap member 160 are directly translated to the front member 130. The web shaped plate configuration of the front member 130 enables an optimal coupling with the strap member 160. However, it will be appreciated that other planar shaped structures may be utilized for the front member 130 and remain consistent with the present invention. The rear member 120 also includes a plate-like shape structure. The rear member 120 is coupled to the enclosure member 110. The coupling between the rear member 120 and enclosure member 110 is configured to dispose a portion of the rear member 120 within the internal region 114 (see
The front member 130 is coupled to the rear member 120 via a three dimensional restricted moveable coupling. The restricted three dimensional moveable coupling includes a restricted rotational coronal freedom, a restricted transverse tilt freedom, and a unidirectional restricted sagittal tilt freedom. The three restricted freedoms selectively allow particular movement orientations of the user's hips to be translated to the enclosure system to product optimal carrying efficiency according to anatomical movement parameters. During movement, it is known that humans anatomically raise and tilt their hips and waist region sequentially corresponding to the forward most foot so as to effectively distribute weight. It is undesirable for a carrying system user to incur the additional work requirement to raise the load contained within the enclosure member during movement. Therefore, the three restricted freedoms of movement between the front and rear members 130, 120 prevent selected movements from translating to the enclosure member 110. A user may thereby raise/tilt their waist region within particular parameters while avoiding translation of movement to the enclosure member 110. The restricted rotational coronal freedom allows a user to laterally articulate their hips up or down within 10 degrees to the enclosure member 110. Likewise, the restricted transverse tilt freedom allows a user to transversely tilt their hips forward or rearward within 10 degrees while avoiding translation of movement to the enclosure member 110. In addition, the unidirectional restricted sagittal tilt freedom allows a user to only tilt their hips forward 10 degrees while avoiding translation of movement to the enclosure member 110. The forward tilt of a user's hips may also be described as a clockwise rotation of the pelvis from a profile perspective. It will be appreciated that the 10 degree range described in reference to the illustrated embodiment is not to be construed as limiting on the implementation of embodiments of the present invention. Therefore, embodiments of the present invention may be practiced with restricted ranges above or below that which described in reference to the illustrated embodiment.
Reference is next made to
The surfaces of the front and rear members 130, 120 include specific structures to effectuate the three restricted freedoms of movement. The first restricted rotational coronal freedom corresponds to a substantially parallel rotational freedom between the plane-shaped structures of the front and rear members 130, 120. This rotational freedom is generally inherent to concave-convex type couplings in which the concave and convex curvatures substantially match or correspond to one another. However, to restrict the freedom to allow only 10 degrees of rotation in either parallel rotational direction, a set of tabs 138 and channels 128 are included on the coupling regions 132, 122 of the front and rear members 130, 120, respectively. The tabs 138 are positioned on the lateral sides of the convex coupling region 132 of the front member 130, which is oriented toward the rear member 120. The rear member 120 includes channels 128 within the raised concave coupling region 122 within which the tabs 138 are positioned. The sandwich coupling parameters between the front and rear members 130, 120 and the corresponding thickness of the tabs 138 and channels 128 selected contain the tabs 138 within the channels 128. The radial shape of the channels 128 thereby limits the rotational freedom of the tabs 138 to rotate with respect to the rear member 120. It will be appreciated that the radial dimensions of the channels 128 and tabs 138 may be adjusted to increase or decrease the rotational freedom.
The second restricted transverse tilt freedom corresponds to a freedom to laterally tilt (raise one side and lower the other side) the front member 130 with respect to the rear member 120. This form of freedom is also generally inherent to concave-convex type couplings in which the concave and convex curvatures match or correspond to one another. However, to restrict the freedom to only 10 degrees in either lateral direction, the diameter of the front portion recess 126 and the coupler 140 are specifically sized and shaped to obstruct tilt freedom beyond the desired parameters. The tab 138 and channel 128 structure thickness may also be specifically shaped to coordinate with the coupler 140 sandwich coupling parameters so as to restrict the lateral freedom to the selected parameters. It will be appreciated that the thicknesses and curvatures may be altered to increase or decrease the transverse tilt freedom.
The third restricted sagittal tilt freedom corresponds to vertically tilting the front member 130 with respect to the rear member 120. This form of freedom is also generally inherent to concave-convex type couplings in which the concave and convex curvatures match or correspond to one another. The third restricted sagittal tilt freedom is unidirectional. However, to restrict the freedom to only one direction and only specific angles within that direction, the shaped and diameter of the front member recess 126 coordinated with the coupler 140 are specifically sized and shaped to obstruct tilt freedom beyond the desired parameters. To effectuate the unidirectionally restricted freedom, the front member recess 126 is slightly off-set downward, thereby positioning the top portion of the front member recess 126 directly against the coupler 140 and allowing the desired articulation downward only. This slight offset is best illustrated and designed in the profile view of
Various other embodiments have been contemplated, including combinations in whole or in part of the embodiments described above. Various additional components and or materials may be used in conjunction with embodiments of the present invention.
This application claims priority to U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 61/162,730 filed Mar. 24, 2009, the contents of which are incorporated by reference.
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