The invention herein pertains to a backpack generally, and particularly pertains to a convertible backpack that can be used for rigging and rescue operations to protect climbing ropes and/or as a load-bearing anchor point.
Firefighters, rescue workers, police, roofers, window washers and many other professionals rely on ropes to safely perform their duties. Military personnel and civilians also use ropes to ascend or descend from cliffs, ledges, rooftops, etc. In these and other uses, the ropes are required to pass over rocks, railings, window ledges, edges of buildings and other locations where the fibers of the rope can become abraded, which compromises the load bearing capabilities of the rope and the safety of the user. To protect the ropes from such abrasion, it is known to place something between the rope and the adjacent structure. The Ultra-Pro™ Edge Protector sold by CMC Pro is semi-rigid molded plastic sheet that has a plurality of channels formed along the longitudinal axis of the sheet. The channels allow the ropes to be maintained in spaced-apart relation when the device is in use. The sheet is flexible at least along the longitudinal axis and can conform to the edge of a building. The device is said to reduce friction on the ropes and to soften the bend radius of the rope. Similar devices are sold by Seattle Manufacturing Corporation under the brand names “FLEX” and “Rope Tracker.”
Another type of device, known as an articulated edge protector, comprises a series of roller modules. Each module has a roller supported by a frame that acts as a standoff to elevate the roller from an adjacent surface. The roller modules may be linked together to form a flexible articulated chain which is then placed over an edge of a structure. The rope is then placed atop the rollers. An example of such a device is the P68 Set Caterpillar Articulated Protector sold by Petzl America.
Yet another type of rope protection device is a flexible mat made from abrasion-resistant materials that can be placed between the rope and an adjacent structure. The mat can be used flat or wrapped around the rope and secured to form a protective sleeve. Numerous such devices are commercially available, such as the SafeWaze Rope Protector, RopeSafe and RescueTECH Rope Guard. One such mat, as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 10,213,649 (the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference) can also be attached to the rope and be repositioned along the rope by the user. The mat includes a handle used to carry the mat and facilitate repositioning the mat during use and can also be used as a load bearing member. U.S. Pat. No. 10,524,560 teaches a rollable backpack device for use with rigging equipment and rescue operations. The backpack has a plurality of “daisy chain” loops attached to one surface of a foldable and rollable mat. Equipment may be attached to the series of loops and then the sides and bottom of the mat folded inward to enclose the equipment. A pair of straps are affixed to the mat to permit carrying of the mat as a backpack. The entire disclosure of the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 10,524,560 is incorporated herein by reference.
Thus, in view of the problems and disadvantages associated with prior art devices, the present invention was conceived and one of its objectives is to provide a convertible rescue backpack which easily converts from a durable carrying pack to a rope protection system.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide a rope protection system that has functionality to protect ropes from abrasion.
It is still another objective of the present invention to provide a rope protection system that incorporates visual safety indicators.
It is yet another objective of the present invention to provide a rope protection system that is useful as a load-bearing support.
It is a further objective of the present invention to provide a rope protection system that can be used as a bag such as a backpack to carry additional equipment and gear.
It is still a further objective of the present invention to provide a rope protection system for adequately protecting a variety of rope segments in various environment.
It is yet a further objective of the present invention to provide a rope protection system comprising an edge protection mat foldable for use as a carrying pack and a pair of rope protection members affixable thereto to act as shoulder straps.
Various other objectives and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art as a more detailed description is set forth below.
The aforesaid and other objectives are realized by providing a convertible backpack formed from an edge protection flexible mat or sheet that can be configured into a bag or pack and carried, for example on the back of a user, with straps formed from rope protection members. The flexible sheet is an edge protection mat and has an inner surface and an outer surface with one or more intermediate layers between the inner and outer surfaces. The flexible sheet has a cruciferous form when laid flat and has a top section, a front section positioned between two opposing side sections, and a tail section comprising a bottom section and a back section. The side sections can be folded inward to form the sides of a box-like structure and the tail section folded inward to form the bottom and back of the box-like structure. The side sections can be secured to the tail section to maintain the shape of the box-like structure, which can then be used to carry equipment, clothing, or other gear. The top section can be folded over to serve as a cover for the box-like assembly. A pair of shoulder straps are affixed to the outer surface of the front section to facilitate carrying of the box-like assembly on the back. In the preferred mode, the shoulder straps are removably attached to the front section of the flexible sheet and comprise rope protection members. The rope protection members are each a flexible sheet having an inner surface and an outer surface, two opposed lateral edges and two opposed longitudinal edges. A hanging loop is affixed to each lateral edge and a pair of spaced-apart loops are affixed to the inner surface. The rope protection sheet can be wrapped in a sleeve-like configuration about a rope and secured in place with a pair of spaced-apart straps, each located proximate a respective lateral edge of the mat and/or a mating fastener member on longitudinal edges of the sleeve.
Various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are described below. Use of the term “exemplary” means illustrative or buy way of example only, and any reference herein to “the invention” is not intended to restrict or limit the invention to exact features or step of any one or more of the exemplary embodiments disclosed in the present specification. References to “exemplary embodiment”, “one embodiment”, “an embodiment”, “various embodiments”, and the like may indicate that the embodiment(s) of the invention so described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but not every embodiment necessarily incudes the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Further, repeated use of the phrase “in one embodiment”, “in an exemplary embodiment”, or “in an alternative embodiment” do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment, although they may.
It is also noted that terms like “preferably”, “commonly”, and “typically” are not utilized herein to limit the scope of the invention or to imply that certain features are critical, essential, or even important to the structure or function of the invention. Rather, these terms are merely intended to highlight alternative or additional features that may or may not be utilized in a particular embodiment of the present invention.
The present invention is described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying figures, in which one or more exemplary embodiments of the invention are shown. Like numbers used herein refer to like elements throughout. The invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be operative, enabling, and complete. Accordingly, the particular arrangements disclosed are meant to be illustrative only and not limited as to the scope of the invention, and any and all equivalents thereof. Moreover, many embodiments such as adaptations, variations, modifications, and equivalent arrangements will be implicitly disclosed by the embodiments described herein and fall within the scope of the instant invention.
Although specific terms are employed herein, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for the purposes of limitation. Unless otherwise expressly defined herein, such terms are intended to be given their broad, ordinary, and customary meaning not inconsistent with that applicable in the relevant industry ad without restriction to any specific embodiment hereinafter described. As used herein, the article “a” is intended to include one or more items. Where only one item is intended, the terms “one and only one”, “single”, or similar language is used. When used herein to join a list of items, the term “or” denotes at least one of the items, but does not exclude a plurality of items of the list.
For exemplary methods or processes of the invention, the sequence and/or arrangement of steps described herein are illustrative and not restrictive. Accordingly, it should be understood that, although steps of various processes or methods may be shown and described as being in a sequence or temporal arrangement, the steps of any such processes or methods are not limited to being carried out in any particular sequence or arrangement, absent an indication otherwise. Indeed, the steps in such processes or methods generally may be carried out in various different sequences and arrangements while still falling within the scope of the present invention.
Additionally, any references to advantages, benefits, unexpected results, or operability of the present invention are not intended as an affirmation that the invention has previously been reduced to practice or that any testing has been performed. Likewise, unless stated otherwise, use of verbs in the past tense (present perfect or preterit) is not intended to indicate or imply that the invention has previously been reduced to practice or that any testing has been performed.
For a better understanding of the invention and its operation, turning now to the drawings,
In the embodiment of
With reference now being made to
When the backpack is in the open and unfolded condition as shown in
An edge protection mat may be used to soften the bend modulus of the rope as it goes over the edge of a building or used underneath metal climbing gear to prevent them from being damaged by the building or rocks, etc. With particular reference to
As mentioned above, in the preferred embodiment, the shoulder straps 22 are rope protection members. For more information on a rope protection member, please see U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/076,334 which is incorporated by reference in its respective entirety herein. It is contemplated that, in use, the shoulder straps 22 would be detached from the backpack 10 and wrapped around, for example, the climbing rope 46 as seen in
As can be seen in
With continued reference to
The outer face 68 (see
Similarly, reflective trim and reflective thread may be used in formation of the cruciferous shaped mat used to fabricate the backpack. In addition, it is preferred that intermediate layers 38 and 42 be of contrasting color compared to outer layers 36 and 44 as further visual safety indicators. The reason is that as the external layers 36, 44 begin to wear, the high contrast color will begin to telegraph through and alert the user that the protection afforded by the mat has been compromised. Additional embodiments may have more, less, or different layers incorporated into the multi-layer construction as described above without departing from the scope of the instant invention. For example, for additional protection, a polymeric coating (not shown) may be applied atop the inner and/or outer faces 62 and/or 68. In one embodiment, this polymeric coating is defined as polyurethane, and more preferably as the polyurethane elastomer known as PureCast 603, commercially available from Industrial Polymer Corporation.
The illustrations and examples provided herein are for explanatory purposes and are not intended to limit the scope of the appended claims and while specific terms have been employed, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only. For example, the dimensions of the backpack are not particularly important, and the pack can be made to any desired size. Moreover, while the preferred shape of the backpack is that of a box, as shown, the invention is not to be limited to any particular shape or configuration. Similarly, attachment points, such as individual loops or a series of daisy chain loops may be added to the interior or exterior surface of the pack as desired for specific applications. As noted above, the long anchor strap may be repositioned and attached at the respective ends of one or more embodiments of backpack 10 so as to deploy the pack as a duffle bag (it being understood and more, less, or different hardware may be useful in this configuration that is not otherwise shown). Ultimately, it should be understood that a backpack constructed in this manner will produce a relatively “soft” structure (relative to harder goods, as measured by Shore A, known in the art) that defines a sufficiently high coefficient of abrasion resistance to protect one or more ropes for an extended period of time. At the present time, there is relatively little in the way of standardized abrasion testing, but the Taber Test is one such measurement wherein applicant's backpack demonstrates statistically significant abrasion resistance relative to the prior art. Various other modifications and alternatives that may suggest themselves to those skilled in the art upon reading the foregoing disclosure are intended to be considered within the scope of the invention.