Patent Application
20140138508
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to storage and hangers for exercise mats.
2. Discussion of Prior Art
People use exercise mats when stretching or practicing yoga, Bikram or similar activities during which they perspire. Exercise mats are typically rectangular, range from an eighth of an inch to an inch thick, from 20″ to 32″ wide, and from 60″ to 96″ long, to approximate human proportions. Even when towels are used over them, exercise mats may still get wet from perspiration. Mats also require periodic washing and drying.
Options for storing mats between uses have been limited. Mats are often slung over a towel bar or “ballet bar,” or whatever else is available. Such expedients may not permit mats to lie flat and may instead crease or bend them. Mat surface areas contacting a towel bar may not receive enough air flow to dry quickly. There exist a variety of clothes hangers having clamps or levers designed for holding pants, skirts, and other clothes, such as U.S. Pat. No. 6,021,933 by Zuckerman. A typical clothes hanger is at most 18″ wide; pants-hanging clamps are closer together than that. While a clamping clothes hanger may hold thinner and lighter exercise mats, the clips' narrow spacing may cause the corners of the mat to fold over, which is less than ideal. Clips with narrower surface areas require intensified pressure on the exercise mat, which can damage or compromise the surface integrity of the mat or its cover. Hanging mats by straps may also fail to hang them fully unrolled. Other designs modify standard mats for hanging with rings, Velcro, magnets, etc. which may interfere with the intended use of, and undesirably compromise, an exercise mat.
Lacking a convenient way to store an exercise mat in its normal unrolled position, people typically roll mats up for transport and storage, and don't unroll them until the next use. Mats are thus stored damp and may not dry quickly. A rolled up and stored mat, when unrolled again tends not to initially lay in the desired flat position. Damp exercise mats that are not dried properly may build up undesirable bacteria, mold and odors.
There remains, therefore, a need for a technique of storing exercise mats in a position to dry in their normal flat shape.
The above-described problems are relieved by the present invention providing a holder for hanging an exercise mat securely in its unrolled position, with minimal impact, and without requiring modifications, to the mat.
A preferred embodiment comprises a baseboard or mounting portion connected to a clip or securing portion, which together gently but firmly exert compression across the width of an exercise mat. The securing portion (“clip”) may consist of one or more clips, clamps or cams positioned along the width of the mat. A typical exercise mat is between 20″ and 32″ wide, and the securing portion will be of a similar, though not necessarily equal, width. In order not to damage exercise mats the clip has a broad surface that comes in contact with the mat. The contact surface(s) may have a non-slip texture provided by a surface material or by a directional material design. Additional portions of non-slip materials such as natural rubber may be used to enhance the holding of the mat and further reduce the pressure needed to hold a mat weighing up to about five pounds or up to nine pounds when wet. Force for the clip to hold the mat may be provided by the material design of the clip, by being spring loaded, by being gravity loaded, by using a levering mechanism, by using a cam or other means, or a combination of these means.
Once a mat is secured by the clip, various hanging solutions enable hanging the holder and mat from a shower curtain, shower head, clothes closet bar, door, wall, window, tiles, or other structure. When hung over a door or affixed to a wall, the hanging solution enables spacing the mat from the door or wall to permit air to flow along, and dry, both sides. The mat dries in its normal deployed shape and avoids being curled or cracked.
The hanging mechanism may be combined into a unit that has support for hanging a towel, a bag for the mat, or storing related items such as blocks, straps, water bottles, or cleaning products. The hanging mechanism can be used to hang similarly shaped exercise towels that may or may not include non-slip properties incorporated into the towel. The towel hanging may be in addition to the mat or instead of the mat.
These and other advantages of the invention will be illuminated by the following Detailed Description and accompanying Drawings.
The present invention provides exercise mat holders which may be hung from walls, doors or other structures to store exercise mats in their unrolled position so that the mats will remain flat and if damp will dry properly.
As shown in
Many clips have both sides the same and are symmetrical around their pivot axis. In contrast, the present invention's mat hanger is preferably non-symmetrical, having differently shaped base and clip portions. While symmetrical clips typically have the same external attachment capabilities from either side, mat hangers 10 according to the present invention preferably mount or hang from the base portion 12.
Dual hinges 32, 34 being spaced apart spreads pressure across a mat. In a third embodiment 31 as shown in
A cam-based holding mechanism having a cam parallel to a baseboard, or having a parallel pair of cams, can allow a mat to slide easily in between the cam(s), and then lock the mat in place. A cam-based exercise mat holder could comprise a baseboard with clamping cam means including an elongated cam having lengthwise ends mounted on the baseboard. The cam has a radius varying such that turning the cam (by moving a mat down between the cam and the baseboard) decreases spacing between the cam and the baseboard and compresses the mat. A cam mechanism that is less wide than a mat allows a user to hold the sides of a mat and slide it up past the cams. Cams may use a spring or a lever to engage a mat, and the mat's weight will help hold it. A mat can be released by moving the mat upwards briefly to release the cam or by manually turning the cam directly or via a knob or lever.
As shown in
In conjunction with, or instead of, using mounting holes 50, bracket attachment holes 55 may be used for attaching hooks 62, 64 as in the preferred second embodiment 21 shown in
To provide leverage for opening clip 20, handle 25 may extend upward into a tab section 26 as in the second embodiment 21 and third embodiment 31. A clip design may include one, two, three or more handle pressure positions to leverage open the clip. Additionally, a clip can be designed such that its full length can be levered as a handle.
Below hinge axis 36 the lower portions of baseboard 12 and clip 20 form compression portions or jaws 14 and 22 having broad areas and rounded corners for contacting a mat without damaging it. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 7-9, at least part of jaws 14 and 22 preferably have non-slip gripping surfaces 16 and/or 24 to help grip mats with minimized pressure from clip 20. As shown in the
Hinge means 30 biases jaws 14 and 22 together. When holder 10 is not holding a mat, jaws 14 and 22 close to their at-rest position as shown in
Though baseboard 12 is shown as a single unit it may be manufactured as two halves that are joined to form a baseboard of the desired width. The two halves may be different right and left halves, or they may be identical parts and flipped or rotated to be used as either the left or right side. The two halves could be snapped, glued, or screwed together, or joined some other way. A primary motivation for producing a baseboard in two halves would be to reduce the cost of fabricating a larger single baseboard.
Similarly, the clip 20 may be split into two or more portions and distributed across the baseboard 12 such that a mat 204 hangs supported and unrolled. If the clip is split, each clip may have one or more handle portions for leveraging it open. It is also possible for the clip to be split and for split clips to have their own compression mechanisms, with one handle portion extending across the clips.
While the present invention is described in terms of several preferred embodiments, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that these embodiments may be modified without departing from the essence of the invention. It is therefore intended that the following claims be interpreted as covering any modifications falling within the true spirit and scope of the invention.
